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Comparison · Infra & APIs
cocoon vs rgm
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cocoon and rgm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
cocoon vs rgm: at a glance
What is cocoon?
A statistics-formatting helper in maintenance mode, tracking R-devel one fix at a time
cocoon formats statistical output for manuscripts, converting model and test objects into publication-ready strings. Its surface settled early: format_stats() is a generic that dispatches on object class, introduced in 0.1.0 to supersede the earlier format_corr() and format_ttest(), and extended in 0.2.0 to cover aov, lm, glm and the lme4 and lmerTest mixed-model families. The two releases since have been single-issue compatibility fixes against changes to wilcox.test() in R-devel.
What is rgm?
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.
cocoon vs rgm: editorial side-by-side
cocoon
0.0INFRA · APIS
A statistics-formatting helper in maintenance mode, tracking R-devel one fix at a time
◆ Current state
cocoon formats statistical output for manuscripts, converting model and test objects into publication-ready strings. Its surface settled early: format_stats() is a generic that dispatches on object class, introduced in 0.1.0 to supersede the earlier format_corr() and format_ttest(), and extended in 0.2.0 to cover aov, lm, glm and the lme4 and lmerTest mixed-model families. The two releases since have been single-issue compatibility fixes against changes to wilcox.test() in R-devel.
◆ Where it's heading
The package reached feature completeness for its stated job quickly and has been in maintenance since early 2025. Both 0.2.1 and 0.3.1 address the same upstream moving part - how wilcox.test() computes exact versus asymptotic distributions in development versions of R - which is the shape of a package whose own code is stable and whose risk lives entirely in what it wraps. Nothing in the recent entries points at new statistical object types.
◆ Prediction
Further releases are likely to stay reactive, triggered by R-devel or dependency changes rather than by new formatting methods, unless a specific model class is requested.
rgm
0.0INFRA · APIS
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
◆ Current state
rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.
◆ Where it's heading
Three tags shipped inside two hours on one day, and the notes are candid about why: 1.1.0 held the actual work but was never released, 1.2.0 restated it under a higher version to signal the size of the change, and 1.2.1 answered CRAN pre-test feedback. Beyond the archival recovery, the visible work is housekeeping that had accumulated — a shadowed rmvnorm() definition, roxygen import tags that were silently emitting nothing, leftover C++ template scaffolding, and build artifacts under version control. The diagnostics function is the only genuinely new user-facing capability in the window.
◆ Prediction
The immediate task was restoring availability, and that is done; the open question the entries raise is whether losing the graphical-lasso warm start affects convergence in practice, which the new diagnostic plots are positioned to answer.
Alternatives to cocoon and rgm
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either cocoon or rgm.
WPML
WPML made machine translation the default, and its point releases keep chasing WordPress and page builders.
forestploter
A forest plot package that keeps handing users control of one more graphical detail.
ggInterval
Interval-valued data plotting, spending 2026 making its function names and examples survive CRAN.
contagionchannels
Three releases in ten days, every one of them a CRAN reviewer's correction rather than a code change.
tidyaudit
Pipeline provenance for tidyverse workflows, recording what changed at each step without keeping the data.
Recent activity from cocoon and rgm
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agococoonTest fix for wilcox.test changes in R-devel
- 3mo agorgmJournal DOI replaces the preprint; promotional wording removed
- 3mo agorgmBack on CRAN after dropping the dependency that caused archival
- 3mo agorgmUnreleased twin of the CRAN recovery release
- 11mo agococoonSuppress an R-devel warning in htest testing
- 1y agococoonformat_stats gains regression and mixed-model methods
- 1y agococoonformat_stats generic supersedes the per-test formatters
- 1y agococoonPre-release tag of the 0.1.0 contents
- 2y agorgmFirst release: simulation, estimation and post-processing
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cocoon and rgm?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. cocoon and rgm are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is cocoon better than rgm?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cocoon and rgm are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to cocoon?
Top cocoon alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "cocoon alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cocoon for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rgm?
Top rgm alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rgm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rgm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.