Connect to a Databricks-hosted RStudio Server

Important

Databricks-hosted RStudio Server is deprecated and is only available on Databricks Runtime versions 15.4 and below. For more information, see Hosted RStudio Server deprecation.

Use your web browser to sign in to your Databricks workspace and then connect to a Databricks compute that has RStudio Server installed, within that workspace.

For hosted RStudio Server, you can use the Open Source Edition or RStudio Workbench (previously RStudio Server Pro) edition on Databricks. If you want to use RStudio Workbench / RStudio Server Pro, you must transfer your existing RStudio Workbench / RStudio Server Pro license to Databricks (see Get started: RStudio Workbench).

Databricks recommends that you use Databricks Runtime for Machine Learning (Databricks Runtime ML) on Databricks compute with RStudio Server to reduce compute start times. Databricks Runtime ML includes an unmodified version of the RStudio Server Open Source Edition package. The source code for this package can be found on GitHub. The following table lists the version of RStudio Server Open Source Edition preinstalled on Databricks Runtime ML versions.

Databricks Runtime for ML Version	RStudio Server Version
Databricks Runtime 9.1 LTS ML and 10.4 LTS ML	1.4

Hosted RStudio Server deprecation

Databricks-hosted RStudio Server is deprecated and is only available on Databricks Runtime 15.4 and below.

Support timeline

Databricks will continue supporting hosted RStudio Server on Databricks runtimes 15.4 and below until their end-of-support. For example, Databricks Runtime 15.4 LTS will continue to support hosted RStudio Server until August 19th, 2027.

If you need more time to migrate, you can continue using the hosted RStudio Server until your runtime’s end-of-support date. Upgrading to a newer LTS runtime, like 15.4, will extend your support period.

Alternative 1: Posit Workbench

In partnership with Databricks, Posit PBC provides a Posit Workbench native integration for Databricks.

The integration allows you connect to Databricks compute from RStudio Pro, and includes features such as support for Unity Catalog and managed Databricks OAuth credentials.

Alternative 2: RStudio Desktop

Connect RStudio Desktop to a Databricks compute resource or SQL warehouse from your local development machine.

You can use either Databricks Connect through sparklyr, or the Databricks ODBC driver through the odbc R package. This method also supports Unity Catalog.

Alternative 3: Databricks notebooks

Use R on Databricks notebooks for an interactive development experience that’s integrated with the rest of the Databricks platform.