diff --git a/swh/lister/core/tests/conftest.py b/swh/lister/core/tests/conftest.py
--- a/swh/lister/core/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/swh/lister/core/tests/conftest.py
@@ -12,4 +12,5 @@
         'swh.lister.npm.tasks',
         'swh.lister.pypi.tasks',
         'swh.lister.phabricator.tasks',
+        'swh.lister.rcran.tasks',
     ]
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/__init__.py b/swh/lister/rcran/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/list_all_the_packages.R b/swh/lister/rcran/list_all_the_packages.R
new file mode 100755
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/lister/rcran/list_all_the_packages.R
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/usr/bin/Rscript
+
+db <- tools::CRAN_package_db()
+dbjson <- jsonlite::toJSON(db)
+write(dbjson, stdout())
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/lister.py b/swh/lister/rcran/lister.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/lister/rcran/lister.py
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2019 the Software Heritage developers
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+import subprocess
+import json
+import logging
+
+from swh.lister.rcran.models import RCRANModel
+
+from swh.scheduler import utils
+from swh.lister.core.simple_lister import SimpleLister
+
+
+class RCRANLister(SimpleLister):
+    MODEL = RCRANModel
+    LISTER_NAME = 'rcran'
+
+    def __init__(self, override_config=None):
+        SimpleLister.__init__(self, override_config=override_config)
+
+    def task_dict(self, origin_type, origin_url, **kwargs):
+        """(Override) Return task format dict
+
+        This is overridden from the lister_base as more information is
+        needed for the ingestion task creation.
+
+        """
+        _type = 'origin-update-%s' % origin_type
+        _policy = 'recurring'
+        project_name = kwargs.get('name')
+        project_version = kwargs.get('version')
+        project_metadata = kwargs.get('description')
+        return utils.create_task_dict(
+            _type, _policy, project_name, origin_url, project_version,
+            project_metadata=project_metadata)
+
+    def r_script_request(self):
+        """(Override) Runs r script which uses inbuilt API to return a json
+            response containing data about all the R packages
+
+        Returns:
+            JSON response
+
+        """
+        response = subprocess.getoutput("./list_all_the_packages.R")
+        return json.loads(response)
+
+    def list_packages(self, response):
+        """(Override) List the actual rcran origins from the response.
+
+        """
+        pass
+
+    def _compute_urls(self, repo):
+        """Returns a tuple (project_url, project_metadata_url)
+
+        """
+        return (
+            'https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/%s_%s.tar.gz' %
+            (repo["Package"], repo["Version"])
+        )
+
+    def get_model_from_repo(self, repo):
+        """(Override) Transform from repository representation to model
+
+        """
+        project_url = self._compute_urls(repo)
+        return {
+            'uid': repo["Package"],
+            'name': repo["Package"],
+            'full_name': repo["Title"],
+            'version': repo["Version"],
+            'html_url': project_url,
+            'origin_url': project_url,
+            'origin_type': 'rcran',
+            'description': repo["Description"]
+        }
+
+    def transport_response_simplified(self, response):
+        """(Override) Transform response to list for model manipulation
+
+        """
+        return [self.get_model_from_repo(repo_name) for repo_name in response]
+
+    def ingest_data(self, identifier, checks=False):
+        """(Override)Rework the base ingest_data.
+           Request server endpoint which gives all in one go.
+
+           Simplify and filter response list of repositories.  Inject
+           repo information into local db. Queue loader tasks for
+           linked repositories.
+
+        Args:
+            identifier: Resource identifier (unused)
+            checks (bool): Additional checks required (unused)
+
+        """
+        response = self.r_script_request()
+        if not response:
+            return response, []
+        models_list = self.transport_response_simplified(response)
+        models_list = self.filter_before_inject(models_list)
+        all_injected = []
+        for models in utils.grouper(models_list, n=10000):
+            models = list(models)
+            logging.debug('models: %s' % len(models))
+            # inject into local db
+            injected = self.inject_repo_data_into_db(models)
+            # queue workers
+            self.create_missing_origins_and_tasks(models, injected)
+            all_injected.append(injected)
+            # flush
+            self.db_session.commit()
+            self.db_session = self.mk_session()
+
+        return response, all_injected
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/models.py b/swh/lister/rcran/models.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/lister/rcran/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2019 the Software Heritage developers
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+from sqlalchemy import Column, String
+
+from swh.lister.core.models import ModelBase
+
+
+class RCRANModel(ModelBase):
+    """a RCRAN repository representation
+
+    """
+    __tablename__ = 'rcran_repo'
+
+    uid = Column(String, primary_key=True)
+    version = Column(String)
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/tasks.py b/swh/lister/rcran/tasks.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/lister/rcran/tasks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2019 the Software Heritage developers
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+from swh.scheduler.celery_backend.config import app
+
+from swh.lister.rcran.lister import RCRANLister
+
+
+@app.task(name=__name__ + '.RCRANListerTask')
+def rcran_lister(**lister_args):
+    RCRANLister(**lister_args).run()
+
+
+@app.task(name=__name__ + '.ping')
+def ping():
+    return 'OK'
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/tests/__init__.py b/swh/lister/rcran/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/tests/conftest.py b/swh/lister/rcran/tests/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/lister/rcran/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+from swh.lister.core.tests.conftest import *  # noqa
diff --git a/swh/lister/rcran/tests/test_tasks.py b/swh/lister/rcran/tests/test_tasks.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/lister/rcran/tests/test_tasks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+
+def test_ping(swh_app, celery_session_worker):
+    res = swh_app.send_task(
+        'swh.lister.rcran.tasks.ping')
+    assert res
+    res.wait()
+    assert res.successful()
+    assert res.result == 'OK'
+
+
+@patch('swh.lister.rcran.tasks.RCRANLister')
+def test_lister(lister, swh_app, celery_session_worker):
+    # setup the mocked RCRANLister
+    lister.return_value = lister
+    lister.run.return_value = None
+
+    res = swh_app.send_task(
+        'swh.lister.rcran.tasks.RCRANListerTask')
+    assert res
+    res.wait()
+    assert res.successful()
+
+    lister.assert_called_once_with()
+    lister.db_last_index.assert_not_called()
+    lister.run.assert_called_once_with()