I think clj-stan works by using the command line Stan executable. When I use Stan, I reach for R packages like rstan, rstanarm, brms, or rethinking rather than Clojure. Mainly because it is used and more mature. I do think clj-stan likely works well but may require more intimate knowledge of the Stan language than from R (or Python)

Thanks, yeah I think you’re right

For others less familiar with Stan, these R libraries go a fair way to write the Stan language code for you, making optimizations along the way, as opposed to simply evaling the stan language code (like evaling Vega language for plots). Along those lines, I imagine sooner or later helper libraries or functions that help write common Vega might be underway...