# {anndataR}: An R package for working with AnnData objects <img src="man/figures/logo.png" align="right" alt="anndataR logo" width=120 />
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**{anndataR}** aims to make the `AnnData` format a first-class citizen in the R ecosystem, and to make it easy to work with AnnData files in R, either directly or by converting them to a `SingleCellExperiment` or `Seurat` object.
**{anndataR}** is an scverse® community project maintained by [Data Intuitive](https://data-intuitive.com/), and is fiscally sponsored by the [Chan Zuckerberg Initiative](https://chanzuckerberg.com/).
## Features of {anndataR}
- Provide an `R6` class to work with `AnnData` objects in R (either in-memory or on-disk)
- Read/write `*.h5ad` files natively
- Convert to/from `SingleCellExperiment` objects
- Convert to/from `Seurat` objects
You can find the status of development of **{anndataR}** on the [feature tracking page](https://anndatar.data-intuitive.com/articles/design.html#feature-tracking) of the package website.
Please [report](https://github.com/scverse/anndataR/issues) any issues you encounter.
## Installation
You can install **{anndataR}** from Bioconductor using **BiocManager**:
```r
if (!requireNamespace("BiocManager", quietly = TRUE)) {
install.packages("BiocManager")
}
BiocManager::install("anndataR")
```
Or you can install the development version of **{anndataR}** from GitHub like so:
``` r
# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("scverse/anndataR")
```
You will need to install additional dependencies, depending on
the task you want to perform.
- To read/write `*.h5ad` files, install [rhdf5](https://www.bioconductor.org/packages/rhdf5):
`BiocManager::install("rhdf5")`
- To convert to/from `SingleCellExperiment` objects, install [SingleCellExperiment](https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/SingleCellExperiment.html):
`BiocManager::install("SingleCellExperiment")`
- To convert to/from `Seurat` objects, install [SeuratObject](https://cran.r-project.org/package=SeuratObject):
`install.packages("SeuratObject")`
Alternatively, you can install all suggested dependencies at once:
``` r
pak::pak("scverse/anndataR", dependencies = TRUE)
```
## Getting started
The best way to get started with **{anndataR}** is to explore the package vignettes (available at https://anndatar.data-intuitive.com/articles/).
In order to browse these vignettes locally, you need to build them during installation:
```
options(pkg.build_vignettes = TRUE)
pak::pak("scverse/anndataR")
```
Take note that you need all suggested dependencies available, and that building them can take some time.
- [**Getting started**](https://anndatar.data-intuitive.com/articles/anndataR.html): An introduction to the package and its features.
`vignette("anndataR", package = "anndataR")`
- [**Read/write `Seurat` objects**](https://anndatar.data-intuitive.com/articles/usage_seurat.html): How to convert between `AnnData` and `Seurat` objects.
`vignette("usage_seurat", package = "anndataR")`
- [**Read/write `SingleCellExperiment` objects**](https://anndatar.data-intuitive.com/articles/usage_singlecellexperiment.html): How to convert between `AnnData` and `SingleCellExperiment` objects
`vignette("usage_singlecellexperiment", package = "anndataR")`
- [**Software Design**](https://anndatar.data-intuitive.com/articles/software_design.html): An overview of the design of the package
- [**Development Status**](https://anndatar.data-intuitive.com/articles/development_status.html): An overview of the development status of the package
## Citing **{anndataR}**
If you use **{anndataR}** in your work, please cite [_"anndataR improves interoperability between R and Python in single-cell transcriptomics"_](https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.18.669052):
```
> citation("anndataR")
Deconinck L, Zappia L, Cannoodt R, Morgan M, scverse core, Virshup I, Sang-aram C, Bredikhin D, Seurinck R, Saeys Y (2025).
“anndataR improves interoperability between R and Python in single-cell transcriptomics.” _bioRxiv_, 2025.08.18.669052.
doi:10.1101/2025.08.18.669052 <https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.18.669052>.
A BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is
@Article{,
title = {{anndataR} improves interoperability between R and Python in single-cell transcriptomics},
author = {Louise Deconinck and Luke Zappia and Robrecht Cannoodt and Martin Morgan and {scverse core} and Isaac Virshup and Chananchida Sang-aram and Danila Bredikhin and Ruth Seurinck and Yvan Saeys},
journal = {bioRxiv},
year = {2025},
pages = {2025.08.18.669052},
doi = {10.1101/2025.08.18.669052},
}
```
