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Charts

Scatter chart

Two measures against each other, one mark per record, optionally sized by a third.

Any two marks in a scatter can end up side by side, so the palette has to hold across every pair rather than only neighbours — which it does for the first three slots. Past three series, facet into small multiples instead of adding colours. z sizes a mark by area, which is a rough third measure and not a precise one; it gets its own tooltip row under zLabel rather than a third scale, and belongs in the card's footer as a legend if the sizes carry meaning. Marks wear a ring in var(--chart-surface, var(--card)) so overlapping points stay countable — set --chart-surface when the chart sits on the page instead of in a card. Every point is also rendered as a visually hidden row.

Install

npx shadcn@latest add @vibra/scatter-chart

Needs the @vibra registry in your components.json — set it up once.

Examples

Props

PropTypeDefaultDescription
seriesScatterSeries[]palette in orderGroups of points, as { name, color?, data }. Each point is { x, y, z?, label? }.
xLabelstring"x"What the horizontal axis measures; printed under it and read in the tooltip.
yLabelstring"y"What the vertical axis measures; printed beside it and read in the tooltip.
zLabelstring"size"What z measures. It reads in the tooltip and the text list, never on an axis — there is no third scale to print.
xFormatter(n: number) => stringthousands-separated numberFormats the horizontal ticks, tooltip, and text rows.
yFormatter(n: number) => stringthousands-separated numberFormats the vertical ticks, tooltip, and text rows.
zFormatter(n: number) => stringthousands-separated numberFormats the bubble measure in the tooltip and the text rows.
heightnumber280Plot height in pixels.
showGridbooleantrueHairline reference lines both ways — both axes are continuous here.
showLegendbooleantrueShows the key beneath the plot. With it off the key becomes the visually hidden list of series names. A single series never draws one.

Dependencies

Source

components/ui/scatter-chart.tsx
"use client"

import * as React from "react"
import { CartesianGrid, ScatterChart as RechartsScatterChart, Scatter, XAxis, YAxis, ZAxis } from "recharts"

import { cn } from "@/lib/utils"
import {
  ChartContainer,
  ChartTooltip,
  ChartTooltipContent,
  type ChartConfig,
} from "@/components/ui/chart"
import { AXIS_TICK, axisProps, chartDefaults, defaultValueFormatter, GRID_PROPS, seriesColor } from "@/components/ui/chart-core"
import type { ChartToken } from "@/components/ui/percentage-bar"

export type ScatterPoint = {
  x: number
  y: number
  /** Sizes the mark, for a rough third measure. Points without one all draw the same size. */
  z?: number
  /** Names the point in its tooltip and in the text list, e.g. the account it belongs to. */
  label?: string
}

export type ScatterSeries = {
  name: string
  /** A chart token, or any CSS colour. Defaults to the palette in order. */
  color?: ChartToken | string
  data: ScatterPoint[]
}

export type ScatterChartProps = React.ComponentProps<"div"> & {
  series: ScatterSeries[]
  xLabel?: string
  yLabel?: string
  /** What `z` measures. It reads in the tooltip and the text list, never on an axis. */
  zLabel?: string
  xFormatter?: (n: number) => string
  yFormatter?: (n: number) => string
  zFormatter?: (n: number) => string
  height?: number
  showGrid?: boolean
  showLegend?: boolean
}

// The z range in pixels² — recharts sizes each mark's area between these, so a
// bubble ten times the value is about three times as wide.
const Z_RANGE: [number, number] = [64, 400]

function ScatterChart({
  className,
  series,
  xLabel,
  yLabel,
  zLabel,
  xFormatter = defaultValueFormatter,
  yFormatter = defaultValueFormatter,
  zFormatter = defaultValueFormatter,
  height = chartDefaults.height,
  showGrid = chartDefaults.showGrid,
  showLegend = chartDefaults.showLegend,
  ...props
}: ScatterChartProps) {
  // A Map, not an object: series names are caller data, and a name like
  // "toString" must not resolve to something off Object's prototype.
  const colors = React.useMemo(
    () =>
      new Map(
        series.map((entry, i) => [
          entry.name,
          seriesColor({ key: entry.name, label: entry.name, color: entry.color }, i),
        ])
      ),
    [series]
  )
  // Labels only — the marks are painted per series, so there is no
  // --color-<key> to emit and a name with a space in it never becomes an
  // invalid custom property.
  const config = React.useMemo<ChartConfig>(
    () => Object.fromEntries(series.map((entry) => [entry.name, { label: entry.name }])),
    [series]
  )

  const xTitle = xLabel ?? "x"
  const yTitle = yLabel ?? "y"
  const zTitle = zLabel ?? "size"

