Charts

Every tab in a Cube workbook has a chart panel. Once your query returns results, switch to the chart panel to pick a visualization type and configure how the data is displayed — from a simple bar chart to a composable KPI tile or a fully custom Vega-Lite spec.

Chart types

Cube has built-in support for bar, line, area, pie, scatter, heatmap, KPI, map, boxplot, and more. See the chart types overview for a full list and guidance on which type fits which data shape.

Selecting a chart type

Chart type icons at the top of the chart panel let you quickly switch between common layouts — grouped vs. stacked bars, line vs. area, table vs. chart view — without opening the full configuration panel.

When you run a query on a new tab, Cube shows the chart type picker rather than picking for you. It outlines the type that best fits your query and labels it Recommended — see Recommended chart type — but choosing one is always your action. Any manual configuration you apply is preserved when you change query fields.

Resetting chart settings

Sections of the configuration panel — fields, series, pivot, column widths — each carry their own Reset control, which clears that section back to its defaults. Resetting does not change the chart type you picked.

Generate charts with AI

Describe the visualization you want in plain language — for example, "show this as a stacked bar grouped by status" — and the AI agent will build and configure it. You can also let the agent auto-suggest the best chart for your query results. This is a separate mechanism from the Recommended outline in the chart type picker: the agent writes a Vega-Lite spec and applies it, while the recommendation only marks a built-in type for you to pick.

Charts generated by the AI are written as Vega-Lite v5 specs and can be further edited in the custom visualization spec editor.

Configure charts

Adjust the appearance of any chart through the configuration panel:

• Color and stacking — Color palettes, series coloring, and stacking behavior
• Series configuration — Per-series mark type, color, and display options
• Series mapping — Assign query fields to chart channels (X, Y, color, size)
• Axes — Axis titles, grid lines, scale, and reference lines
• Tooltips — Fields shown on hover
• Data labels — Values displayed directly on chart marks

Custom visualizations

When the built-in chart types don't cover your use case, write a raw Vega-Lite spec or use an HTML template with Handlebars. Both options give you complete control over the rendered output.