So, how come we can use TensorFlow from R?

Have you ever wondered why you can call TensorFlow - mostly known as a Python framework - from R? If not - that’s how it should be, as the R packages keras and tensorflow aim to make this process as transparent as possible to the user. But for them to be those helpful genies, someone else first has to tame the Python.

Sigrid Keydana (RStudio)

Which computer language is most closely associated with TensorFlow? While on the TensorFlow for R blog, we would of course like the answer to be R, chances are it is Python (though TensorFlow has official 1 bindings for C++, Swift, Javascript, Java, and Go as well).

So why is it you can define a Keras model as

model <- keras_model_sequential() %>%
  layer_dense(units = 32, activation = "relu") %>%
  layer_dense(units = 1)

(nice with %>%s and all!) – then train and evaluate it, get predictions and plot them, all that without ever leaving R?

The short answer is, you have keras, tensorflow and reticulate installed. reticulate embeds a Python session within the R process. A single process means a single address space: The same objects exist, and can be operated upon, regardless of whether they’re seen by R or by Python. On that basis, tensorflow and keras then wrap the respective Python libraries 2 and let you write R code that, in fact, looks like R.

This post first elaborates a bit on the short answer. We then go deeper into what happens in the background.

One note on terminology before we jump in: On the R side, we’re making a clear distinction between the packages keras and tensorflow. For Python we are going to use TensorFlow and Keras interchangeably. Historically, these have been different, and TensorFlow was commonly thought of as one possible backend to run Keras on, besides the pioneering, now discontinued Theano, and CNTK. Standalone Keras does still exist, but recent work has been, and is being, done in tf.keras. Of course, this makes Python Keras a subset of Python TensorFlow, but all examples in this post will use that subset so we can use both to refer to the same thing.

So keras, tensorflow, reticulate, what are they for?

Firstly, nothing of this would be possible without reticulate. 3 reticulate is an R package designed to allow seemless interoperability between R and Python. If we absolutely wanted, we could construct a Keras model like this:

tf <- import("tensorflow")
m <- tf$keras$models$Sequential()

<class 'tensorflow.python.keras.engine.sequential.Sequential'>

We could go on adding layers …

m$add(tf$keras$layers$Dense(32, "relu"))



But who would want to? If this were the only way, it’d be less cumbersome to directly write Python instead. Plus, as a user you’d have to know the complete Python-side module structure (now where do optimizers live, currently: tf.keras.optimizers, tf.optimizers …?), and keep up with all path and name changes in the Python API. 4

This is where keras comes into play. keras is where the TensorFlow-specific usability, re-usability, and convenience features live. 5 Functionality provided by keras spans the whole range between boilerplate-avoidance over enabling elegant, R-like idioms to providing means of advanced feature usage. As an example for the first two, consider layer_dense which, among others, converts its units argument to an integer, and takes arguments in an order that allow it to be “pipe-added” to a model: Instead of

model <- keras_model_sequential()
model$add(layer_dense(units = 32L))

we can just say

model <- keras_model_sequential()
model %>% layer_dense(units = 32)

While these are nice to have, there is more. Advanced functionality in (Python) Keras mostly depends on the ability to subclass objects. One example is custom callbacks. If you were using Python, you’d have to subclass tf.keras.callbacks.Callback. From R, you can create an R6 class inheriting from KerasCallback, like so

CustomCallback <- R6::R6Class("CustomCallback",
    inherit = KerasCallback,
    public = list(
      on_train_begin = function(logs) {
        # do something
      on_train_end = function(logs) {
        # do something

This is because keras defines an actual Python class, RCallback, and maps your R6 class’ methods to it. Another example is custom models, introduced on this blog about a year ago. These models can be trained with custom training loops. In R, you use keras_model_custom to create one, for example, like this:

m <- keras_model_custom(name = "mymodel", function(self) {
  self$dense2 <- layer_dense(units = 10, activation = "softmax")
  function(inputs, mask = NULL) {
    self$dense1(inputs) %>%

Here, keras will make sure an actual Python object is created which subclasses tf.keras.Model and when called, runs the above anonymous function().

