Shiny Core API

This page outlines Shiny Core’s API reference.

Compared to Shiny Express, Shiny Core is more structured and verbose, but also more flexible and powerful.

Newcomers may want to start with Shiny Express Shiny Core API.

Function reference

Page containers

Create a user interface page container.

ui.page_sidebar	Create a page with a sidebar and a title.
ui.page_navbar	Create a page with a navbar and a title.
ui.page_sidebar	Create a page with a sidebar and a title.
ui.page_fillable	Create a fillable page.
ui.page_fluid	Create a fluid page.
ui.page_fixed	Create a fixed page.
ui.page_bootstrap	Create a Bootstrap UI page container.
ui.page_auto	A page container which automatically decides which page function to use.
ui.page_output	Create a page container where the entire body is a UI output.

UI Layouts

Control the layout of multiple UI components.

ui.sidebar	Sidebar element
ui.layout_sidebar	Sidebar layout
ui.layout_columns	Create responsive, column-based grid layouts, based on a 12-column grid.
ui.layout_column_wrap	A grid-like, column-first layout
ui.card	A Bootstrap card component
ui.card_header	Card header container
ui.card_footer	Card footer container
ui.popover	Add a popover to a UI element.
ui.tooltip	Add a tooltip to a UI element.
ui.accordion	Create a vertically collapsing accordion.
ui.accordion_panel	Single accordion panel.
ui.column	Responsive row-column based layout
ui.row	Responsive row-column based layout

UI Inputs

Create UI that prompts the user for input values or interaction.

ui.input_select	Create a select list that can be used to choose a single or multiple items from a list of values.
ui.input_selectize	Create a select list that can be used to choose a single or multiple items from a list of values.
ui.input_slider	Constructs a slider widget to select a number, date, or date-time from a range.
ui.input_dark_mode	Creates a dark mode switch input that toggles the app between dark and light modes.
ui.input_date	Creates a text input which, when clicked on, brings up a calendar that the user can click on to select dates.
ui.input_date_range	Creates a pair of text inputs which, when clicked on, bring up calendars that the user can click on to select dates.
ui.input_checkbox	Create a checkbox that can be used to specify logical values.
ui.input_checkbox_group	Create a group of checkboxes that can be used to toggle multiple choices independently.
ui.input_switch	Create a switch that can be used to specify logical values. Similar to input_checkbox, but implies to the user that the change will take effect immediately.
ui.input_radio_buttons	Create a set of radio buttons used to select an item from a list.
ui.input_numeric	Create an input control for entry of numeric values.
ui.input_text	Create an input control for entry of text values.
ui.input_text_area	Create a textarea input control for entry of unstructured text values.
ui.input_password	Create an password control for entry of passwords.
ui.input_action_button	Creates an action button whose value is initially zero, and increments by one each time it is pressed.
ui.input_action_link	Creates a link whose value is initially zero, and increments by one each time it is pressed.
ui.input_task_button	Creates a button for launching longer-running operations.

Value boxes

Prominently display a value and label in a box that can be expanded to show more information.

ui.value_box	Value box
ui.value_box_theme	Value box theme
ui.showcase_bottom	Showcase bottom
ui.showcase_left_center	Showcase left center
ui.showcase_top_right	Showcase top right

Navigation (tab) panels

Create segments of UI content.

ui.nav_panel	Create a nav item pointing to some internal content.
ui.nav_spacer	Create space between nav items.
ui.nav_menu	Create a menu of nav items.
ui.nav_control	Place a control in the navigation container.
ui.navset_bar	Render nav items as a navbar.
ui.navset_tab	Render nav items as a tabset.
ui.navset_pill	Render nav items as a pillset.
ui.navset_underline	Render nav items whose active/focused navigation links are styled with an underline.
ui.navset_card_tab	Render nav items as a tabset inside a card container.
ui.navset_card_pill	Render nav items as a pillset inside a card container.
ui.navset_card_underline	Render nav items inside a card container. Active/focused navigation links are styled with an underline.
ui.navset_pill_list	Render nav items as a vertical pillset.
ui.navset_hidden	Render nav contents without the nav items.

UI panels

Visually group together a section of UI components.

ui.panel_absolute	Create a panel of absolutely positioned content.
ui.panel_fixed	Create a panel of absolutely positioned content.
ui.panel_conditional	Create a conditional panel.
ui.panel_title	Create title(s) for the application.
ui.panel_well	Create a well panel.

Uploads & downloads

Allow users to upload and download files.

ui.input_file	Create a file upload control that can be used to upload one or more files.
ui.download_button	Create a download button
ui.download_link	Create a download button.

Chat interface

Build a chatbot interface

ui.Chat	Create a chat interface.
ui.chat_ui	UI container for a chat component (Shiny Core).

Custom UI

Lower-level UI functions for creating custom HTML/CSS/JS

ui.Theme	Create a custom Shiny theme.
ui.HTML	Mark a string as raw HTML. This will prevent the string from being escaped when rendered inside an HTML tag.
ui.TagList	Create an HTML tag list (i.e., a fragment of HTML)
ui.tags	Functions for creating HTML tags.
ui.markdown	Convert a string of markdown to ui.HTML.
ui.include_css	Include a CSS file.
ui.include_js	Include a JavaScript file.
ui.insert_ui	Insert UI objects.
ui.remove_ui	Remove UI objects.
ui.busy_indicators.use	Enable/disable busy indication
ui.busy_indicators.options	Customize spinning busy indicators.
ui.fill.as_fillable_container	Coerce a tag to a fillable container.
ui.fill.as_fill_item	Coerce a tag to a fill item.
ui.fill.remove_all_fill	Remove any filling layouts from a tag.
ui.css.as_css_unit	Convert a value into a CSS unit.
ui.css.as_css_padding	Convert a CSS unit or list of CSS units into a CSS padding value.

