json-ui-schemas

name	json-ui-schemas
description	JSON schemas for Fused canvas UI widget components (text, text-input, button, dropdown, charts, maps, sql-table, form, transformer, etc.). Use when authoring or editing widget JSON files (e.g. `widget_*.json` in canvas directories), validating widget props, or answering questions about which fields a given widget type accepts.

Fused JSON UI widget schemas

Reference for every supported widget type and its prop schema.

The full JSON Schema for each component (with descriptions, defaults, required fields, and enum values) is available from the fused CLI. See the fused-cli skill for how to read it. Read it before authoring or modifying widget JSON.

The authoritative reference to JSON schema is available from the CLI. There is also a reference in reference.md, but it is an offline copy that may be out of date.

JSON UI files are in JSON5 format, which may have trailing commas, comments, etc.

Widget node structure

Every widget in a JSON UI file follows this envelope:

{
  "type": "<widget-type>",
  "props": {
    /* ALL component properties go here: value, sql, param, style, label, chart options, etc. */
  },
  "children": [
    /* child widget nodes — only valid for container types: div, form, sql-runner */
  ]
}

Critical rules:

• ALL component properties (value, sql, param, style, label, chart options, etc.) MUST be nested under "props". Never place them directly on the node object.
• "children" is an array of widget nodes. Only container types (div, form, sql-runner) accept children. Omit it for leaf widgets.
• The top-level JSON UI file is itself a widget node (typically a root div).

Minimal correct example:

{
  "type": "div",
  "props": { "style": "display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:16px;padding:20px" },
  "children": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "props": { "value": "Hello World", "variant": "h2", "style": "color:#fff" }
    },
    {
      "type": "dropdown",
      "props": {
        "label": "City",
        "param": "city",
        "sql": "SELECT city AS value, city AS label FROM {{my_udf}} ORDER BY 1",
        "nullable": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Common mistake — WRONG:

{ "type": "text", "value": "Hello", "style": "color:#fff" }

Correct:

{ "type": "text", "props": { "value": "Hello", "style": "color:#fff" } }

Available widget types

• Layout / containers: div, form, sql-runner (children: yes)
• Inputs: text-input, text-area, number-input, datetime-input, camera-input, color-input, dropdown, slider, button, code-editor, gallery-input
• Display: text, image, metric, iframe, html
• Charts: bar-chart, line-chart, stacked-bar-chart, stacked-area-chart, scatter-chart, donut-chart, heatmap-chart
• Tables: sql-table
• Maps: map, map-bounds, map-h3, fused-map
• Meta / advanced: widget-builder, transformer, ai-chat

Accessing UDF data — use sql-runner

When a JSON-UI node needs to read data from a canvas UDF, always use sql-runner as the root (or a wrapping ancestor). Do not put {{udf_name}} SQL directly on a leaf widget at the root — it does not resolve reliably without a sql-runner ancestor.

Correct pattern:

{
  "type": "sql-runner",
  "props": {
    "sql": "SELECT * FROM {{my_udf}}",
    "name": "data"
  },
  "children": [
    {
      "type": "metric",
      "props": {
        "label": "Row Count",
        "sql": "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM {{data}}",
        "format": "comma"
      }
    }
  ]
}

• sql-runner fetches the UDF output once and exposes it as {{name}} to all descendants.
• Descendants reference {{data}} (or whatever name you set), not {{my_udf}}.
• The canvas edge (["my_udf", "widget_node"]) must also exist in canvas.toml for the UDF to be reachable at runtime.
• The source UDF must have visible = true in canvas.toml. Hidden nodes (visible = false) do not execute on canvas load and have no cached result. Referencing them in sql-runner will fail with: UDF 'my_udf' has no cached result. Run the UDF first.

Common conventions

• param syncs a widget's value with a canvas parameter (or a form field when nested in form).
• sql fields accept DuckDB queries with {{source_name}} and $param_name placeholders. Required output columns vary by widget — check the schema. When referencing a canvas UDF's data, use sql-runner and reference its name in descendant SQL, rather than {{udf_name}} directly.
• style is always a CSS string ("padding: 8px; color: red"), not an object.
• Charts default barColor/lineColor to Fused lime yellow (#E8FF59).