So that’s keras. What about the tensorflow package? As a user you only need it when you have to do advanced stuff, like configure TensorFlow device usage or (in TF 1.x) access elements of the Graph or the Session. Internally, it is used by keras heavily. Essential internal functionality includes, e.g., implementations of S3 methods, like print, [ or +, on Tensors, so you can operate on them like on R vectors.

Now that we know what each of the packages is “for”, let’s dig deeper into what makes this possible.

Show me the magic: reticulate

Instead of exposing the topic top-down, we follow a by-example approach, building up complexity as we go. We’ll have three scenarios.

First, we assume we already have a Python object (that has been constructed in whatever way) and need to convert that to R. Then, we’ll investigate how we can create a Python object, calling its constructor. Finally, we go the other way round: We ask how we can pass an R function to Python for later usage.

Scenario 1: R-to-Python conversion

Let’s assume we have created a Python object in the global namespace, like this:

py_run_string("x = 1")

So: There is a variable, called x, with value 1, living in Python world. Now how do we bring this thing into R?

We know the main entry point to conversion is py_to_r, defined as a generic in conversion.R:

py_to_r <- function(x) {

… with the default implementation calling a function named py_ref_to_r:

#' @export
py_to_r.default <- function(x) {
  x <- py_ref_to_r(x)

To find out more about what is going on, debugging on the R level won’t get us far. We start gdb so we can set breakpoints in C++ functions: 6

$ R -d gdb

GNU gdb (GDB) Fedora 8.3-6.fc30
[... some more gdb saying hello ...]
Reading symbols from /usr/lib64/R/bin/exec/R...
Reading symbols from /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib64/R/bin/exec/R-3.6.0-1.fc30.x86_64.debug...

Now start R, load reticulate, and execute the assignment we’re going to presuppose:

(gdb) run
Starting program: /usr/lib64/R/bin/exec/R 
R version 3.6.0 (2019-04-26) -- "Planting of a Tree"
Copyright (C) 2019 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing
> library(reticulate)
> py_run_string("x = 1")

So that set up our scenario, the Python object (named x) we want to convert to R. Now, use Ctrl-C to “escape” to gdb, set a breakpoint in py_to_r and type c to get back to R:

(gdb) b py_to_r
Breakpoint 1 at 0x7fffe48315d0 (2 locations)
(gdb) c

Now what are we going to see when we access that x?

> py$x

Thread 1 "R" hit Breakpoint 1, 0x00007fffe48315d0 in py_to_r(libpython::_object*, bool)@plt () from /home/key/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.6/reticulate/libs/

Here are the relevant (for our investigation) frames of the backtrace:

Thread 1 "R" hit Breakpoint 3, 0x00007fffe48315d0 in py_to_r(libpython::_object*, bool)@plt () from /home/key/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.6/reticulate/libs/
(gdb) bt
#1  0x00007fffe48588a0 in py_ref_to_r_with_convert (x=..., convert=true) at reticulate_types.h:32
#2  0x00007fffe4858963 in py_ref_to_r (x=...) at /home/key/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.6/Rcpp/include/RcppCommon.h:120
#3  0x00007fffe483d7a9 in _reticulate_py_ref_to_r (xSEXP=0x55555daa7e50) at /home/key/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.6/Rcpp/include/Rcpp/as.h:151
#14 0x00007ffff7cc5fc7 in Rf_usemethod (generic=0x55555757ce70 "py_to_r", obj=obj@entry=0x55555daa7e50, call=call@entry=0x55555a0fe198, args=args@entry=0x55555557c4e0, 
    rho=rho@entry=0x55555dab2ed0, callrho=0x55555dab48d8, defrho=0x5555575a4068, ans=0x7fffffff69e8) at objects.c:486

We’ve removed a few intermediate frames related to (R-level) method dispatch.

