| name | publication-figures |
| description | Use whenever you generate a chart, plot, or figure with matplotlib (or seaborn) in this workspace. Applies the Open Science publication figure style so every generated figure is publication-grade and shares one palette with the app's native charts. Not for interactive plotly/HTML — those follow the same palette manually. |
Publication Figures
Make generated figures publication-grade and on-system by default. Every
figure you produce with matplotlib must use the bundled Open Science style, so a
figure in a report and a stat tile in the app read as one design system.
Apply the style (always, before plotting)
The style file openscience.mplstyle sits next to this SKILL.md. Load it by
absolute path at the top of any figure script:
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from pathlib import Path
STYLE = Path(__file__).resolve().parent / "openscience.mplstyle" if "__file__" in dir() else None
plt.style.use(str(STYLE)) if STYLE and STYLE.exists() else plt.style.use("default")
If you cannot resolve the path, set the palette inline (same hexes as below).
The shared palette (single source of truth)
These are the exact hues the app's native charts use. Assign categorical series
in this fixed order — never a different order, never a cycled 9th hue.
| Slot | Hue | Light hex |
|---|
| 1 | blue | #2a78d6 |
| 2 | aqua | #1baf7a |
| 3 | yellow | #eda100 |
| 4 | green | #008300 |
| 5 | violet | #4a3aa7 |
| 6 | red | #e34948 |
| 7 | magenta | #e87ba4 |
| 8 | orange | #eb6834 |
Sequential (magnitude, one hue light→dark): #cde2fb #9ec5f4 #6da7ec #3987e5 #256abf #184f95 #104281. Diverging: blue ↔ red with a neutral gray midpoint.
Rules (from the app's dataviz standard)
- One y-axis. Never two scales on one plot — use two charts or index to a
common base.
- Categorical color = identity, assigned in slot order; sequential = one hue
by magnitude; diverging = two hues + gray midpoint. Never a rainbow.
- Thin marks, recessive chrome: 2px lines, ≥6pt markers, hairline y-grid
only, no top/right spines (the style sets these).
- Label selectively — the endpoint or the extreme, never a number on every
point. A legend is present for ≥2 series; a single series needs none (the
title names it).
- Text stays in ink, never the series color. Identity comes from the mark.
- Save clean:
plt.savefig(path, bbox_inches="tight") (the style sets dpi).
Checklist before returning a figure
- Style applied (palette + chrome from
openscience.mplstyle).
- Series colors assigned in slot order; ≤8 series (else group into "Other").
- Single y-axis; legend iff ≥2 series; axis labels + units present.
- Saved to the workspace and referenced by path so it surfaces as an artifact.
