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plotly
Create interactive scientific and statistical charts with Plotly. Use when a user asks to build data visualizations, scatter plots, 3D charts, statistical graphs, or dashboards using Plotly.js or react-plotly.js.
#charts#interactive#python#javascript#dashboard
terminal-skillsv1.0.0
Works with:claude-codeopenai-codexgemini-clicursor
Usage
$
✓ Installed plotly v1.0.0
Getting Started
- Install the skill using the command above
- Open your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Cursor)
- Reference the skill in your prompt
- The AI will use the skill's capabilities automatically
Example Prompts
- "Analyze the sales data in revenue.csv and identify trends"
- "Create a visualization comparing Q1 vs Q2 performance metrics"
Documentation
Overview
You are an expert in Plotly, the interactive charting library for Python and JavaScript. You help developers create publication-quality interactive charts — scatter plots, heatmaps, 3D surfaces, geographic maps, financial charts, and statistical plots with hover tooltips, zoom, and export capabilities.
Instructions
Python (Plotly Express)
python
# Quick, high-level API for common chart types
import plotly.express as px
import pandas as pd
# Scatter plot with color and size encoding
df = px.data.gapminder().query("year == 2007")
fig = px.scatter(
df, x="gdpPercap", y="lifeExp",
size="pop", color="continent",
hover_name="country",
log_x=True,
size_max=60,
title="GDP vs Life Expectancy (2007)"
)
fig.show()
# Time series with multiple lines
df = px.data.stocks()
fig = px.line(df, x="date", y=["GOOG", "AAPL", "AMZN", "FB", "MSFT"],
title="Stock Prices Over Time")
fig.update_layout(yaxis_title="Price ($)", legend_title="Company")
fig.show()
# Heatmap
fig = px.imshow(
correlation_matrix,
text_auto=".2f",
color_continuous_scale="RdBu_r",
title="Feature Correlation Matrix"
)
fig.show()
# Geographic choropleth
fig = px.choropleth(
df, locations="iso_alpha", color="gdpPercap",
hover_name="country",
color_continuous_scale="Viridis",
title="GDP Per Capita by Country"
)
fig.show()
# Subplots
from plotly.subplots import make_subplots
import plotly.graph_objects as go
fig = make_subplots(rows=2, cols=2,
subplot_titles=("Revenue", "Users", "Churn", "NPS"))
fig.add_trace(go.Bar(x=months, y=revenue), row=1, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=months, y=users, mode="lines"), row=1, col=2)
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=months, y=churn, fill="tozeroy"), row=2, col=1)
fig.add_trace(go.Indicator(mode="gauge+number", value=72, gauge={"axis": {"range": [0, 100]}}), row=2, col=2)
fig.update_layout(height=600, showlegend=False)
fig.show()
JavaScript (Plotly.js)
typescript
import Plotly from "plotly.js-dist-min";
// Create interactive chart in the browser
Plotly.newPlot("chart", [
{
x: dates,
y: values,
type: "scatter",
mode: "lines+markers",
name: "Revenue",
line: { color: "#4f46e5", width: 2 },
hovertemplate: "%{x}<br>$%{y:,.0f}<extra></extra>",
},
], {
title: "Monthly Revenue",
xaxis: { title: "Date" },
yaxis: { title: "Revenue ($)", tickformat: "$,.0f" },
hovermode: "x unified",
});
// React wrapper
import Plot from "react-plotly.js";
<Plot
data={[{ x: [1,2,3], y: [2,6,3], type: "scatter", mode: "lines+markers" }]}
layout={{ width: 800, height: 400, title: "My Chart" }}
/>
Dash (Python Web Framework)
python
# Build interactive dashboards with Plotly + Dash
from dash import Dash, html, dcc, callback, Output, Input
import plotly.express as px
app = Dash(__name__)
app.layout = html.Div([
html.H1("Sales Dashboard"),
dcc.Dropdown(id="region-filter",
options=[{"label": r, "value": r} for r in regions],
value="All", multi=False),
dcc.Graph(id="revenue-chart"),
dcc.Graph(id="breakdown-chart"),
])
@callback(
Output("revenue-chart", "figure"),
Input("region-filter", "value")
)
def update_chart(region):
filtered = df if region == "All" else df[df.region == region]
return px.line(filtered, x="date", y="revenue", title=f"Revenue — {region}")
app.run(debug=True)
Installation
bash
pip install plotly pandas # Python
pip install dash # Dash framework
npm install plotly.js-dist-min # JavaScript (minimal bundle)
npm install react-plotly.js # React wrapper
Examples
Example 1: User asks to set up plotly
User: "Help me set up plotly for my project"
The agent should:
- Check system requirements and prerequisites
- Install or configure plotly
- Set up initial project structure
- Verify the setup works correctly
Example 2: User asks to build a feature with plotly
User: "Create a dashboard using plotly"
The agent should:
- Scaffold the component or configuration
- Connect to the appropriate data source
- Implement the requested feature
- Test and validate the output
Guidelines
- Plotly Express for 80% of charts — Use
px.scatter,px.line,px.barfor quick charts; drop togo.Figureonly for complex customization - Hover templates — Customize hover text with
hovertemplate;%{x},%{y},%{text}are variables - Dash for dashboards — Use Dash (not Streamlit) when you need Plotly-specific interactivity and callbacks
- Export to static — Use
fig.write_image("chart.png")for reports; requireskaleidopackage - Subplots for comparison — Use
make_subplotsfor multi-chart dashboards; shared axes for alignment - Minimal JS bundle — Use
plotly.js-dist-min(800KB) instead of fullplotly.js(3MB+) in web apps - Color scales — Use perceptually uniform scales (Viridis, Plasma) for quantitative data; categorical palettes for groups
- 3D sparingly — 3D charts look impressive but are hard to read; use 2D unless the third dimension adds real insight
Information
- Version
- 1.0.0
- Author
- terminal-skills
- Category
- Data & AI
- License
- Apache-2.0