As we already saw in the source code, py_to_r.default will delegate to a method called py_ref_to_r, which we see appears in #2. But what is _reticulate_py_ref_to_r in #3, the frame just below? Here is where the magic, unseen by the user, begins.

Let’s look at this from a bird’s eye’s view. To translate an object from one language to another, we need to find a common ground, that is, a third language “spoken” by both of them. In the case of R and Python (as well as in a lot of other cases) this will be C / C++. So assuming we are going to write a C function to talk to Python, how can we use this function in R?

While R users have the ability to call into C directly, using .Call or .External 7, this is made much more convenient by Rcpp 8: You just write your C++ function, and Rcpp takes care of compilation and provides the glue code necessary to call this function from R.

So py_ref_to_r really is written in C++:

// [[Rcpp::export]]
SEXP py_ref_to_r(PyObjectRef x) {
  return py_ref_to_r_with_convert(x, x.convert());

but the comment // [[Rcpp::export]] tells Rcpp to generate an R wrapper, py_ref_to_R, that itself calls a C++ wrapper, _reticulate_py_ref_to_r

py_ref_to_r <- function(x) {
  .Call(`_reticulate_py_ref_to_r`, x)

which finally wraps the “real” thing, the C++ function py_ref_to_R we saw above.

Via py_ref_to_r_with_convert in #1, a one-liner that extracts an object’s “convert” feature (see below)

// [[Rcpp::export]]
SEXP py_ref_to_r_with_convert(PyObjectRef x, bool convert) {
  return py_to_r(x, convert);

we finally arrive at py_to_r in #0.

Before we look at that, let’s contemplate that C/C++ “bridge” from the other side - Python. While strictly, Python is a language specification, its reference implementation is CPython, with a core written in C and much more functionality built on top in Python. In CPython, every Python object (including integers or other numeric types) is a PyObject. PyObjects are allocated through and operated on using pointers; most C API functions return a pointer to one, PyObject *.

So this is what we expect to work with, from R. What then is PyObjectRef doing in py_ref_to_r? PyObjectRef is not part of the C API, it is part of the functionality introduced by reticulate to manage Python objects. Its main purpose is to make sure the Python object is automatically cleaned up when the R object (an Rcpp::Environment) goes out of scope. Why use an R environment to wrap the Python-level pointer? This is because R environments can have finalizers: functions that are called before objects are garbage collected. We use this R-level finalizer to ensure the Python-side object gets finalized as well:

Rcpp::RObject xptr = R_MakeExternalPtr((void*) object, R_NilValue, R_NilValue);
R_RegisterCFinalizer(xptr, python_object_finalize);

python_object_finalize is interesting, as it tells us something crucial about Python – about CPython, to be precise: To find out if an object is still needed, or could be garbage collected, it uses reference counting, thus placing on the user the burden of correctly incrementing and decrementing references according to language semantics.

inline void python_object_finalize(SEXP object) {
  PyObject* pyObject = (PyObject*)R_ExternalPtrAddr(object);
  if (pyObject != NULL)

Resuming on PyObjectRef, note that it also stores the “convert” feature of the Python object, used to determine whether that object should be converted to R automatically.

Back to py_to_r. This one now really gets to work with (a pointer to the) Python object,

SEXP py_to_r(PyObject* x, bool convert) {

and – but wait. Didn’t py_ref_to_r_with_convert pass it a PyObjectRef? So how come it receives a PyObject instead? This is because PyObjectRef inherits from Rcpp::Environment, and its implicit conversion operator is used to extract the Python object from the Environment. Concretely, that operator tells the compiler that a PyObjectRef can be used as though it were a PyObject* in some concepts, and the associated code specifies how to convert from PyObjectRef to PyObject*:

operator PyObject*() const {
  return get();

PyObject* get() const {
  SEXP pyObject = getFromEnvironment("pyobj");
  if (pyObject != R_NilValue) {
    PyObject* obj = (PyObject*)R_ExternalPtrAddr(pyObject);
    if (obj != NULL)
      return obj;
  Rcpp::stop("Unable to access object (object is from previous session and is now invalid)");

So py_to_r works with a pointer to a Python object and returns what we want, an R object (a SEXP). The function checks for the type of the object, and then uses Rcpp to construct the adequate R object, in our case, an integer:

else if (scalarType == INTSXP)
  return IntegerVector::create(PyInt_AsLong(x));

For other objects, typically there’s more action required; but essentially, the function is “just” a big if-else tree.