  // Recharts puts one row per axis in a scatter's tooltip payload, z included
  // whenever a ZAxis is mounted, so each row is matched to its own axis rather
  // than assumed to be y — otherwise the bubble measure prints under the y
  // title, through the y formatter, as a number nobody recognises.
  const axisOf = (dataKey: unknown) => {
    if (dataKey === "x") return { title: xTitle, format: xFormatter }
    if (dataKey === "z") return { title: zTitle, format: zFormatter }
    return { title: yTitle, format: yFormatter }
  }
  const points = series.reduce((count, entry) => count + entry.data.length, 0)
  const sized = series.some((entry) => entry.data.some((point) => point.z !== undefined))
  const named = series.some((entry) => entry.data.some((point) => point.label !== undefined))

  const summary =
    points === 0
      ? "Scatter chart with no points."
      : `Scatter chart of ${series.length === 1 ? series[0].name : `${series.length} series`}, ${points} points, ${yTitle} against ${xTitle}.`

  return (
    <div data-slot="scatter-chart" className={cn("flex w-full flex-col", className)} {...props}>
      {/* The axis titles are text on the page rather than SVG inside the plot:
          they wear the theme's own type and colour tokens, they stay selectable,
          and the value axis can size itself to its ticks without a rotated
          label to leave room for. */}
      <div className="flex items-stretch">
        {yLabel ? (
          <div
            data-slot="scatter-chart-y-label"
            className="flex items-center justify-center pe-1 text-xs text-muted-foreground [writing-mode:vertical-rl] rotate-180"
            style={{ height }}
          >
            {yLabel}
          </div>
        ) : null}
        <ChartContainer
          config={config}
          role="img"
          aria-label={summary}
          className="aspect-auto w-full min-w-0"
          style={{ height }}
        >
          <RechartsScatterChart
            // Named once, by the container's role="img" and its summary; recharts'
            // keyboard layer would add an unnamed role="application" tab stop inside it.
            accessibilityLayer={false}
            margin={{ top: 8, right: 12, bottom: 0, left: 4 }}>
            {showGrid ? <CartesianGrid {...GRID_PROPS} /> : null}

            <XAxis
              tick={AXIS_TICK}
              type="number"
              dataKey="x"
              name={xTitle}
              {...axisProps}
              tickFormatter={(value) => xFormatter(Number(value))}
            />
            <YAxis
              tick={AXIS_TICK}
              type="number"
              dataKey="y"
              name={yTitle}
              {...axisProps}
              width="auto"
              tickFormatter={(value) => yFormatter(Number(value))}
            />
            {sized ? <ZAxis type="number" dataKey="z" range={Z_RANGE} /> : null}

            <ChartTooltip
              cursor={{ strokeDasharray: "4 4" }}
              content={
                <ChartTooltipContent
                  hideLabel={!named}
                  labelFormatter={(_, payload) => {
                    const point = payload?.[0]?.payload as ScatterPoint | undefined
                    return point?.label ?? ""
                  }}
                  // The primitive prints raw numbers, so each axis row is rebuilt
                  // here to go through that axis' own formatter.
                  formatter={(value, name, item) => {
                    const axis = axisOf(item.dataKey)
                    return (
                      <div className="flex flex-1 items-center justify-between gap-3 leading-none">
                        <span className="text-muted-foreground">{axis.title}</span>
                        <span className="font-medium tabular-nums">
                          {axis.format(Number(value))}
                        </span>
                      </div>
                    )
                  }}
                />
              }
            />

            {series.map((entry) => (
              <Scatter
                key={entry.name}
                name={entry.name}
                data={entry.data}
                fill={colors.get(entry.name)}
                fillOpacity={0.75}
                // The ring is the surface showing through, so overlapping marks
                // stay countable instead of merging into a blob.
                stroke="var(--chart-surface, var(--card))"
                strokeWidth={1}
                // No draw-in (CONVENTIONS §6), in any mode: recharts' own default
                // answers only the OS setting, so under [data-motion="reduced"]
                // the marks still flew in.
                isAnimationActive={false}
              />
            ))}
          </RechartsScatterChart>
        </ChartContainer>
      </div>

      {xLabel ? (
        <div
          data-slot="scatter-chart-x-label"
          className="pt-1 text-center text-xs text-muted-foreground"
        >
          {xLabel}
        </div>
      ) : null}

