r2rtf
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
Comparison · Analytics
lime vs spiro
A side-by-side editorial comparison of lime and spiro — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
lime vs spiro: at a glance
What is lime?
The R port of LIME has shipped one commit in three years, and it was an xgboost compatibility patch
lime is the R implementation of local interpretable model-agnostic explanations, and it is effectively in preservation rather than development. Its last substantive feature release was 0.5.0 in 2019; 0.5.3 in 2022 recorded a maintainer handover and general upkeep; 0.5.4 in December 2025 exists solely to keep the package working across xgboost versions. Six releases span eight years, and only two of them contain features.
What is spiro?
Cardiopulmonary exercise test data in R, one metabolic cart vendor at a time.
spiro imports and processes cardiopulmonary exercise testing data in R, handling the file formats that metabolic carts from Cosmed, Cortex, Vyntus, and ZAN emit, then interpolating, smoothing, and summarizing them into comparable variables. The bulk of ongoing work is vendor format compatibility rather than analysis features — 0.2.4 fixed Cosmed imports failing in rare cases and Cortex imports on newer devices, and 0.2.2 added English-language Vyntus files after 0.1.2 added French ones. The analysis side, spiro_max(), spiro_smooth() and spiro_plot(), has been stable for some time.
lime vs spiro: editorial side-by-side
lime
0.0ANALYTICS
The R port of LIME has shipped one commit in three years, and it was an xgboost compatibility patch
◆ Current state
lime is the R implementation of local interpretable model-agnostic explanations, and it is effectively in preservation rather than development. Its last substantive feature release was 0.5.0 in 2019; 0.5.3 in 2022 recorded a maintainer handover and general upkeep; 0.5.4 in December 2025 exists solely to keep the package working across xgboost versions. Six releases span eight years, and only two of them contain features.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern is upstream-driven survival: every release since 0.5.0 responds to a change in something lime depends on — glmnet's namespace, order() semantics on data frames, xgboost's interface. The one deliberate change in that stretch was moving htmlwidgets, shiny and shinythemes to Suggests, which lightens installation for the majority of users who never open the interactive explainer. Nothing in the feed indicates work on the explanation method itself.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release, whenever it comes, to be another compatibility patch triggered by a dependency change rather than anything touching how explanations are computed. The three-year gaps make timing unpredictable.
spiro
0.0ANALYTICS
Cardiopulmonary exercise test data in R, one metabolic cart vendor at a time.
◆ Current state
spiro imports and processes cardiopulmonary exercise testing data in R, handling the file formats that metabolic carts from Cosmed, Cortex, Vyntus, and ZAN emit, then interpolating, smoothing, and summarizing them into comparable variables. The bulk of ongoing work is vendor format compatibility rather than analysis features — 0.2.4 fixed Cosmed imports failing in rare cases and Cortex imports on newer devices, and 0.2.2 added English-language Vyntus files after 0.1.2 added French ones. The analysis side, spiro_max(), spiro_smooth() and spiro_plot(), has been stable for some time.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a mature rOpenSci package whose remaining work is dictated by other people's file formats. Each device firmware revision, each regional language variant, and each ggplot2 release generates maintenance, and that is what fills the changelog. The API itself settled early, with the 0.1.0 rOpenSci review pass renaming the protocol helpers to the pt_* prefix and 0.2.0 replacing the confusingly named spiro_import() with spiro_raw().
◆ Prediction
Expect the pattern to continue: import fixes as vendor formats shift and periodic plotting updates tracking ggplot2, with no indication of new analysis capability.
Alternatives to lime and spiro
Other Analytics 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 lime or spiro.
DoseFinding
New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing
webmockr
The stubbing library added httr2 support, then spent a year cutting itself free of everything else
crul
crul took mocking back from webmockr and made it a property of the client itself
dendroNetwork
Six releases, six identical bodies — the feed carries the package abstract instead of release notes
chattr
chattr deleted every LLM integration it had written and outsourced the lot to ellmer
Recent activity from lime and spiro
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agospiroCosmed and Cortex import fixes for newer devices
- 8mo agolimexgboost compatibility restored across versions
- 1y agospiroEnglish-language Vyntus files supported
- 3y agospiroR-devel compatibility and data frame printing fix
- 3y agospirospiro_raw() replaces the misleading spiro_import()
- 3y agospiroFrench Vyntus support and protocol duration control
- 3y agospirospiro 0.1.1
- 3y agolimeMaintainer handover and general upkeep
- 5y agolimeShiny dependencies moved to Suggests
- 6y agolimeNamespace fix for glmnet changes
- 7y agolimegower_pow added and lambda aligned with the Python implementation
- 8y agolimeh2o support, NA handling, and date columns held during permutation
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between lime and spiro?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. lime and spiro 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 lime better than spiro?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. lime and spiro 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 Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to lime?
Top lime alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "lime alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/lime for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to spiro?
Top spiro alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "spiro alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/spiro for the full list with editorial commentary on each.