Layout and height gotcha

Widgets render inside containers with dynamic height. Flex properties (flex:1, flex-grow, min-height:0, overflow) only work reliably when the parent has an explicit height or a complete height chain up to a sized ancestor. Without that, flex children may collapse, overflow, or expand unexpectedly.

Rule of thumb: If a chart, table, or map inside a div looks collapsed or missing, set an explicit height or min-height on the parent div first.

{
  "type": "div",
  "props": { "style": "display:flex;gap:16px;height:400px" },
  "children": [
    {
      "type": "bar-chart",
      "props": {
        "sql": "SELECT label, value FROM {{my_udf}}",
        "style": "flex:1;min-width:0"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Without height:400px on the parent div, flex:1 on the chart has nothing to fill and the chart collapses.

Known gotchas

form — top-level param bundles all children into one JSON object

If form has a top-level "param", all child values are broadcast as a single JSON object. Remove the top-level param so each child broadcasts individually as its own canvas param.

sql-runner — default maxRows of 10,000 silently truncates large datasets

sql-runner defaults to maxRows: 10000. If the source UDF returns more than 10,000 rows, all child widgets (metric, sql-table, line-chart, etc.) silently operate on only the first 10,000 rows and produce wrong results — for example, a COUNT(*) metric returns exactly 10000 instead of the real total.

Always set maxRows explicitly on sql-runner when the source UDF may return more than 10k rows:

{
  "type": "sql-runner",
  "props": {
    "sql": "SELECT * FROM {{my_udf}}",
    "name": "data",
    "maxRows": 500000
  }
}

How to use this skill

1. Open reference.md and find the section for the widget type you're working with.
2. Honor required props and respect enum constraints.
3. When constructing a widget JSON, prefer SQL-driven options/data over static when a UDF is available.
4. Validate with fused workbench json-ui validate <file> — unknown keys and missing required props will be flagged.

Debugging widgets with the Fused CLI

The fused workbench json-ui subcommands are the fastest way to check your work without round-tripping through the canvas UI. See the fused:fused-cli skill for full flag details; the common debugging flow is:

• Verify the schema you're targeting — fused workbench json-ui schemas <type> prints the live JSON Schema for one or more component types (or all of them if omitted). Use this when reference.md and the CLI disagree; the CLI is authoritative.
• Validate a widget JSON before pushing — fused workbench json-ui validate path/to/widget_foo.json (or a path to a .json5 file, or an inline JSON5 string). Run this after every non-trivial edit; it catches missing required props, unknown keys, and bad enum values without needing a canvas push.
• See a widget rendered without opening a browser tab — once the canvas is shared (fused workbench canvas share <ref>), use fused workbench json-ui run-shared-widget <share-token> <widget-name> --screenshot-filename out.png to render the widget headlessly and save a PNG. Add --wait N if the widget loads data asynchronously. run-inline-widget does the same for an inline JSON5 config string, which is useful for iterating on a widget that isn't committed yet.
• Refresh the catalog — fused workbench json-ui catalog-prompt prints the high-level component catalog; handy when a new widget type appears in the CLI before it lands in reference.md.

Recommended loop when authoring a new widget JSON: write → fused workbench json-ui validate <file> → fix → push → confirm it renders.

Always verify the widget renders correctly before reporting the task complete. Use one of these methods:

• CLI (preferred for quick iteration): fused workbench json-ui run-shared-widget <share-token> <widget-name> --screenshot-filename out.png — renders headlessly and saves a PNG. Review the PNG to confirm layout, labels, and data look correct.
• Browser: open the canvas URL and interact with the widget directly. This is required when testing interactivity (dropdowns, form submission, map panning, etc.) that a screenshot cannot capture.

Do not claim success after validate alone — validation only checks schema conformance, not runtime behavior or visual correctness.