      {series.length > 1 ? (
        <ul
          data-slot="scatter-chart-legend"
          className={cn(
            showLegend ? "flex flex-wrap justify-center gap-x-4 gap-y-1.5 pt-3 text-xs" : "sr-only"
          )}
        >
          {series.map((entry) => (
            <li key={entry.name} className="flex items-center gap-1.5">
              <span
                aria-hidden="true"
                className="size-2 shrink-0 rounded-full"
                style={{ backgroundColor: colors.get(entry.name) }}
              />
              <span className="text-muted-foreground">{entry.name}</span>
            </li>
          ))}
        </ul>
      ) : null}

      <ul data-slot="scatter-chart-data" aria-label={summary} className="sr-only">
        {series.flatMap((entry) =>
          entry.data.map((point, i) => (
            <li key={`${entry.name}-${i}`}>
              {`${entry.name}${point.label ? `, ${point.label}` : ""}: ${xTitle} ${xFormatter(point.x)}, ${yTitle} ${yFormatter(point.y)}${point.z === undefined ? "" : `, ${zTitle} ${zFormatter(point.z)}`}`}
            </li>
          ))
        )}
      </ul>
    </div>
  )
}

export { ScatterChart }
components/ui/chart-core.ts
import * as React from "react"

import { formatNumber } from "@/lib/format"
import type { ChartConfig } from "@/components/ui/chart"
import { isChartToken, type ChartToken } from "@/components/ui/percentage-bar"

/** One point of a chart: the index value plus one number per series key. */
export type ChartDatum = Record<string, string | number | null | undefined>

/** One plotted measure — which key to read, what to call it, what to paint it. */
export type ChartSeries = {
  key: string
  label: string
  /** A chart token, or any CSS colour for a brand hue. Defaults to the palette in order. */
  color?: ChartToken | string
  /**
   * The key holding the same measure over the period before this one. Drawn as
   * a dashed ghost behind the series and printed in its tooltip row as a delta.
   */
  compareKey?: string
  /**
   * The colour the ghost is drawn in: a chart token or any CSS colour. Left
   * out, the ghost wears the series' own colour; `var(--chart-neutral)` keeps
   * the period before out of the palette, grey under every preset — including
   * one whose first slot follows a coloured accent.
   */
  compareColor?: ChartToken | string
}

/** The props every cartesian chart in the set accepts. */
export type CommonChartProps = React.ComponentProps<"div"> & {
  data: ChartDatum[]
  /** The key holding each point's category — the month, the day, the source. */
  index: string
  series: ChartSeries[]
  /** Formats every number the chart prints: axis ticks, tooltips, and the text summary. */
  valueFormatter?: (n: number) => string
  /** Formats every index label, e.g. an ISO date into "Sep 4". */
  indexFormatter?: (v: string | number) => string
  /** Plot height in pixels, axis band included. */
  height?: number
  showLegend?: boolean
  showGrid?: boolean
  showXAxis?: boolean
  showYAxis?: boolean
  showTooltip?: boolean
  /** Where the series are named: beside their last point, under the plot, or nowhere. */
  legend?: ChartLegendPlacement
  /** Goal lines, event markers and bands drawn over the plot and read out as text. */
  annotations?: ChartAnnotation[]
  /** Draws each series' `compareKey` as a dashed ghost behind it, in the series' `compareColor` if it names one, its own colour if not. */
  compare?: boolean
  className?: string
}

// The palette wraps rather than inventing a ninth hue: past eight series the
// colours stop being distinguishable, so fold the tail into an "Other" series.
const PALETTE_SIZE = 8

/**
 * A series' colour: a chart token becomes its CSS variable, any other string is
 * taken as a raw CSS colour, and a series that names none takes the next slot in
 * the palette, wrapping past the eighth.
 */
export function seriesColor(series: ChartSeries, i: number): string {
  const color = series.color
  if (color === undefined) return `var(--chart-${(i % PALETTE_SIZE) + 1})`
  return isChartToken(color) ? `var(--${color})` : color
}

/**
 * The ChartConfig the chart primitive needs — it turns each entry into a
 * `--color-<key>` custom property that recharts marks reference.
 */
export function buildChartConfig(series: ChartSeries[]): ChartConfig {
  // fromEntries defines own properties, so a series keyed "__proto__" lands as
  // data instead of reassigning the config object's prototype.
  return Object.fromEntries(
    series.map((entry, i) => [entry.key, { label: entry.label, color: seriesColor(entry, i) }])
  )
}

