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R Academy · Lesson

The future Framework

Use plan(multisession) and future() for asynchronous, portable parallelism.

Lesson 2 of 413 steps

The future Framework is a free R Academy lesson on CoddyKit. This is lesson 2 of 4. Any 3 lessons of this learning path are free to read in full — after that, CoddyKit PRO unlocks every lesson, plus hands-on practice with a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor. It is part of the R Academy learning path, and your progress syncs across the web and the CoddyKit app. The R Academy course includes 4 lessons in total.

What Is the future Package?

The future package provides a unified, high-level API for asynchronous and parallel programming in R. A future is a placeholder for a value that will be available later — possibly computed on another core or machine.

library(future)

# A simple future: computation happens asynchronously
f <- future({
  Sys.sleep(0.5)  # simulate slow work
  42
})

cat('Future created, doing other work...\n')

# Retrieve the result (blocks until done)
result <- value(f)
cat('Result:', result, '\n')

plan(): Choosing a Backend

plan() sets the execution strategy for all subsequent futures. The most common strategies are sequential (default, single-threaded), multisession (multiple R sessions, works everywhere), and multicore (forking, Unix/macOS only).

library(future)

# Default: sequential (no parallelism)
plan(sequential)
cat('Strategy:', class(plan())[1], '\n')

# Parallel with separate R sessions (works on Windows too)
plan(multisession, workers = 4)
cat('Strategy:', class(plan())[1], '\n')

# Forking (Unix/macOS only, lower overhead)
if (.Platform$OS.type != 'windows') {
  plan(multicore, workers = 4)
  cat('Strategy:', class(plan())[1], '\n')
}

# Reset to sequential
plan(sequential)

value(): Blocking on Results

value(f) blocks the current process until the future's computation completes and then returns the result. If the future threw an error, value() re-throws it in the calling session.

library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 2)

# Launch two slow tasks concurrently
f1 <- future({ Sys.sleep(0.3); sum(1:1000) })
f2 <- future({ Sys.sleep(0.3); prod(1:10) })

# Both run in parallel; total time ~ 0.3s not 0.6s
start <- proc.time()[['elapsed']]
v1 <- value(f1)
v2 <- value(f2)
elapsed <- proc.time()[['elapsed']] - start

cat('v1:', v1, ' v2:', v2, '\n')
cat('Elapsed:', round(elapsed, 2), 's\n')

plan(sequential)

The %<-% Operator

The %<-% operator is syntactic sugar for future() + lazy value(). It looks like a regular assignment but the right-hand side runs asynchronously. The value is retrieved the first time the variable is accessed.

library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 2)

# %<-% starts the computation immediately in the background
x %<-% {
  Sys.sleep(0.3)
  rnorm(5, mean = 10)
}

y %<-% {
  Sys.sleep(0.3)
  runif(5, min = 1, max = 5)
}

cat('Both running in background...\n')

# Accessing x or y here blocks until ready
cat('x:', round(x, 2), '\n')
cat('y:', round(y, 2), '\n')

plan(sequential)

Globals Auto-Detection

One of future's most powerful features is global variable detection: it automatically finds variables your future code references in the calling environment and ships them to the worker — no manual clusterExport() needed.

library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 2)

# These globals are auto-detected and sent to the worker
threshold <- 50
multiplier <- 3

f <- future({
  x <- threshold * multiplier  # uses both globals
  x + 1
})

cat('Result:', value(f), '\n')  # 151

# Inspect which globals were identified
future_obj <- future({
  threshold + multiplier
}, lazy = TRUE)
cat('Globals found:', paste(names(future::getGlobalsAndPackages(future_obj)$globals), collapse = ', '), '\n')

plan(sequential)

future_options: Tuning Behaviour

The future.options (accessed via options() or future::plan() arguments) control global settings: max allowed memory per future, the global detection strategy, and timeout behaviour.

library(future)

# Cap memory per future at 500 MB
options(future.globals.maxSize = 500 * 1024^2)  # bytes

# Disable automatic global detection (manual control)
options(future.globals.onReference = 'error')

# Inspect current settings
cat('Max globals size (MB):',
    getOption('future.globals.maxSize') / 1024^2, '\n')

# Restore defaults
options(future.globals.maxSize = 500 * 1024^2)
options(future.globals.onReference = NULL)

plan(multisession, workers = 2)

# Large object: you'd get an error if it exceeds the cap
big_vec <- 1:1e5  # small enough
f <- future(sum(big_vec))
cat('Sum:', value(f), '\n')

plan(sequential)

Nested Futures

Futures can be nested: a future can itself create inner futures. By default inner futures run sequentially unless you set a nested plan with plan(list(...)). This is useful for two-level parallelism.

library(future)

# Two-level parallelism: outer uses multisession, inner sequential
plan(list(multisession, sequential))

outer_futures <- lapply(1:3, function(i) {
  future({
    # Each outer worker runs its own sequential inner work
    inner <- lapply(1:4, function(j) i * j)
    unlist(inner)
  })
})

results <- lapply(outer_futures, value)
for (i in seq_along(results)) {
  cat('Outer', i, ':', results[[i]], '\n')
}

plan(sequential)