So this was scenario 1: converting a Python object to R. Now in scenario 2, we assume we still need to create that Python object.

Scenario 2:

As this scenario is considerably more complex than the previous one, we will explicitly concentrate on some aspects and leave out others. Importantly, we’ll not go into module loading, which would deserve separate treatment of its own. Instead, we try to shed a light on what’s involved using a concrete example: the ubiquitous, in keras code, keras_model_sequential(). All this R function does is

function(layers = NULL, name = NULL) {
  keras$models$Sequential(layers = layers, name = name)

How can keras$models$Sequential() give us an object? When in Python, you run the equivalent


this calls the constructor, that is, the __init__ method of the class:

class Sequential(training.Model):
  def __init__(self, layers=None, name=None):
    # ...
  # ...

So this time, before – as always, in the end – getting an R object back from Python, we need to call that constructor, that is, a Python callable. (Python callables subsume functions, constructors, and objects created from a class that has a call method.)

So when py_to_r, inspecting its argument’s type, sees it is a Python callable (wrapped in a PyObjectRef, the reticulate-specific subclass of Rcpp::Environment we talked about above), it wraps it (the PyObjectRef) in an R function, using Rcpp:

Rcpp::Function f = py_callable_as_function(pyFunc, convert);

The cpython-side action starts when py_callable_as_function then calls py_call_impl. py_call_impl executes the actual call and returns an R object, a SEXP. Now you may be asking, how does the Python runtime know it shouldn’t deallocate that object, now that its work is done? This is taken of by the same PyObjectRef class used to wrap instances of PyObject *: It can wrap SEXPs as well.

While a lot more could be said about what happens before we finally get to work with that Sequential model from R, let’s stop here and look at our third scenario.

Scenario 3: Calling R from Python

Not surprisingly, sometimes we need to pass R callbacks to Python. An example are R data generators that can be used with keras models 9.

In general, for R objects to be passed to Python, the process is somewhat opposite to what we described in example 1. Say we type:

py$a <- 1

This assigns 1 to a variable a in the python main module. To enable assignment, reticulate provides an implementation of the S3 generic $<-, $<-.python.builtin.object, which delegates to py_set_attr, which then calls py_set_attr_impl – yet another C++ function exported via Rcpp.

Let’s focus on a different aspect here, though. A prerequisite for the assignment to happen is getting that 1 converted to Python. (We’re using the simplest possible example, obviously; but you can imagine this getting a lot more complex if the object isn’t a simple number).

For our “minimal example”, we see a stacktrace like the following

#0 0x00007fffe4832010 in r_to_py_cpp(Rcpp::RObject_Impl<Rcpp::PreserveStorage>, bool)@plt () from /home/key/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.6/reticulate/libs/
#1  0x00007fffe4854f38 in r_to_py_impl (object=..., convert=convert@entry=true) at /home/key/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.6/Rcpp/include/RcppCommon.h:120
#2  0x00007fffe48418f3 in _reticulate_r_to_py_impl (objectSEXP=0x55555ec88fa8, convertSEXP=<optimized out>) at /home/key/R/x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu-library/3.6/Rcpp/include/Rcpp/as.h:151
#12 0x00007ffff7cc5c03 in dispatchMethod (sxp=0x55555d0cf1a0, dotClass=<optimized out>, cptr=cptr@entry=0x7ffffffeaae0, method=method@entry=0x55555bfe06c0, 
    generic=0x555557634458 "r_to_py", rho=0x55555d1d98a8, callrho=0x5555555af2d0, defrho=0x555557947430, op=<optimized out>, op=<optimized out>) at objects.c:436
#13 0x00007ffff7cc5fc7 in Rf_usemethod (generic=0x555557634458 "r_to_py", obj=obj@entry=0x55555ec88fa8, call=call@entry=0x55555c0317b8, args=args@entry=0x55555557cc60, 
    rho=rho@entry=0x55555d1d98a8, callrho=0x5555555af2d0, defrho=0x555557947430, ans=0x7ffffffe9928) at objects.c:486

