Data Visualization Skill

Create publication-quality analytical charts using matplotlib and seaborn in a headless GPU sandbox. Charts are saved as PNG files to /workspace/ for retrieval.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Visualizing results from cuDF analysis or cuML models
Creating charts (bar, line, scatter, heatmap, histogram, box plot)
Building multi-panel analysis summaries
The user asks for visual output, plots, graphs, or charts
Presenting statistical findings with figures

Initialization (REQUIRED)

MUST call matplotlib.use('Agg') BEFORE importing pyplot. This enables headless rendering.

python

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('Agg')  # Headless backend — MUST be before pyplot import
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

# Publication-quality defaults
plt.rcParams.update({
    'figure.dpi': 100,
    'savefig.dpi': 300,
    'font.size': 11,
    'axes.labelsize': 12,
    'axes.titlesize': 14,
    'xtick.labelsize': 10,
    'ytick.labelsize': 10,
    'legend.fontsize': 10,
    'figure.constrained_layout.use': True,
})

# Colorblind-safe palette (Okabe-Ito)
COLORS = ['#0173B2', '#DE8F05', '#029E73', '#D55E00', '#CC78BC',
          '#CA9161', '#FBAFE4', '#949494', '#ECE133', '#56B4E9']

Saving Charts

Always save to /workspace/ with these settings:

python

plt.savefig('/workspace/chart_name.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

dpi=300 for print quality
bbox_inches='tight' removes excess whitespace
facecolor='white' ensures white background
Always call plt.close() after saving to free memory

Displaying Charts (REQUIRED)

After saving any chart, you MUST call read_file on it to display it inline in the conversation:

read_file("/workspace/chart_name.png")

Users cannot see charts unless you do this. Every chart you save MUST be followed by a read_file call.

Quick Reference

Bar Chart (from groupby results)

python

# After: result = to_pd(df.groupby("category")["value"].mean())
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 5))

bars = ax.bar(result.index, result.values, color=COLORS[:len(result)],
              edgecolor='black', linewidth=0.8)

for bar in bars:
    height = bar.get_height()
    ax.text(bar.get_x() + bar.get_width()/2., height,
            f'{height:.1f}', ha='center', va='bottom', fontsize=9)

ax.set_ylabel('Mean Value', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_xlabel('Category', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Average Value by Category', fontweight='bold')
ax.grid(axis='y', alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')
ax.set_axisbelow(True)

plt.savefig('/workspace/bar_chart.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Line Chart (trends over time)

python

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 5))

for i, col in enumerate(columns_to_plot):
    ax.plot(df["date"], df[col], label=col, color=COLORS[i], linewidth=2,
            marker='o', markersize=3, markevery=max(1, len(df)//20))

ax.set_ylabel('Values', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_xlabel('Date', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Trends Over Time', fontweight='bold')
ax.legend(frameon=True, shadow=False)
ax.grid(True, alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')
ax.set_axisbelow(True)
plt.xticks(rotation=45, ha='right')

plt.savefig('/workspace/line_chart.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Scatter Plot — Continuous Color (correlations)

python

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 6))

scatter = ax.scatter(df["x"], df["y"], c=df["value"], cmap='viridis',
                     s=40, alpha=0.7, edgecolors='black', linewidth=0.3)
plt.colorbar(scatter, ax=ax, label='Value')

# Optional: trend line
z = np.polyfit(df["x"], df["y"], 1)
ax.plot(df["x"].sort_values(), np.poly1d(z)(df["x"].sort_values()),
        "r--", linewidth=2, label=f'y={z[0]:.2f}x+{z[1]:.2f}')

ax.set_xlabel('X', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_ylabel('Y', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Correlation Analysis', fontweight='bold')
ax.legend()
ax.grid(True, alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')

plt.savefig('/workspace/scatter_correlation.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Scatter Plot — Categorical Color (clusters)

python

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 6))

for i, label in enumerate(sorted(df["cluster"].unique())):
    mask = df["cluster"] == label
    ax.scatter(df.loc[mask, "x"], df.loc[mask, "y"],
               c=COLORS[i], label=f'Cluster {label}', s=40, alpha=0.7)

ax.set_xlabel('X', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_ylabel('Y', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Cluster Visualization', fontweight='bold')
ax.legend()
ax.grid(True, alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')

plt.savefig('/workspace/scatter_clusters.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Heatmap (correlation matrix or confusion matrix)

python

import seaborn as sns

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 7))

# corr_matrix = to_pd(df[numeric_cols].corr())
sns.heatmap(corr_matrix, annot=True, fmt='.2f', cmap='RdBu_r', center=0,
            square=True, linewidths=1, vmin=-1, vmax=1,
            cbar_kws={'label': 'Correlation'}, ax=ax)

ax.set_title('Correlation Matrix', fontweight='bold')

plt.savefig('/workspace/heatmap.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Histogram with KDE

python

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 5))

ax.hist(df["value"], bins=30, color=COLORS[0], alpha=0.7,
        edgecolor='black', linewidth=0.5, density=True, label='Distribution')

