paul-buerkner/brms

Consider replacing `asym_laplace_*` with native version from Stan?

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#1,836 opened on Nov 13, 2025

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Stanefficiencygood first issue

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Description

Stan since 2.28 has natively adopted Asym Laplace and named skew double exponential distribution.

Perhaps it would speed up the sampler by using the native version for asym_laplace family?

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate the native Asymmetric Laplace distribution in Stan (skew double exponential) and compare its performance with the current custom implementation in brms. Check version compatibility and any API differences.
Tech stack
r
Domain
machine learning
Issue type
Refactor
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
RStan
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
40