Whereas r_to_py is a generic (like py_to_r above), r_to_py_impl is wrapped by Rcpp and r_to_py_cpp is a C++ function that branches on the type of the object – basically the counterpart of the C++ r_to_py.

In addition to that general process, there is more going on when we call an R function from Python. As Python doesn’t “speak” R, we need to wrap the R function in CPython - basically, we are extending Python here! How to do this is described in the official Extending Python Guide.

In official terms, what reticulate does it embed and extend Python. Embed, because it lets you use Python from inside R. Extend, because to enable Python to call back into R it needs to wrap R functions in C, so Python can understand them.

As part of the former, the desired Python is loaded (Py_Initialize()); as part of the latter, two functions are defined in a new module named rpycall, that will be loaded when Python itself is loaded.

PyImport_AppendInittab("rpycall", &initializeRPYCall);

These methods are call_r_function, used by default, and call_python_function_on_main_thread, used in cases where we need to make sure the R function is called on the main thread:

PyMethodDef RPYCallMethods[] = {
  { "call_r_function", (PyCFunction)call_r_function,
    METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, "Call an R function" },
  { "call_python_function_on_main_thread", (PyCFunction)call_python_function_on_main_thread,
    METH_VARARGS | METH_KEYWORDS, "Call a Python function on the main thread" },
  { NULL, NULL, 0, NULL }

call_python_function_on_main_thread is especially interesting. The R runtime is single-threaded; while the CPython implementation of Python effectively is as well, due to the Global Interpreter Lock, this is not automatically the case when other implementations are used, or C is used directly. So call_python_function_on_main_thread makes sure that unless we can execute on the main thread, we wait.

That’s it for our three “spotlights on reticulate”.


It goes without saying that there’s a lot about reticulate we didn’t cover in this article, such as memory management, initialization, or specifics of data conversion. Nonetheless, we hope we were able to shed a bit of light on the magic involved in calling TensorFlow from R.

R is a concise and elegant language, but to a high degree its power comes from its packages, including those that allow you to call into, and interact with, the outside world, such as deep learning frameworks or distributed processing engines. In this post, it was a special pleasure to focus on a central building block that makes much of this possible: reticulate.

Thanks for reading!

  1. or semi-official, dependent on the language; see the TensorFlow website to track status↩︎

  2. but see the “note on terminology” below↩︎

  3. Not without Rcpp either, but we’ll save that for the “Digging deeper” section.↩︎

  4. of which there are many, currently, accompanying the substantial changes related to the introduction of TF 2.0.↩︎

  5. It goes without saying that as a generic mediator between R and Python, reticulate can not provide convenience features for all R packages that use it.↩︎

  6. For a very nice introduction to debugging R with a debugger like gdb, see Kevin Ushey’s “Debugging with LLDB” That post uses lldb which is the standard debugger on Macintosh, while here we’re using gdb on linux; but mostly the behaviors are very similar.↩︎

  7. For a nice introduction, see version 1 of Advanced R.↩︎

  8. Not a copy-paste error: For a nice introduction, see version 2 of Advanced R.↩︎

  9. For performance reasons, it is often advisable to use tfdatasets instead.↩︎




For attribution, please cite this work as

Keydana (2019, Aug. 29). RStudio AI Blog: So, how come we can use TensorFlow from R?. Retrieved from

BibTeX citation

  author = {Keydana, Sigrid},
  title = {RStudio AI Blog: So, how come we can use TensorFlow from R?},
  url = {},
  year = {2019}