/**
 * The shared starting point: a 280px plot with both axes, a grid, direct labels
 * at the end of each series, and a tooltip. The value axis is on — a chart
 * without a printed scale is a shape, not a measurement — and the charts turn it
 * off themselves when the plot is too small to carry one (`fitsYAxis`).
 */
export const chartDefaults = {
  height: 280,
  showLegend: true,
  showGrid: true,
  showXAxis: true,
  showYAxis: true,
  showTooltip: true,
  legend: "inline-end",
} as const

/**
 * A drawn line: 2px with round caps and joins reads as a stroke at any size
 * and holds its own on a white sheet, where 1.5px thinned to a hair on a
 * high-density screen.
 */
export const STROKE_WIDTH = 2

/**
 * The gridline: the grid token, dashed, so a rule under the data reads as a
 * guide rather than as a border. Every cartesian chart spreads this onto its
 * CartesianGrid.
 */
export const GRID_PROPS = { stroke: "var(--chart-grid)", strokeDasharray: "3 3" } as const

/**
 * The dot under the pointer: 3.5px of the series' own colour, ringed in the
 * surface it sits on so it stays legible where two lines cross.
 * --chart-surface falls back to the card a chart normally lives on; set it on
 * any ancestor when the chart sits on another plane.
 */
export const ACTIVE_DOT = { r: 3.5, strokeWidth: 2, stroke: "var(--chart-surface, var(--card))" } as const

/**
 * The corner a column turns, and the gap between two segments of one stack. A
 * stack is rounded as one shape — the top corners on the topmost segment, the
 * bottom corners on the lowest — so a bar reads as a printed block rather than
 * a pile of separately rounded tiles.
 */
export const BAR_RADIUS = 6
export const BAR_GAP = 1

/** Axis chrome: no rule and no tick marks, so only the labels carry the scale. */
export const axisProps = { tickLine: false, axisLine: false, tickMargin: 8, fontSize: 12 } as const

/**
 * The paint every axis label takes: --chart-axis, the token §3.8 names for the
 * printed scale. recharts writes fill="#666" onto its own
 * tick text, and the primitive's `.recharts-cartesian-axis-tick text` rule does
 * not reach it — recharts 3 nests labels under
 * `.recharts-cartesian-axis-tick-labels` instead — so #666 survived on the card
 * at 3.16:1 in dark. Passing the fill as a tick prop puts it on the element
 * itself, where nothing has to match a selector.
 */
export const AXIS_TICK = { fill: "var(--chart-axis)" } as const

/** Chart numbers fall back to thousands-separated values when no valueFormatter is given. */
export function defaultValueFormatter(value: number): string {
  return formatNumber(value)
}

/** Index labels print as they arrive unless the chart is given an indexFormatter. */
export function defaultIndexFormatter(value: string | number): string {
  return String(value)
}

/** What the text helpers need to turn a chart's data back into words. */
export type ChartTextOptions = {
  data: ChartDatum[]
  index: string
  series: ChartSeries[]
  valueFormatter?: (n: number) => string
  indexFormatter?: (v: string | number) => string
}

function readIndex(datum: ChartDatum, index: string, format: (v: string | number) => string) {
  const raw = datum[index]
  return typeof raw === "string" || typeof raw === "number" ? format(raw) : ""
}

function readValue(raw: ChartDatum[string], format: (n: number) => string) {
  return typeof raw === "number" && Number.isFinite(raw) ? format(raw) : "no data"
}

function joinLabels(labels: string[]): string {
  if (labels.length < 2) return labels.join("")
  return `${labels.slice(0, -1).join(", ")} and ${labels[labels.length - 1]}`
}

/**
 * The plotted data as text, one row per point. Every chart renders this into a
 * visually hidden list, so the numbers are readable without pointing at a tooltip.
 */
export function chartRows(options: ChartTextOptions): { label: string; readings: string }[] {
  const {
    data,
    index,
    series,
    valueFormatter = defaultValueFormatter,
    indexFormatter = defaultIndexFormatter,
  } = options

  return data.map((datum) => ({
    label: readIndex(datum, index, indexFormatter),
    readings: series
      .map((entry) => `${entry.label} ${readValue(datum[entry.key], valueFormatter)}`)
      .join(", "),
  }))
}

/**
 * The heading for a tooltip: the point's own index value, read straight off the
 * datum. The primitive resolves its label through the config, which only works
 * when the index is a string — reading the datum keeps numeric indexes intact.
 */
export function tooltipIndexLabel(
  payload: ReadonlyArray<{ payload?: unknown }> | undefined,
  index: string,
  format: (v: string | number) => string = defaultIndexFormatter
): string {
  const datum = payload?.[0]?.payload
  const raw = datum && typeof datum === "object" ? (datum as ChartDatum)[index] : undefined
  return typeof raw === "string" || typeof raw === "number" ? format(raw) : ""
}

