# DotPlot (/docs/charts/dot-plot)

DotPlot answers "how do a few named values compare on one scale?" with the minimum ink per comparison. Dots over bars
when the scale doesn't start at zero — position lies less than truncated bar length.

```tsx
import { DotPlot } from "@microcharts/react/dot-plot";

<DotPlot data={[
  { label: "Ada", value: 96 },
  { label: "Kim", value: 41 },
  { label: "Sam", value: 88 },
]} title="Review scores" />
```

## Install

```tsx
import { DotPlot } from "@microcharts/react/dot-plot";

<DotPlot data={team} title="Review scores" />
```

Setup (package + stylesheet): [Quickstart](/docs/quickstart#set-up-with-an-ai-agent) or paste [`/agent-setup.md`](/agent-setup.md) into your agent.


## When to use it

- **Good for** — KPI leaderboards, named comparisons in cards, rows where a truncated bar would lie.
- **Avoid for** — more than 7 rows or time series (Sparkline).


## Variants

```tsx
// stems anchor the read to zero — position becomes magnitude
<DotPlot data={team} stem />
```

```tsx
<DotPlot data={team} label="value" highlight="Ada" />
```

## Edge cases

```tsx
<DotPlot data={[]} />
```

```tsx
<DotPlot data={[{ label: "Only", value: 42 }]} />
```

```tsx
// a missing value draws no dot (and no label) but the row still holds its
// slot, so the rows around it don't drift together
<DotPlot data={[
  { label: "Ada", value: 96 },
  { label: "Kim", value: null },
  { label: "Sam", value: 88 },
]} />
```

An empty series has nothing to compare, so no dots draw and the accessible name reads **"No data."** A single category
still renders normally — one dot, one label — with the summary's "category"/"categories" wording matching the count
(**"1 category. Highest Only 42, lowest Only 42."**). A `null` value draws no dot and no label for its row, but the row
still occupies its slot in the vertical rhythm — the real values around it keep the same spacing they'd have in a fully
populated set — and it's excluded from the category count in the summary, not counted as a comparison with nothing.


## Why this default

Without `stem` the domain fits the data (a position read); with `stem` the domain is forced through zero (a magnitude
read) — the prop flips the honesty regime, and the docs say so. Coincident dots on adjacent rows de-overlap by half a
unit; labels truncate by character count and drop entirely when rows get too dense — all pure arithmetic, nothing
measured.

## Accessibility

The accessible name carries count and extremes — **"3 categories. Highest Ada 96, lowest Kim 41."** The interactive
entry roves rows and announces each with its rank (**"Ada: 96 — 1st of 3."**).

The interactive entry follows the shared [interaction contract](/docs/accessibility#one-interaction-contract):
arrow keys rove between units on both axes, `Home` and `End` jump to the ends, and a click, tap, `Enter` or
`Space` selects a unit — pinning its readout so it survives blur, until you select it again or press `Escape`.
On touch, a tap pins and a drag scrubs.

## Props

| Prop | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `data` (required) | `{ label; value }[]` | Named values. |
| `stem` | `boolean` | Hairline from zero — flips to a magnitude read (zero-anchored domain forced). |
| `highlight` | `number \| string` | Accent one category. |
| `label` | `"value" \| "none"` | Value text beside each dot (drops out under 8-unit rows). |
| `animate` | `boolean` | (interactive) Opt-in entrance motion when the chart mounts client-side — add `import "@microcharts/react/motion"` once. Inert on the server, on hydrated server HTML, and under `prefers-reduced-motion`. |

Plus the shared grammar — `data`, `domain`, `color`, `title`, `summary`, `format` — and the layout props (`width`, `height`, `className`, `style`) that every chart accepts. Interactive entries also share `animate` and `live`, and — wherever a chart has more than one navigable unit — `onActive`, `onSelect`, `selectedIndex` and `defaultSelectedIndex`; and — wherever the chart shows a hover value — `readout`. See [the shared grammar](/docs/quickstart#the-shared-grammar).