Getting Started

Follow this guide to learn how to create an app from a dataset in Plotly Studio. To get started, if you haven't already, download and install Plotly Studio.

Opening Plotly Studio and logging in

When you open Plotly Studio, select Login to get started or log in with Dash Enterprise. See the Installation page for more details on installing and logging into Plotly Studio for the first time.

Projects

In Plotly Studio, a project holds your app's data, the prompts used to generate the app, and generated code. All projects belong to a team.

Projects are automatically saved as you work, so you can leave a project and return to it later. Draft projects (projects that don't have an app generated yet) appear in your projects list alongside completed apps.

Creating a new project

When you log in, Plotly Studio opens on the Projects page.

Select + New Project to get started. This takes you to the Data tab where you can add and transform your data.

Managing projects

Select on a project card to edit project details (title, description, and tags), duplicate, or delete a project. See Projects for more details on managing your projects.

Navigating within a project

When working on a project, three tabs are always accessible at the top of Plotly Studio:

• Data - Upload files, connect to external data sources, and query and transform your data.
• App - Preview, edit, and publish your generated app.
• Explore - Browse suggested charts based on your data and create charts from images.

Data

From the Data tab, you can add data, query and transform it. Each Plotly Studio app uses a single table as its data source. As you work, Plotly Studio saves versions, and you can use the dropdown to view previous versions and select which one to use for your app.

Adding data

You can add data by uploading a file (up to 200 MB), selecting Try sample data to use a built-in dataset, or using the chat to connect to an external data source. Use the quick action buttons or describe your data source in the chat. For example:

Connect to my PostgreSQL database

Connect to this data at https://plotly.github.io/datasets/country_indicators.csv

Connect to my Snowflake warehouse

If a data source requires credentials, you can add them in the Credentials tab. See Data Sources for more details on connecting to external data sources.

What data is sent to the LLM

When Plotly Studio generates your app, a profile of your dataset is sent to the large language model (LLM). This profile includes column names, data types, sample values, and statistical summaries. Learn more about what data is sent to the LLM.

Querying and transforming data

After adding data, you can query and transform it using the chat. Here's an example using the built-in dataset to add a calculated column:

add a calculated column "shipping days" as the difference between created date and shipping date

As you query and transform your data, Plotly Studio saves versions as separate data sources. Use the dropdown to switch between versions.

Learn more about data transformations in Querying and transforming data.

Once you've selected the version of the data source you want to use, select Continue to start building your app.

App

Once you select the data to use, you'll be taken to the App tab. From here, you can select Generate charts to generate a first draft with six charts and supporting components that you can edit. Alternatively, you can Create a new visualization from scratch or explore suggestions.

Creating charts from scratch

If you select Create a new visualization, describe the type of chart you'd like to add to the app and select Add chart.

After creating your first chart, if you want to return to the Add chart screen, select + Add in the Charts section of the sidebar.

Prompt reference and examples

In Plotly Studio, select in the top right corner to see chart types and prompt examples. You'll find further examples in the Prompt Library.

Explore chart suggestions

If you select explore suggestions, you'll be taken to the Explore tab, where you can browse suggested charts based on your data.

Select Generate on a suggested chart to add it to your app, or select View prompt to customize it first.

Creating a chart from an image

From the Explore tab, you can also create a chart by uploading an image of a chart. To create a chart from an image:

1. In Explore, select Create from image:

   

2. Upload the image and optionally add additional information about how to create the chart. If the chart in the image uses a different data structure than your dataset, provide instructions on how to map your data to the chart.

3. Select Create from image in the dialog. Plotly Studio generates an editable prompt that describes the chart to create.

4. Review the prompt, make any changes, and select Generate.

Editing components

Select a component from the sidebar to view and edit it. Each component has a prompt, a natural language description that tells Plotly Studio what to generate. To update a component, edit its prompt and select Regenerate. You can also edit the code directly from the Code tab.

See Setup, Components, and Charts for more details on editing components, version history, and restoring previous versions.

Editing the layout

You can customize how components are arranged using the layout editor. From the App Summary page, select Layout to open it.

In GUI mode, drag cards to rearrange them, drag the resize handle on the right edge to adjust a component's width, or hide components you don't want to display. You can also switch to Prompt mode to describe your app's layout using natural language.

See Layout Editor for a full guide to configuring your app's layout.

Editing the theme

Select Theme in the sidebar to customize your app's colors, fonts, and visual styling. Edit the prompt to describe your desired theme, then regenerate to apply changes.

Publishing

Once you are happy with your app, you can publish it to Plotly Cloud or Dash Enterprise by going to Publish and selecting Publish app. If publishing to Plotly Cloud, you can also choose your app's visibility before publishing. For Dash Enterprise, see App Privacy.

After publishing, go to Published and select View published app to view the running app:

To update your live app, go to Published and select Republish app: