create-chart

name	create-chart
description	Creates Amplitude charts from natural language descriptions, handling event selection, filters, groupings, and visualization choices. Use when you know what you want to measure but prefer not to build the chart manually.

Create Amplitude Chart

On Activation

Before proceeding, append a one-line entry to .wire/execution_log.md:

| YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM | skill | create-chart | activated | Amplitude chart creation triggered this skill |

If .wire/execution_log.md does not exist, create it with the standard header first (see specs/utils/execution_log.md). If no .wire/ directory exists in the current repo, skip this step.

Create charts from natural language by discovering events, building chart definitions, and verifying results.

Planning First (Critical)

Before any tool calls, decompose the request:

1. Identify chart components:

• Chart type and metric (what's being measured)
• Time range (default: Last 30 Days if not specified)
• Primary event (the action being counted)
• Segment conditions (user filters/groups)
• Filters, groupings, breakdowns
• Funnel steps (if conversion analysis)

2. Plan event searches:

• ONE search per distinct event concept
• Never combine multiple concepts in one search
• Example: "purchase" and "signup" need separate searches

3. Plan parallel tool calls:

• Get context, search events, find cohorts can run together
• Wait for results before building definition

Event Discovery (Critical: Discovery First)

IMPORTANT: Cast a wide net before narrowing down

When the user's request is ambiguous or could map to multiple events:

1. Search BROADLY first to discover relevant options
2. Review relevant results - look for related events, custom events, meta events
3. Present options to user OR explain your selection rationale
4. Try not to assume a single event is the only answer without exploration

Search for events:

Amplitude:search with entity_types=['EVENT', 'CUSTOM_EVENT']

• Search ONE concept at a time
• Use broad search terms first (e.g., "AI" not just "AI chat")
• ✓ Good: "user completes purchase"
• ✗ Bad: "signup or purchase events"

Make informed decisions, then explain:

1. Search broadly to discover all options
2. Review results and identify the most comprehensive/accurate approach
3. Make your best judgment call (prefer aggregated custom events over single events)
4. Always explain: "I found X, Y, Z options. I chose [X] because [reason]. This includes/excludes [scope]."
5. User can correct if your assumption was wrong

Decision criteria:

• Prefer custom events that aggregate related activity (e.g., "[2026] Activation Metric [AI events only]")
• If no aggregated event exists, choose the primary interaction event
• Consider what "active user" typically means for that product area
• Default to broader scope unless user specifies narrow focus

Examples:

• ❌ BAD: User asks "weekly AI users" → immediately pick "ai-chat: send message" without exploring, no explanation
• ✅ GOOD: User asks "weekly AI users" → search "AI", find Ask AI, Agents, Visibility, custom aggregated event. Respond: "I found AI activity across Ask AI, Agents, and Visibility. I'm using the '[2026] Activation Metric [AI events only]' custom event which includes all AI product interactions. This gives you total AI users across all features. Let me know if you want to focus on a specific AI product instead."

Verify before use:

• Get existing charts using the event via search
• Check event has actual volume (not zero/stale)
• Look for custom events that aggregate related activity
• If zero results, search for alternatives

Get properties:

Amplitude:get_event_properties for exact property names/values

Find cohorts:

Amplitude:search with entity_types=['COHORT']
Amplitude:get_cohorts to get full definitions

Chart Type Selection

Chart Type	Use When
eventsSegmentation	Counting events/users over time, trends, comparisons, KPIs, distributions, property analytics
funnels	Multi-step conversion analysis with a known sequence, drop-off analysis, time between specific events, time-to-convert metrics
retention	User return behavior, cohort retention curves, churn analysis
dataTableV2	Tabular comparisons, rankings, multi-dimensional breakdowns
customerJourney	Path exploration, discovering unknown paths users take, comparing converted vs dropped-off paths
sessions	Session duration, session frequency, time spent per user, session length distributions

Quick Reference

eventsSegmentation - Most versatile. Use for:

• User counts (DAU, WAU, MAU) with uniques metric
• Event totals, averages, sums of properties
• Percentiles, distributions, formulas
• Time series with rolling windows

Aggregation Scope (eventsSegmentation):

• PROPSUM(A) / metric: "sums" = Global sum across ALL events
• metric: "frequency" = Distribution of per-user event counts (how many users did it 1x, 2x, 3x)
• For "distribution of property sum per user": Amplitude does not support this directly. Use metric: "frequency" for event count distributions, or use dataTableV2 grouped by user_id with PROPSUM, then export for external analysis.

funnels - Conversion analysis with predefined steps. Use for:

