Obsidian Charts

Obsidian Charts Skill

Assumes the user already has the Charts community plugin (phibr0/obsidian-charts) installed and enabled.

Decide the data source first

Before writing any codeblock, pick the source — it changes the syntax:

If the user is unsure, look at the note. A table → use table linking. A query → use renderChart. Loose numbers in prose → inline literal.

Quick start — inline data

```chart
type: bar
labels: [Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri]
series:
  - title: Hours focused
    data: [4, 3, 5, 2, 6]
beginAtZero: true
width: 80%
```

Quick start — from a table in the same note

| | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Revenue | 10 | 14 | 12 | 18 |
| Cost    | 8  | 9  | 11 | 13 |
^revenue

```chart
type: bar
id: revenue
layout: rows
beginAtZero: true
```

layout: rows reads each table row as a series; layout: columns reads each column as a series. Add select: [Revenue] to restrict which rows/columns are charted. Add file: <OtherNote> to point at a ^blockId in another note.

Quick start — from a Dataview query

Requires the Dataview plugin with JS enabled.

```dataviewjs
const pages = dv.pages('"Journal"').where(p => p.mood);
window.renderChart({
  type: 'line',
  data: {
    labels: pages.map(p => p.file.name).array(),
    datasets: [{
      label: 'Mood',
      data: pages.map(p => p.mood).array(),
      tension: 0.3,
    }]
  }
}, this.container);
```

Core parameters (chart codeblock)

See REFERENCE.md for the full parameter list, renderChart API, color/styling, multi-series patterns, and troubleshooting.

Workflow when helping the user

1. Locate the data. Read the note, identify whether the data is a table (does it have a ^blockId?), a query result, or loose values.
2. Pick the chart type. Comparing categories → bar. Trend over time → line. Parts of a whole → pie / doughnut. Multi-dimensional → radar.
3. If using a table, confirm there is a ^blockId line beneath it. If not, add one — without it, the chart cannot reference the table.
4. Draft the codeblock inline in the note (don't make a new file unless the user asks).
5. Pick layout carefully — rows vs columns is the most common "why is my chart wrong" issue. If the chart looks transposed, flip it.
6. Tell the user to open the note in Reading view or Live Preview to render the chart; Source view shows the raw codeblock.

Common gotchas

• No render in Source mode — switch to Live Preview or Reading view.
• Table reference fails — the ^blockId must be on its own line immediately after the table, and id: in the codeblock must match exactly (no ^).
• layout mismatch — series and labels look swapped; flip rows ↔ columns.
• Date axis flat / unsorted — set time: day (or month/year) so the plugin treats labels as dates.
• renderChart undefined — the Charts plugin isn't enabled, or the codeblock isn't dataviewjs (it must be — dataview won't work for JS).
• Series with mismatched lengths — every data array must match labels.length (pad with null for missing points).