# observablehq/plot

A concise API for exploratory data visualization implementing a layered grammar of graphics

Repository: https://github.com/observablehq/plot
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/plot
Homepage: https://observablehq.com/plot/
Language: HTML
License: ISC
License Family: permissive
Topics: visualization, data-visualization, charts, d3, svg
Last push: 2026-07-13T12:33:26+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 64/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 92, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2134, "days_push": 51, "days_rel": 565, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5360, forks 236 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:16.021588+00:00)

## What it is
Observable Plot is a free, open-source JavaScript library for visualizing tabular data, focused on accelerating exploratory data analysis. It offers a concise, expressive API built on a layered grammar of graphics with marks, scales, transforms, facets, and geographic projections, rendering to SVG on top of D3.

## Use cases
- quickly chart tabular data in JavaScript with concise code
- build layered custom charts without chart-type constraints
- compute summaries like binning, grouping, and rolling averages while plotting
- create small multiples to compare data partitions
- render geographic maps from GeoJSON with spherical projections
- embed exploratory charts in notebooks, dashboards, or vanilla HTML pages

## When to choose
- you want fast, expressive exploratory data visualization in JavaScript
- you prefer a grammar-of-graphics API over fixed chart types
- you want built-in transforms (bin, group, stack, window) to reshape data during plotting
- you need small multiples or geographic projections with minimal code
- you are already comfortable with the D3 ecosystem

## When to avoid
- you need pixel-level imperative control over SVG or canvas rendering (use D3 directly)
- you need a full dashboarding or BI application rather than a charting library
- you require band-scale marks (bars, cells, ticks) with map projections, which are unsupported
- your project is not JavaScript-based

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: data-visualization, charts
- domain: data-visualization, data-science, web-development, analytics
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: grammar-of-graphics, d3, svg, exploratory-data-analysis, javascript, marks, scales, small-multiples, geographic-maps, nodejs

## Member repositories
- observablehq/plot (main) score 64

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:16.021588+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:58:45.873716+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/observablehq/plot (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:16.021588+00:00, sha 4654799ebb8a)
  - homepage: https://observablehq.com/plot/ (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.843223+00:00, sha 5601131e0cb3)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/plot/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.852147+00:00, sha e14ca64e4906)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/plot/features/marks (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.854394+00:00, sha 785b9ab3c5b5)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/plot/features/scales (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.857200+00:00, sha 5f615edcef97)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/plot/features/transforms (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.859156+00:00, sha 6d41a29d1cbd)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/plot/features/facets (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.861013+00:00, sha cbd867675aa2)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/plot/features/projections (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.862882+00:00, sha 28fe8e61364b)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.866066+00:00, sha 11c767c574af)
  - site_page: https://observablehq.com/data-integrations (fetched 2026-08-29T08:53:08.864678+00:00, sha 56816dd5b98c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.