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masque

Structurally faithful development surrogates for tabular data.

masque turns a confidential tabular dataset – a single table, a folder of files, or a multi-sheet workbook – into a structurally faithful synthetic clone whose experimental design, NA pattern, and global covariance are close enough to the original that pipeline code runs unchanged. It returns a private recipe that round-trips: a pipeline written against the synthetic re-targets to the original data with no source changes.

The custodian holds the data and the recipe; the analyst gets only the synthetic. masque bridges that gap.

Version 0.9.1 (development). Pre-CRAN; tagged releases on the GitHub repository.

Installation

From GitHub:

# install.packages("pak")
pak::pak("max578/masque")

A companion r-universe distribution will provide pre-built binaries once the registry is live:

install.packages("masque", repos = "https://max578.r-universe.dev")

CRAN submission is in preparation.

Two-minute example 

library(masque)

# Read a small public fixture (alpha-design field trial; John & Williams, 1995).
f  <- system.file("extdata", "john_alpha.csv", package = "masque")
df <- read.csv(f, stringsAsFactors = TRUE)

# One guided call: read -> propose roles -> (review) -> mask -> audit.
# In an interactive session it pauses to let you review the plan.
m <- masque(df, mode = "collaborate", seed = 1L)

synth <- synthetic(m)   # hand this to the analyst
rec   <- recipe(m)      # keep this private

# Analyst builds a pipeline against the synthetic namespace ...
fit <- lm(yield ~ gen + rep, data = synth)

# ... and the custodian re-targets it to the original data.
preds <- predict(fit, newdata = apply_recipe(df, rec))

A folder of files or a multi-sheet workbook works the same way – pass the path to masque() and it masks every table at once, aliasing shared keys consistently so the synthetic tables still join.

See vignette("getting_started", package = "masque") for the full walk-through.

Multi-environment trials

detect_design() treats environment scope, treatment connectivity, and within-environment design as separate questions. It conservatively recognises explicit environment columns and common site-year structures, while uncertain or competing candidates remain unresolved. propose_roles() protects only high-confidence environment allocations automatically: local mode keeps the values, while collaborate mode aliases categorical environment labels without moving observations between environments. Numeric environment labels remain visible and raise a disclosure warning for review.

Preserving allocation structure does not preserve genotype-by-environment effects in synthesised outcomes. The clone remains a pipeline-development surrogate, not a substitute dataset for scientific inference.

Threat model

masque is not a privacy-preserving or differential-privacy tool. It is a structurally faithful development surrogate with explicit confidentiality guardrails. Read vignette("confidentiality", package = "masque") before using.

What masque does

  • Preserves enough structure for pipelines to run unchanged.
  • Provides two explicit modes: local for owner-only realistic surrogates, and collaborate for controlled sharing with opaque aliasing, numeric jitter, and an automatic leakage audit.
  • Preserves the treatment-to-outcome relationship on request (conditional = TRUE), so a causal model fitted on the clone recovers the real treatment effect, not just the marginal distribution.
  • Records every translation (column names, factor levels) in a private recipe object that is, at minimum, as sensitive as the original data.
  • Audits its own output (audit_mask()), raises HIGH findings as classed warnings the guided flow never silences, and refuses package-managed writes while a HIGH finding stands (an explicit allow_high = TRUE override is available, warned and recorded in the recipe).

What masque does not do

  • It is not a universal anonymiser, and it does not provide differential-privacy guarantees.
  • It does not make outputs safe for public release.
  • It does not anonymise rare strata, small designs, or operational metadata (small site-by-year combinations, contact names, geolocations).
  • It does not certify compliance with any privacy, health, banking, or research-governance obligation. It can contribute evidence to such a decision; the decision itself is organisational and legal.
  • It does not rewrite arbitrary pipeline source code.

Bottom line. Generating a synthetic table is not a release decision. In Five Safes terms, masque contributes to Safe Data and Safe Outputs; Safe People, Safe Projects, and Safe Settings are governance questions no package can answer. The recipe is at least as sensitive as the original. Never share the recipe and the synthetic together. The collaborate workflow assumes only the synthetic crosses the trust boundary.

Documentation

Reference index: https://max578.github.io/masque/ — full per-function docs + rendered vignettes, deployed from the gh-pages branch.

API stability policy: see API_STABILITY.md.

Citation 

citation("masque")

The package also ships a CITATION.cff file; GitHub renders a “Cite this repository” widget on the repo landing page.

License

MIT. See LICENSE and LICENSE.md.