Visualizations
How charts work in Celiq — every result renders through one shared viz engine and one configuration panel — plus a map to the full Visualization section.
When to use it — Any time you look at data in Celiq: exploring in Discover, viewing a tile on a Mosaic, or opening a Prism.
Where to find it — Charts appear automatically wherever results are shown — in Discover, on Mosaics tiles, and in Prisms. The settings open from the chart's own toolbar.
Who can use it — Lens, Tracer, Weaver, and Luminary can view charts. Building and editing charts is for Tracer and above.
Visualization in Celiq is deliberately uniform. Whether a result comes from a Reveal you ran in Discover, a tile pinned to a Mosaic, or a Prism, it flows through the same rendering path and is styled with the same controls. That means a chart looks and behaves identically everywhere, and anything you learn about configuring one chart applies to all of them.
This page is a short map. It explains the two pieces every chart shares, then points you to the detailed pages for each chart type and setting.
Overview
When you run a query, Celiq hands the rows, metrics, and dimensions to a single shared renderer. The renderer picks a sensible default chart type for the shape of your data — for example, a metric over a date dimension defaults to a line chart, while two or more metrics over time default to a combo chart. You can then switch the type or fine-tune it from the chart toolbar.
Two shared building blocks power every visualization:
- The viz engine routes your result to one of the built-in chart renderers (bar, line, area, KPI, donut, combo, scatter, heatmap, funnel, waterfall, treemap, map, and table/pivot). It also suggests the best chart type for your current selection and greys out types that do not fit the data.
- The embedded Discover editor plus ChartConfigurePanel is the one configuration drawer used everywhere. It edits the chart type, fields, style, axes, labels, conditional formatting, and advanced options — and previews changes live before you save.
Because both pieces are shared, there is no separate "dashboard chart editor" versus "explore chart editor." The same panel opens from a Mosaic tile and from Discover.
When to use it
- You ran a Reveal in Discover and want to change how the result is drawn.
- You are building a Mosaic and need a tile's chart to read clearly.
- You opened a Prism and want to adjust its chart before sharing or exporting.
- You want to understand which chart types Celiq supports and what each one needs.
Concepts
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Viz engine | The shared layer that takes a query result and renders it as a chart, choosing a default chart type for your data shape. |
| Chart type | The visual form of the chart — bar, line, area, KPI, donut, combo, scatter, heatmap, funnel, waterfall, treemap, map, table, or pivot. |
| ChartConfigurePanel | The single configuration drawer (Data, Style, Axis, Labels, Conditional, Advanced tabs) shared by Discover and Mosaic tiles. |
| Capability gating | A chart only shows the controls its renderer actually honors. Unsupported options appear disabled with a reason rather than as a fake control. |
| Reveal | A defined query in your semantic model. Every Reveal you run produces a result that the viz engine renders. See Reveals. |
Getting started
You do not "open" the visualization layer on its own — it appears wherever you view results. To configure a chart:
- In Discover, run a Reveal or build a query, then use the chart toolbar above the result.
- On a Mosaic, hover a tile and choose Configure chart.
- In a Prism, open the chart and use its toolbar.
Each of these opens the same configuration experience.
Step-by-step
Produce a result
Run a Reveal in Discover, open a tile on a Mosaic, or open a Prism. Celiq renders the rows as a chart using a default type that fits your data.
Pick a chart type
Use the chart-type picker in the toolbar. Types that cannot represent your current fields are greyed out with a short reason — for example "Needs a date or time dimension" or "Needs a category to split by."
Open the configuration panel
Open the settings to bring up the shared panel. Move between the Data, Style, Axis, Labels, Conditional, and Advanced tabs to adjust the chart. Only controls the chosen chart type supports are shown active.
Preview and save
Changes preview live as you make them. Use undo, redo, or reset if needed, then Save to persist — or Cancel to revert to the last saved state.
Examples
Suppose you run a Reveal that returns monthly revenue and monthly orders. The viz engine sees a date dimension and two metrics, so it defaults to a combo chart — bars for one metric, a line for the other.
A simplified shape of the query result the engine renders:
{
"attributes": [{ "name": "order_month", "type": "date" }],
"metrics": [
{ "name": "revenue", "label": "Revenue" },
{ "name": "orders", "label": "Orders" }
],
"rows": [
{ "order_month": "2026-04", "revenue": 482000, "orders": 1190 },
{ "order_month": "2026-05", "revenue": 511000, "orders": 1255 }
]
}From the toolbar you could switch this to a line chart, or open the panel and assign one metric to the bar series and the other to the line series under the chart's settings. Drop one metric and the engine will suggest a single-series line chart instead.
Best practices
- Let the engine's default chart type be your starting point — it is chosen from your data shape — then refine rather than starting from scratch.
- Match the chart type to the question: trends over time read best as line or area, part-to-whole as donut or funnel, comparisons across categories as bar.
- Keep part-to-whole charts focused. Donut and funnel charts need a category to split by and become unreadable with too many slices.
- Configure once and reuse. Because the panel is shared, a chart you style in Discover keeps that styling when pinned to a Mosaic.
Tips
If a chart type is greyed out, hover it to see exactly what your selection is missing — for example a date dimension, an extra metric, or a category to split by. Adjusting your fields to satisfy that requirement re-enables the type.
Common mistakes
- Expecting a control that is disabled to work. When a setting is greyed out, that chart type's renderer does not honor it — switch to a chart type that supports it instead of forcing the option.
- Choosing a part-to-whole chart with too many categories. Donut and funnel charts cap their useful number of slices; with a high-cardinality dimension, use a bar chart.
- Looking for a second, separate chart editor. There is only one. The settings on a Mosaic tile and in Discover are the same panel.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Chart type is greyed out | Your selection does not meet that type's requirements | Hover the type to read the reason (e.g. "Needs at least 1 metric", "Needs a date or time dimension"), then add or remove fields to satisfy it. |
| A setting is shown but disabled | The active chart type's renderer does not support that option | Switch to a chart type that supports it, or leave the option off. |
| Part-to-whole chart shows a warning about too many values | The dimension has more categories than the chart can display clearly | Reduce the categories or switch to a bar chart. |
| Chart did not keep your edits | You closed the panel with Cancel instead of Save | Reopen the panel, make your changes, and choose Save. |
Related pages
- Chart types — the full set of chart types and what each needs.
- Chart configuration — every setting in the shared panel, tab by tab.
- Smart chart picker — how Celiq suggests the best chart for your data.
- Reveals — the queries whose results these charts render.
- Discover — where you run Reveals and build queries.
- Mosaics — dashboards that pin these charts as tiles.