diff --git a/R/.Rprofile b/R/.Rprofile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..324e475a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/.Rprofile
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+if (nzchar(Sys.getenv("R_PROFILE_USER_OLD"))) {
+  source(Sys.getenv("R_PROFILE_USER_OLD"))
+} else if (file.exists(".Rprofile")) {
+  source(".Rprofile")
+} else if (file.exists("~/.Rprofile")) {
+  source("~/.Rprofile")
+}
+
+if (is.null(getOption("vscodeR"))) {
+  source(file.path(Sys.getenv(if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows") "USERPROFILE" else "HOME"), ".vscode-R", "init.R"))
+}
diff --git a/R/init.R b/R/init.R
index 852d4416d..329789bbf 100644
--- a/R/init.R
+++ b/R/init.R
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-if (interactive() && !identical(Sys.getenv("RSTUDIO"), "1")) {
+if (interactive() && Sys.getenv("TERM_PROGRAM") == "vscode") {
   if (requireNamespace("jsonlite", quietly = TRUE)) {
     local({
       pid <- Sys.getpid()
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 96165f4af..386bf1832 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -69,17 +69,53 @@ This extension contributes the following settings:
 An opt-in experimental R session watcher is implemented to support the following features:
 
 * Watch any R session
-* Show value of session symbol on hover
-* Provide completion for session symbol
-* `View()` data frames and list objects
-* Show plot output on update
-* Show htmlwidgets and shiny apps
+* Show value of session symbols on hover
+* Provide completion for session symbols
+* `View()` any objects including data frames and list objects
+* Show plot output on update and plot history
+* Show htmlwidgets, documentation and shiny apps in WebView
 
-To enable this feature, turn on `r.sessionWatcher` and append the following code to your `.Rprofile` (in your home directory):
+### Basic usage
 
-```r
-source(file.path(if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows") file.path(Sys.getenv("HOMEDRIVE"), Sys.getenv("HOMEPATH")) else Sys.getenv("HOME"), ".vscode-R", "init.R"))
-```
+To enable this feature, turn on `r.sessionWatcher` in VSCode settings, reload or restart VSCode, and the session watcher will be activated automatically
+on R sessions launched by vscode-R via `R: Create R Terminal` command.
+
+*If you previously appended the `source(...)` line to `~/.Rprofile`, you may safely remove it since the configuration for basic usage is automated. It is
+now only necessary for advanced usage described below.*
+
+### Advanced usage (for self-managed R sessions)
+
+For advanced users to work with self-managed R sessions (e.g. manually launched R terminal or started in `tmux` or `screen` window), some extra
+configuration is needed. Follow the steps below to make R session watcher work with any external R session:
+
+1. Turn on `r.sessionWatcher` in VSCode settings.
+2. Edit `.Rprofile` in your home directory by running the following code in R:
+
+    ```r
+    file.edit("~/.Rprofile")
+    ```
+
+3. Append the following code to the file:
+
+    ```r
+    source(file.path(Sys.getenv(if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows") "USERPROFILE" else "HOME"), ".vscode-R", "init.R"))
+    ```
+
+4. Restart or Reload Window in VSCode
+
+If the workspace folder you open in VSCode already has a `.Rprofile`, you need to append the code above in this file too because `~/.Rprofile` will not
+be executed when a local `.Rprofile` is found.
+
+The script only works with environment variable `TERM_PROGRAM=vscode`. the script will not take effect with R sessions started in a `tmux` or `screen` window that does not have it, unless this environment variable is manually set before sourcing `init.R`, for example, you may insert a line `Sys.setenv(TERM_PROGRAM="vscode")` before it.
+
+### How to disable it
+
+For the case of basic usage, turning off `r.sessionWatcher` in VSCode settings is sufficient
+to disable R session watcher.
+
+For the case of advanced usage, user should, in addition, comment out or remove the `source(...)` line appended to `~/.Rprofile`.
+
+### How it works
 
 This script writes the metadata of symbols in the global environment and plot file to `${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/vscode-R/PID` where `PID` is the R process ID. It also captures user input and append command lines to `${workspaceFolder}/.vscode/vscode-R/response.log`, which enables the communication between vscode-R and a live R sesson.
 
@@ -91,7 +127,7 @@ R sessions started from the workspace root folder will be automatically attached
 * R session started by vscode-R or user
 * R session in a `tmux` or `screen` window
 * Switch between multiple running R sessions
-* [Remote Development](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/remote-overview)
+* [Remote Development](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/remote-overview) via SSH, WSL and Docker
 
 The status bar item shows the process id of the attached R session. Click the status bar item and it will
 attach to currently active session.
@@ -100,6 +136,9 @@ attach to currently active session.
 
 ![R session watcher](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/4662568/70815935-65391480-1e09-11ea-9ad6-7ebbebf9a9c8.gif)
 
+*The R terminal used in the screenshot is [radian](https://github.com/randy3k/radian) which is cross-platform and
+supports syntax highlighting, auto-completion and many other features.*
+
 ## TODO
 
 * Debug
diff --git a/src/rTerminal.ts b/src/rTerminal.ts
index f492c0843..c59a5cef3 100644
--- a/src/rTerminal.ts
+++ b/src/rTerminal.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 "use strict";
 
+import os = require("os");
+import path = require("path");
+
 import { pathExists } from "fs-extra";
 import { isDeepStrictEqual } from "util";
-import { commands, Terminal, window } from "vscode";
+import { commands, Terminal, window, TerminalOptions } from "vscode";
 
 import { getSelection } from "./selection";
 import { removeSessionFiles } from "./session";
@@ -18,7 +21,18 @@ export function createRTerm(preserveshow?: boolean): boolean {
         const termOpt: string[] = config.get("rterm.option");
         pathExists(termPath, (err, exists) => {
             if (exists) {
-                rTerm = window.createTerminal(termName, termPath, termOpt);
+                let termOptions: TerminalOptions = {
+                    name: termName,
+                    shellPath: termPath,
+                    shellArgs: termOpt
+                };
+                if (config.get("sessionWatcher")) {
+                    termOptions.env = {
+                        R_PROFILE_USER_OLD: process.env.R_PROFILE_USER,
+                        R_PROFILE_USER: path.join(os.homedir(), ".vscode-R", ".Rprofile")
+                    };
+                }
+                rTerm = window.createTerminal(termOptions);
                 rTerm.show(preserveshow);
                 return true;
             }
diff --git a/src/session.ts b/src/session.ts
index 5571d34ba..97a53b639 100644
--- a/src/session.ts
+++ b/src/session.ts
@@ -20,13 +20,13 @@ const sessionDir = path.join(".vscode", "vscode-R");
 
 export function deploySessionWatcher(extensionPath: string) {
     resDir = path.join(extensionPath, "dist", "resources");
-    const srcPath = path.join(extensionPath, "R", "init.R");
     const targetDir = path.join(os.homedir(), ".vscode-R");
     if (!fs.existsSync(targetDir)) {
         fs.mkdirSync(targetDir);
     }
-    const targetPath = path.join(targetDir, "init.R");
-    fs.copySync(srcPath, targetPath);
+
+    fs.copySync(path.join(extensionPath, "R", "init.R"), path.join(targetDir, "init.R"));
+    fs.copySync(path.join(extensionPath, "R", ".Rprofile"), path.join(targetDir, ".Rprofile"));
 }
 
 export function startResponseWatcher(sessionStatusBarItem: StatusBarItem) {