# Add KDE curve
from scipy.stats import gaussian_kde
kde = gaussian_kde(df["value"].dropna())
x_range = np.linspace(df["value"].min(), df["value"].max(), 200)
ax.plot(x_range, kde(x_range), color=COLORS[1], linewidth=2, label='KDE')

ax.set_xlabel('Value', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_ylabel('Density', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Value Distribution', fontweight='bold')
ax.legend()
ax.grid(axis='y', alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')

plt.savefig('/workspace/histogram.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Box Plot (compare groups)

python

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 5))

groups = [df[df["group"] == g]["value"].values for g in group_names]
bp = ax.boxplot(groups, labels=group_names, patch_artist=True,
                widths=0.6, showmeans=True,
                meanprops=dict(marker='D', markerfacecolor='red', markersize=6))

for i, patch in enumerate(bp['boxes']):
    patch.set_facecolor(COLORS[i % len(COLORS)])
    patch.set_alpha(0.7)

ax.set_ylabel('Value', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Distribution by Group', fontweight='bold')
ax.grid(axis='y', alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')
ax.set_axisbelow(True)

plt.savefig('/workspace/boxplot.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Multi-Panel Analysis Summary

Use this to create a single image with multiple charts — the most effective way to present a complete analysis.

python

fig, axes = plt.subplots(2, 2, figsize=(14, 10))

# Top-left: Distribution
axes[0, 0].hist(df["value"], bins=30, color=COLORS[0], alpha=0.7, edgecolor='black', linewidth=0.5)
axes[0, 0].set_title('Value Distribution', fontweight='bold')
axes[0, 0].set_xlabel('Value')
axes[0, 0].grid(axis='y', alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')

# Top-right: Scatter
axes[0, 1].scatter(df["x"], df["y"], c=COLORS[0], s=30, alpha=0.5)
axes[0, 1].set_title('X vs Y', fontweight='bold')
axes[0, 1].set_xlabel('X')
axes[0, 1].set_ylabel('Y')
axes[0, 1].grid(True, alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')

# Bottom-left: Bar chart
group_means = df.groupby("category")["value"].mean()
axes[1, 0].bar(group_means.index, group_means.values, color=COLORS[:len(group_means)])
axes[1, 0].set_title('Mean by Category', fontweight='bold')
axes[1, 0].set_xlabel('Category')
axes[1, 0].grid(axis='y', alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')

# Bottom-right: Box plot
axes[1, 1].boxplot([df[df["category"] == c]["value"].values for c in categories],
                    labels=categories, patch_artist=True)
axes[1, 1].set_title('Distribution by Category', fontweight='bold')
axes[1, 1].grid(axis='y', alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')

fig.suptitle('Analysis Summary', fontsize=16, fontweight='bold')

plt.savefig('/workspace/analysis_summary.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Feature Importance Chart (from cuML model)

python

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, max(4, len(feature_names) * 0.35)))

# importances = to_pd(model.feature_importances_)
sorted_idx = np.argsort(importances)
ax.barh(np.array(feature_names)[sorted_idx], importances[sorted_idx],
        color=COLORS[0], edgecolor='black', linewidth=0.5)

ax.set_xlabel('Importance', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Feature Importances', fontweight='bold')
ax.grid(axis='x', alpha=0.3, linestyle='--')
ax.set_axisbelow(True)

plt.savefig('/workspace/feature_importance.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Confusion Matrix (from cuML classification)

python

import seaborn as sns

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(7, 6))

# cm = confusion_matrix(to_pd(y_test), to_pd(predictions))
sns.heatmap(cm, annot=True, fmt='d', cmap='Blues', square=True,
            xticklabels=class_names, yticklabels=class_names,
            linewidths=1, cbar_kws={'label': 'Count'}, ax=ax)

ax.set_xlabel('Predicted', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_ylabel('Actual', fontweight='bold')
ax.set_title('Confusion Matrix', fontweight='bold')

plt.savefig('/workspace/confusion_matrix.png', dpi=300, bbox_inches='tight',
            facecolor='white', edgecolor='none')
plt.close()
# IMPORTANT: call read_file("/workspace/<chart>.png") to display inline

Style Rules

Use COLORS palette (colorblind-safe) — never rely on color alone to distinguish elements
No pie charts (bar charts are always clearer)
No 3D plots (distort data perception)
Grid lines at alpha=0.3, linestyle='--' with ax.set_axisbelow(True)
Bold axis labels and titles (fontweight='bold')
White background for all exports
1-4 charts per analysis is typical; use multi-panel for more

Output Guidelines

Save all charts to /workspace/ as PNG
Print file paths after saving so the agent can reference them
For multi-panel summaries, use figsize=(14, 10) for 2×2 layouts
Keep chart titles descriptive but concise
Include units in axis labels when applicable

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built_in_skills

Data Visualization Skill ​

When to Use This Skill ​

Initialization (REQUIRED) ​

Saving Charts ​

Displaying Charts (REQUIRED) ​

Quick Reference ​

Bar Chart (from groupby results) ​

Line Chart (trends over time) ​

Scatter Plot — Continuous Color (correlations) ​

Scatter Plot — Categorical Color (clusters) ​

Heatmap (correlation matrix or confusion matrix) ​

Histogram with KDE ​

Box Plot (compare groups) ​

Multi-Panel Analysis Summary ​

Feature Importance Chart (from cuML model) ​

Confusion Matrix (from cuML classification) ​

Style Rules ​

Output Guidelines ​

Data Visualization Skill

When to Use This Skill

Initialization (REQUIRED)

Saving Charts

Displaying Charts (REQUIRED)

Quick Reference

Bar Chart (from groupby results)

Line Chart (trends over time)

Scatter Plot — Continuous Color (correlations)

Scatter Plot — Categorical Color (clusters)

Heatmap (correlation matrix or confusion matrix)

Histogram with KDE

Box Plot (compare groups)

Multi-Panel Analysis Summary

Feature Importance Chart (from cuML model)

Confusion Matrix (from cuML classification)

Style Rules

Output Guidelines