Creating_pins_on_Connect.qmd

---
title: "Creating Pins on Connect"
author: "Trishang Udhwani"
format:
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    toc: true
    toc-location: left
    toc-depth: 2
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    number-depth: 3
editor: visual
---

## Overview

Pins lets you pin an R or Python object, or a file to a virtual board where you and others access it.

The process is described in the official documentation at: [Pins](https://docs.posit.co/connect/how-to/pins/). Please refer to that link for details.

Every pin lives on a board, so your first step is to create a board object which can be called. This can be done using the function `board <- pins::board_connect()`.\
Note that no arguments are passed to `board_connect()`. This function is designed to just work for most cases.

::: callout-note
If you are using an out-dated version of Rstudio (versions before 2024.04.1) then this function may not work.\
In that case can specify the `auth` method to inform how you authenticate to Connect. This can be done by using `auth = "envvar"` as the argument.

To do this, set environment variables with `usethis::edit_r_profile()` to open your `.Renviron` for editing, and then insert `Sys.setenv(CONNECT_API_KEY="paste key value")` and `Sys.setenv(CONNECT_SERVER="https://connect.posit.vetinst.no/")`. Remember to insert a newline character (press ENTER) before saving this file.

Now you can create the board object using `board <- pins::board_connect(auth = "envvar")`
:::

## Additional things to consider

Remember, if you’re using git, it’s a good idea to add your `.Renviron` to your `.gitignore` to ensure you’re not publishing your API key to your version control system.