diff --git a/R/01.R b/R/01.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..859c734
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R/01.R
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+.onLoad <- function(libname, pkgname){
+  options("DataPackageR_interact" = interactive())
+}
diff --git a/R/autodoc.R b/R/autodoc.R
index d56eb75..281e27d 100644
--- a/R/autodoc.R
+++ b/R/autodoc.R
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 
-# function .dog_generate() automates the creation of a basic roxygen template for the package and each object in objects_to_keep
+
+# function .doc_autogen() automates the creation of a basic roxygen template for the package and each object in objects_to_keep
 # arguments are pname and ds2kp, normally defined in datasets.R
 # pname is name of package, ds2kp is list of objects to save in data package
 .doc_autogen <- function(pname, ds2kp, env, path, name = "documentation.R") {
@@ -92,3 +93,4 @@
   }
   close(con)
 }
+
diff --git a/R/processData.R b/R/processData.R
index 044c142..7b91627 100644
--- a/R/processData.R
+++ b/R/processData.R
@@ -345,7 +345,7 @@ DataPackageR <- function(arg = NULL, deps = TRUE) {
           pkg_description,
           new_data_digest
         )
-        .update_news_md(updated_version$new_data_digest[["DataVersion"]])
+        .update_news_md(updated_version$new_data_digest[["DataVersion"]], interact = getOption("DataPackageR_interact",interactive()))
         pkg_description <- updated_version$pkg_description
         new_data_digest <- updated_version$new_data_digest
         can_write <- TRUE
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ DataPackageR <- function(arg = NULL, deps = TRUE) {
           pkg_description,
           new_data_digest
         )
-        .update_news_md(updated_version$new_data_digest[["DataVersion"]])
+        .update_news_md(updated_version$new_data_digest[["DataVersion"]], interact = getOption("DataPackageR_interact",interactive()))
         pkg_description <- updated_version$pkg_description
         new_data_digest <- updated_version$new_data_digest
         can_write <- TRUE
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ DataPackageR <- function(arg = NULL, deps = TRUE) {
         do_documentation <- TRUE
       }
     } else {
-      .update_news_md(new_data_digest[["DataVersion"]])
+      .update_news_md(new_data_digest[["DataVersion"]], interact = getOption("DataPackageR_interact",interactive()))
       .save_data(new_data_digest,
         pkg_description,
         ls(dataenv),
diff --git a/R/prompt.R b/R/prompt.R
index c0af9ca..df2f090 100644
--- a/R/prompt.R
+++ b/R/prompt.R
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
-.prompt_user_for_change_description <- function() {
+.prompt_user_for_change_description <- function(interact = getOption("DataPackageR_interact",interactive())) {
   cat(crayon::cyan("Enter a text description of the changes for the NEWS file.\n")) # nolint
-  change_description <- ifelse(interactive(), readline(prompt = "+ "),
+  change_description <- ifelse(interactive() & interact, readline(prompt = "+ "),
     "Package built in non-interactive mode"
   )
   return(change_description)
 }
 
-.update_news_md <- function(version = "Version Not Provided") {
+.update_news_md <- function(version = "Version Not Provided", interact = getOption("DataPackageR_interact",interactive())) {
   news_file <- .newsfile()
-  change_description <- .prompt_user_for_change_description()
+  change_description <- .prompt_user_for_change_description(interact = interact)
   news_con <- file(news_file, open = "r+")
   news_file_data <- readLines(news_con)
   writeLines(
diff --git a/tests/testthat.R b/tests/testthat.R
index ef0a9bc..57132c2 100644
--- a/tests/testthat.R
+++ b/tests/testthat.R
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 library(testthat)
 library(DataPackageR)
-
+options("DataPackageR_interact" = FALSE)
 test_check("DataPackageR")
+options("DataPackageR_interact" = interactive())