Error Handling with Futures

When a future computation throws an error, value() re-throws it. Wrap value() in tryCatch() to handle individual future errors without stopping your entire pipeline.

library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 2)

# This future will error
bad_future <- future(log(-1, base = 'oops'))  # invalid arg
good_future <- future(sqrt(144))

# Handle errors gracefully
bad_result <- tryCatch(
  value(bad_future),
  error = function(e) {
    cat('Caught error:', conditionMessage(e), '\n')
    NA
  }
)

good_result <- value(good_future)
cat('bad_result:', bad_result, '\n')
cat('good_result:', good_result, '\n')

plan(sequential)

Checking Future Status

resolved(f) returns TRUE if a future has finished without blocking. This lets you poll for completion and do useful work while waiting, creating a non-blocking polling loop.

library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 2)

f <- future({
  Sys.sleep(0.5)
  'done'
})

# Poll without blocking
counter <- 0
while (!resolved(f)) {
  counter <- counter + 1
  Sys.sleep(0.1)
  cat('Polling... (', counter, ')\n')
}

cat('Future resolved! Result:', value(f), '\n')
cat('Polled', counter, 'times\n')

plan(sequential)

Combining future with lapply

Combine lapply() with future() to fan out N tasks and lapply() with value() to collect results. This pattern gives you explicit control over when each future starts.

library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 4)

# Fan out: create all futures
params <- list(
  list(n = 1000, mean = 0),
  list(n = 1000, mean = 5),
  list(n = 1000, mean = 10),
  list(n = 1000, mean = -3)
)

futures <- lapply(params, function(p) {
  future({
    x <- rnorm(p$n, mean = p$mean)
    list(mean = mean(x), sd = sd(x))
  })
})

# Fan in: collect results
results <- lapply(futures, value)
for (i in seq_along(results)) {
  cat('Param mean', params[[i]]$mean,
      '-> observed mean:', round(results[[i]]$mean, 3), '\n')
}

plan(sequential)

Real Use Case: CV Fold Evaluation

Cross-validation is an embarrassingly parallel problem: each fold is independent. Using futures you can evaluate all K folds simultaneously, significantly cutting wall-clock time for expensive models.

library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 4)

set.seed(42)
data <- data.frame(x = rnorm(200), y = rnorm(200))
fold_ids <- sample(rep(1:4, 50))

# Launch all folds in parallel
fold_futures <- lapply(1:4, function(k) {
  future({
    train <- data[fold_ids != k, ]
    test  <- data[fold_ids == k, ]
    fit   <- lm(y ~ x, data = train)
    preds <- predict(fit, newdata = test)
    rmse  <- sqrt(mean((test$y - preds)^2))
    rmse
  })
})

rmses <- unlist(lapply(fold_futures, value))
cat('Fold RMSEs:', round(rmses, 4), '\n')
cat('Mean RMSE:', round(mean(rmses), 4), '\n')

plan(sequential)

Quick Check

You want to run parallel code that works on both Windows and macOS. Which plan() strategy should you choose?

Answer it in the interactive lesson

Recap: future Framework

Key takeaways:

  • future({expr}) runs an expression asynchronously; value(f) retrieves the result
  • %<-% is syntactic sugar — assignment with lazy future evaluation
  • plan(multisession) for cross-platform; plan(multicore) for Unix/macOS forking
  • Globals are auto-detected and shipped to workers — no clusterExport() needed
  • resolved(f) checks completion without blocking
  • Wrap value() in tryCatch() for error-resilient pipelines
  • Always call plan(sequential) or plan() to reset when done
library(future)
plan(multisession, workers = 2)

# Concise pattern: fan-out then fan-in
task <- function(i) future({ i^2 + i })
results <- lapply(1:6, task)
cat(unlist(lapply(results, value)), '\n')  # 2 6 12 20 30 42

plan(sequential)
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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the “The future Framework” lesson free?

Yes — any 3 lessons of the R Academy learning path, including “The future Framework”, are free to read in full here on the web. After that, CoddyKit PRO unlocks every lesson, plus interactive practice with a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor. The R Academy course includes 4 lessons in total.

What will I learn in “The future Framework”?

Use plan(multisession) and future() for asynchronous, portable parallelism. You practise R Academy with hands-on code you run directly in the browser, and a 24/7 AI tutor answers your questions as you work through the lesson.

Do I need any experience to start R Academy?

No prior experience is required. R Academy on CoddyKit is structured for beginners through advanced learners, so you can start here or from the beginning and move at your own pace. This is lesson 2 of 4.

How long does the “The future Framework” lesson take?

Most CoddyKit lessons take about 5–10 minutes. Each one is bite-sized and interactive, so you make steady progress and pick up exactly where you left off across the web and the app.

Can I write and run code in this R Academy lesson?

Yes. Every R Academy lesson includes a built-in code editor, so you write and run real code right in your browser and get instant AI feedback — no local setup required.

All lessons in this course

  1. parallel Package and detectCores()
  2. The future Framework
  3. furrr: Parallel purrr Operations
  4. Debugging and Load Balancing Parallel Code
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