G2 v5 Chart Visualization

Overview

G2 v5 is AntV's grammar-of-graphics charting library. It uses Spec Mode — a declarative, JSON-like configuration style where chart.options() defines the entire visualization in one call.

import { Chart } from '@antv/g2';

const chart = new Chart({ container: 'container', autoFit: true });
chart.options({
  type: 'interval',
  data: [{ genre: 'Sports', sold: 275 }],
  encode: { x: 'genre', y: 'sold' },
});
chart.render();

CDN Usage

<script src="https://unpkg.com/@antv/g2@5/dist/g2.min.js"></script>
<script>
  const chart = new G2.Chart({ container: 'container', autoFit: true });
  chart.options({
    type: 'interval',
    data: [{ genre: 'Sports', sold: 275 }],
    encode: { x: 'genre', y: 'sold' },
  });
  chart.render();
</script>

Content Retrieval Service

When using AntV G2 for data visualization, if you need to understand the concepts, usage, API, examples, and other aspects of G2 v5, you can use the provided context retrieval service. When using the skill, content is retrieved via an antv HTTP API server using GET requests.

• Host: https://sive.antv.antgroup.com
• Endpoint: /api/v1/context/retrieve
• Method: GET
• Parameters: query, library, topK, content, maxTokens

Retrieve skills by query (hybrid search = FTS + vector + RRF fusion). Constraints docs are indexed as regular skill documents and will appear in search results naturally.

curl "https://sive.antv.antgroup.com/api/v1/context/retrieve?query=bar+chart+stacked&library=g2"

Critical Rules

MUST: Use V5 Spec Mode ONLY

// ❌ WRONG — V4 chain API (deprecated, will not render)
chart.interval()
  .data([...])
  .encode('x', 'genre')
  .encode('y', 'sold')
  .style({ radius: 4 });

// ✅ CORRECT — V5 Spec Mode
chart.options({
  type: 'interval',
  data: [...],
  encode: { x: 'genre', y: 'sold' },
  style: { radius: 4 },
});

MUST: chart.options() called exactly ONCE

Multiple calls overwrite each other. For multi-mark overlays, use type: 'view' + children:

// ❌ WRONG — second options() overwrites the first
chart.options({ type: 'line', data, encode: { x: 'date', y: 'value' } });
chart.options({ type: 'point', data, encode: { x: 'date', y: 'value' } });

// ✅ CORRECT — children array for multi-mark
chart.options({
  type: 'view',
  data,
  children: [
    { type: 'line',  encode: { x: 'date', y: 'value' } },
    { type: 'point', encode: { x: 'date', y: 'value' } },
  ],
});

MUST: container is mandatory, chart.render() at the end

// ❌ WRONG — no container, no render
const chart = new Chart();
chart.options({ type: 'interval', data });

// ✅ CORRECT
const chart = new Chart({ container: 'container', autoFit: true });
chart.options({ type: 'interval', data, encode: { x: 'genre', y: 'sold' } });
chart.render();

MUST: Correct mark types only

Legal G2 marks: interval, line, area, point, rect, cell, text, image, path, polygon, shape, link, connector, vector, lineX, lineY, rangeX, rangeY, range, box, boxplot, density, heatmap, beeswarm, treemap, pack, partition, tree, sankey, chord, wordCloud, gauge, liquid. sunburst requires @antv/g2-extension-plot.

MUST: encode is an object, transform is an array

// ❌ WRONG
.encode('x', 'genre')
.transform: { type: 'stackY' }

// ✅ CORRECT
encode: { x: 'genre', y: 'sold' }
transform: [{ type: 'stackY' }]

MUST: labels is plural, range encoding uses y/y1

// ❌ WRONG
label: { text: 'sold' }
encode: { y: ['start', 'end'] }

// ✅ CORRECT
labels: [{ text: 'sold' }]
encode: { y: 'start', y1: 'end' }

MUST: No d3 in user code

// ❌ WRONG — d3 is not exposed in user scope
const total = d3.sum(data, d => d.value);

// ✅ CORRECT — use native JS or G2 built-in transforms
const total = data.reduce((sum, d) => sum + d.value, 0);

MUST: No white/near-white fill, no padding as array

// ❌ WRONG
style: { fill: '#fff' }       // invisible on white background
padding: [40, 30, 40, 50]     // invalid in G2 v5

// ✅ CORRECT
encode: { color: 'group' }    // let G2 assign colors
padding: 40                   // single number or 'auto'

MUST: Transpose is a transform, not a coordinate type

// ❌ WRONG
coordinate: { type: 'transpose' }

// ✅ CORRECT
coordinate: { transform: [{ type: 'transpose' }] }

Quick Reference

Dependencies

• @antv/g2 — G2 v5 charting engine