• Step-by-step conversion rates when you know the expected sequence
• Ordered or unordered sequences
• Time-to-convert (median time between events)
• Exclusion events, conversion windows
• Overlapping events: To find users who performed multiple events (in any order), use a funnel with "any order" and set the conversion window to match the chart date range
• Note: If you want to discover what paths users take, use customerJourney instead

retention - Return behavior. Use for:

• N-day or rolling retention curves
• Cohort analysis (new vs returning users)
• Start event → Return event patterns

dataTableV2 - Tabular data. Use for:

• Breakdowns by dimensions (country, platform, etc.)
• Multi-metric comparisons in table format

customerJourney - Path exploration and discovery. Use for:

• Understanding the actual paths users take (vs. expected paths in funnels)
• Analyzing paths starting with, ending with, or between two specific events
• Comparing converted vs dropped-off user paths side by side
• Discovering unexpected navigation patterns or friction points
• Exploring path frequency, similarity, or average time to complete
• Bridging the gap between ideal customer journeys and actual user behavior

sessions - Session-based engagement metrics. Use for:

• Session duration analysis (average length, time spent, distributions)
• Session frequency (average sessions per user, total sessions)
• Time spent per user over time
• Events performed within sessions (average events per session)
• Comparing session behavior across user segments

Special metrics:

• User counts: metric: "uniques"
• Event counts: metric: "totals"
• Property sums: metric: "sums" with property in group_by
• Rates/percentages: Use when comparing groups of different sizes

Meta events:

• _active: Any active event (DAU, MAU)
• _new: New users (first-time event)
• _any_revenue_event: Revenue events

Chart Definition Structure

Core parameters (all chart types):

{
  "name": "Descriptive Chart Title",
  "projectId": "12345",
  "definition": {
    "app": "12345",
    "type": "eventsSegmentation",
    "params": {
      "range": "Last 30 Days",
      "events": [{
        "event_type": "Purchase Completed",
        "filters": [],
        "group_by": []
      }],
      "metric": "uniques",
      "countGroup": "User",
      "interval": 1,
      "segments": [{"conditions": []}]
    }
  }
}

Key parameters:

• countGroup: "User" (unique users) or "Event" (event occurrences)
• interval: 1 (daily), 7 (weekly), 30 (monthly)
• segments: User filters/groups (empty array = all users)

Event filters (inline OR logic):

"filters": [{
  "group_type": "User",
  "subprop_key": "country",
  "subprop_op": "is",
  "subprop_type": "event",
  "subprop_value": ["United States", "Canada"]
}]

User segments (conditions AND logic):

"segments": [{
  "name": "Active Users",
  "conditions": [{
    "type": "property",
    "group_type": "User",
    "prop_type": "user",
    "prop": "plan",
    "op": "is",
    "values": ["Pro", "Enterprise"]
  }]
}]

Cohort segments: Search for cohort, get ID, then:

"segments": [{
  "name": "My Cohort",
  "conditions": [{
    "type": "cohort",
    "group_type": "User",
    "cohort_id": "abc123",
    "op": "is_in"
  }]
}]

Workflow: Create Chart

1. Get context:

Amplitude:get_context (for projectId)

2. Discover events (BROAD search first):

Amplitude:search for each distinct concept
- Use broad search terms initially
- Look for all related events, custom events, cohorts
- Review ALL results before selecting

3. Evaluate and decide:

• Review all discovered events and custom events
• Make informed decision (prefer aggregated events)
• Prepare clear explanation of what you found and your choice

4. Find similar charts (see examples):

Amplitude:search entity_types=['CHART'] query="similar concept"
Amplitude:get_charts to see definition structure

5. Get properties if needed:

Amplitude:get_event_properties

6. Build definition using discovered names

• Explain event selection rationale in response

7. Create chart:

Amplitude:query_dataset with full definition

8. Verify results - check data makes sense

9. Save chart:

Amplitude:save_chart_edits with editId from query_dataset

Error Handling

If query_dataset fails:

• Read error message carefully
• Common issues: incorrect event names, invalid filters, wrong parameter types
• Fix definition and retry
• Verify events exist via search first

If zero results:

• Check filters aren't too restrictive
• Verify event has data (search for charts using it)
• Try broader time range
• Check segment conditions

Best Practices

Naming:

• Include metric + time context: "Weekly Active Users Last 90 Days"
• Not: "WAU" or "Users"

Time ranges:

• Default to "Last 30 Days"
• Use inclusive ranges for specific periods
• State interpreted range explicitly

Verification:

• Always verify event exists before using
• Check similar charts to understand event usage
• Confirm properties with get_event_properties

Comparisons:

• Use segments for comparing user groups on same chart
• Use rates/percentages for different-sized groups

Always include:

• Chart URL in response
• What the chart shows
• Key insights from initial data
• Methodology used