/** A one-sentence description of what a chart plots, used as its accessible name. */
export function chartSummary(kind: string, options: ChartTextOptions): string {
  const { data, index, series, indexFormatter = defaultIndexFormatter } = options
  if (series.length === 0) return `${kind} with no series.`

  const labels = joinLabels(series.map((entry) => entry.label))
  if (data.length === 0) return `${kind} of ${labels} by ${index}. No data.`

  const first = readIndex(data[0], index, indexFormatter)
  const last = readIndex(data[data.length - 1], index, indexFormatter)
  const count = `${data.length} point${data.length === 1 ? "" : "s"}`
  return `${kind} of ${labels} by ${index}, ${count} from ${first} to ${last}.`
}

/* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
/* Annotations                                                                 */
/* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */

/** Where a chart names its series. */
export type ChartLegendPlacement = "inline-end" | "bottom" | "none"

/** The meanings an annotation can carry; each resolves to a token, never a literal. */
export type ChartAnnotationTone = "neutral" | "brand" | "positive" | "negative" | "warning" | "info"

export type ChartAnnotation =
  /** A threshold across the plot: a goal, a limit, an included allowance. */
  | { kind: "line"; axis?: "x" | "y"; value: number | string; label: string; tone?: ChartAnnotationTone }
  /** A moment on the index axis: a launch, a deploy, an incident. */
  | { kind: "event"; x: number | string; label: string; tone?: ChartAnnotationTone; href?: string }
  /**
   * A stretch of the index axis: a freeze, an outage, a campaign. The label
   * reads from the band's start; `align: "end"` hangs it from the band's end
   * instead, for a band that runs to the edge of the plot — a 59px word over
   * a 30px band at the right edge otherwise runs out of the plot.
   */
  | {
      kind: "band"
      from: number | string
      to: number | string
      label: string
      tone?: ChartAnnotationTone
      align?: "start" | "end"
    }

const ANNOTATION_PAINT: Record<ChartAnnotationTone, string> = {
  neutral: "var(--faint-foreground)",
  brand: "var(--brand)",
  positive: "var(--chart-positive)",
  negative: "var(--chart-negative)",
  warning: "var(--warning)",
  info: "var(--info)",
}

/**
 * The paint a *meaning* takes, as opposed to a category.
 *
 * A series that is coded by status — 200/429/500, up/down, paid/overdue — is
 * not one of eight interchangeable hues: it has to resolve to the semantic
 * tokens, or a reader learns the wrong colour for "failed" on one page and
 * carries it to the next. Categories keep the palette; meanings come from here.
 */
export const CHART_TONES = {
  positive: "var(--chart-positive)",
  negative: "var(--chart-negative)",
  neutral: "var(--chart-neutral)",
  warning: "var(--warning)",
  info: "var(--info)",
} as const

export type ChartTone = keyof typeof CHART_TONES

export function chartTone(tone: ChartTone): string {
  return CHART_TONES[tone]
}

/** The token an annotation's tone paints in. */
export function annotationPaint(tone: ChartAnnotationTone = "neutral"): string {
  return ANNOTATION_PAINT[tone] ?? ANNOTATION_PAINT.neutral
}

/** The numbers an annotation pins to the value axis, so the scale can hold them. */
export function annotationValues(annotation: ChartAnnotation): number[] {
  if (annotation.kind === "line" && annotation.axis !== "x" && typeof annotation.value === "number")
    return [annotation.value]
  return []
}

/**
 * Every annotation as a line of text, appended to a chart's visually hidden
 * rows: a goal line a sighted reader can see has to be readable too.
 */
export function annotationRows(
  annotations: ChartAnnotation[] = [],
  options: {
    valueFormatter?: (n: number) => string
    indexFormatter?: (v: string | number) => string
  } = {}
): string[] {
  const {
    valueFormatter = defaultValueFormatter,
    indexFormatter = defaultIndexFormatter,
  } = options
  const at = (value: number | string) =>
    typeof value === "number" ? valueFormatter(value) : indexFormatter(value)

  return annotations.map((annotation) => {
    if (annotation.kind === "line")
      return `${annotation.label}: ${
        annotation.axis === "x" ? indexFormatter(annotation.value) : at(annotation.value)
      }`
    if (annotation.kind === "event") return `${annotation.label} at ${indexFormatter(annotation.x)}`
    return `${annotation.label}: ${indexFormatter(annotation.from)} to ${indexFormatter(annotation.to)}`
  })
}