Update inputs

Programmatically update input values.

ui.update_select	Change the value of a select input on the client.
ui.update_selectize	Change the value of a selectize.js powered input on the client.
ui.update_slider	Change the value of a slider input on the client.
ui.update_dark_mode
ui.update_date	Change the value of a date input on the client.
ui.update_date_range	Change the start and end values of a date range input on the client.
ui.update_checkbox	Change the value of a checkbox input on the client.
ui.update_checkbox_group	Change the value of a checkbox group input on the client.
ui.update_switch	Change the value of a switch input on the client.
ui.update_radio_buttons	Change the value of a radio input on the client.
ui.update_numeric	Change the value of a number input on the client.
ui.update_text	Change the value of a text input on the client.
ui.update_text_area	Change the value of a text input on the client.
ui.update_navs	Change the value of a navs container on the client.
ui.update_action_button	Change the label and/or icon of an action button on the client.
ui.update_action_link	Change the label and/or icon of an action link on the client.
ui.update_task_button	Change the state of a task button on the client.

Update UI Layouts

ui.update_sidebar	Update a sidebar’s visibility.
ui.update_tooltip	Update tooltip contents.
ui.update_popover	Update the contents or title of a popover.
ui.update_accordion	Dynamically set accordions’ states.
ui.update_accordion_panel	Dynamically update accordion panel contents.
ui.insert_accordion_panel	Insert an accordion_panel.
ui.remove_accordion_panel	Remove an accordion_panel.

Rendering outputs

UI (output_*()) and server (render)ing functions for generating content server-side.

ui.output_plot	Create a output container for a static plot.
ui.output_image	Create a output container for a static image.
ui.output_table	Create a output container for a table.
ui.output_data_frame	Create an output container for an interactive table or grid. Features fast virtualized scrolling, sorting, filtering, and row selection (single or multiple).
ui.output_text	Create a output container for some text.
ui.output_code	Create a output container for code (monospaced text).
ui.output_text_verbatim	Create a output container for some text.
ui.output_ui	Create a output container for a UI (i.e., HTML) element.
render.plot	Reactively render a plot object as an HTML image.
render.image	Reactively render a image file as an HTML image.
render.table	Reactively render a pandas DataFrame object (or similar) as a basic HTML table.
render.text	Reactively render text.
render.code	Reactively render text as code (monospaced).
render.ui	Reactively render HTML content.
render.express	Reactively render HTML content with output captured as in Shiny Express
render.download	Decorator to register a function to handle a download.
render.data_frame	Decorator for a function that returns a pandas, polars, or eager narwhals compatible DataFrame object to render as an interactive table or grid. Features fast virtualized scrolling, sorting, filtering, and row selection (single or multiple).
render.DataGrid	Holds the data and options for a data_frame output, for a spreadsheet-like view.
render.DataTable	Holds the data and options for a data_frame output, for a spreadsheet-like view.

Reactive programming

reactive.calc	Mark a function as a reactive calculation.
reactive.effect	Mark a function as a reactive side effect.
reactive.value	Create a reactive value.
reactive.Calc	Mark a function as a reactive calculation.
reactive.Effect	Mark a function as a reactive side effect.
reactive.Value	Create a reactive value.
reactive.event	Mark a function to react only when an “event” occurs.
reactive.isolate	Create a non-reactive scope within a reactive scope.
reactive.invalidate_later	Scheduled Invalidation
reactive.extended_task	Decorator to mark an async function as a slow computation. This will cause the function to be run in a background asyncio task, and the results will be available via the ExtendedTask object returned by the decorator.
reactive.flush	Run any pending invalidations (i.e., flush the reactive environment).
reactive.poll	Create a reactive polling object.
reactive.file_reader	Create a reactive file reader.
reactive.lock	A lock that should be held whenever manipulating the reactive graph.
req	Throw a silent exception for falsy values.

Create and run applications

run_app	Starts a Shiny app. Press Ctrl+C (or Ctrl+Break on Windows) to stop the app.
App	Create a Shiny app instance.
Inputs	A class representing Shiny input values.
Outputs	A class representing Shiny output definitions.
Session	Interface definition for Session-like classes, like AppSession, SessionProxy, and ExpressStubSession.

Display messages

ui.help_text	Create a help text element
ui.notification_show	Show a notification to the user.
ui.notification_remove	Remove a notification.
ui.modal	Creates the UI for a modal dialog, using Bootstrap’s modal class.
ui.modal_show	Show a modal dialog.
ui.modal_remove	Remove a modal dialog box.
ui.modal_button	Creates a button that will dismiss a modal.
ui.Progress	Initialize a progress bar.

Modules

module.ui
module.server

Developer facing tools

Session
Create output renderers	Package author methods for creating new output renderers.
htmltools methods
ExtendedTask	Supervise an extended, long-running task

Types

Miscellaneous types
Tag types
Exception types

Deprecated

render.transformer.output_transformer	Deprecated. Please use Renderer instead.
render.transformer.resolve_value_fn	Resolve the value function

Experimental

These methods are under consideration and are considered unstable. However, if there is a method you are excited about, please let us know!

Card	Additional card components that compliment ui.card.