Figurestead

Figurestead is an experimental scientific figure system with Python and framework-free browser surfaces. It shares figure-contract and theme semantics across runtimes while keeping scientific output deterministic and inspectable.

Coordinated release target: Python figurestead==0.9.0a2 and browser @figurestead/web@0.9.0-alpha.3. The package counters are independent. Registry commands below require those exact versions to be available; review candidates use the retained files in release preparation.

Start here

Python

python -m pip install "figurestead==0.9.0a2"

from figurestead import line

figure, axes = line([0, 1, 2], [[0, 1, 0]])
figure.savefig("figurestead-first-success.png", dpi=150)

Open the exact Python example.

Browser

npm install @figurestead/web@0.9.0-alpha.3

The package exports createFigurestead; rendering requires a complete normalized figure contract. The repository includes one with every identifier defined. From a checkout:

python3 -m http.server 4173

Open http://127.0.0.1:4173/examples/browser-first-success/. Inspect the exact browser example and its inline contract.

Python and browser surfaces share normalized figure-contract vocabulary and selected theme definitions. Each surface renders through its own implementation; shared semantics do not imply pixel-identical output.

Series identity and optional direct labels

Default line series combine color with persistent open circle (S1), square (S2), and upright triangle (S3) markers and matching line-and-marker legends. Line rhythm remains an independent semantic channel. Python callers can carry series_slots=[1, 2] when rebuilding filtered S2/S3 rows; browser setData retains established keyed identity through supported filtering/reordering and partial style overrides. setConfig replaces the contract.

Lavender Fog Notebook is the reference light theme; Ultraviolet Laboratory is the reference dark theme for the bounded three-series line profile, not universal accessibility, CVD or print qualification. Product defaults are unchanged.

Opt in with Python line(..., direct_labels=True) or browser style: { directLabels: true }. Direct labels reuse the actual body marker identity beside the traces. V1 covers ordinary one-panel, 2–3-series line figures with single-line printable ASCII labels. Unsupported or insufficient layouts fall back atomically to the ordinary legend. This treatment does not support Unicode, multiline or math interpretation; printable ASCII math punctuation is literal. Active browser transitions use ordinary treatment until settled, and exports without trustworthy measurement retain the ordinary legend.

See the ordinary/direct-label example and detailed direct-label contract. The explicit rendered-series contrast audit measures caller-specified rendering facts separately from the static palette audit.

Figurestead at a glance

The montage spans temporal response, periodic series, calibration and nonlinear relationships, distributions, grouped distributions, exact temporal coverage, and sparse observations. These are deterministic synthetic design and renderer-evaluation fixtures—not scientific measurements or findings.

Beyond the montage

The populated categorical response matrix preserves ten habitat columns and six response-band rows. Fill encodes bounded within-habitat share while each cell retains its percentage and exact count. The fixture is deterministic and synthetic; its project-defined bands are not ecological or regulatory thresholds. Inspect the source scene, raw observations, and derived matrices.

Python and browser

Figurestead's two surfaces share a normalized contract vocabulary, selected theme definitions, and evidence-oriented conventions. They do not promise identical pixels or identical renderer coverage.

• Python provides the compact plotting API used by the first-success example and the existing categorical-matrix extension shown above.
• The framework-free browser package provides its accepted core renderer registry plus the temporal extension at @figurestead/web/extensions/temporal.
• The populated categorical matrix is currently Python-rendered; this README does not imply a browser categorical-matrix renderer exists.

Evidence and documentation

• Public overview
• Evidence Atlas
• Python first-success example
• Browser first-success example
• Static palette versus rendered-series contrast
• Reference light/dark themes for the bounded three-series line profile — current-source exemplars, not universal qualification
• Deterministic specimen corpus and local visual lab
• Technical-showcase reviewer packet — repository-local and undeployed

Status and limits

Figurestead is an experimental public alpha, not a mature universal plotting library.

• The three-series and five-series color-led recommendations are project-authored usage guidance. Higher-series evidence relies on redundant marker and dash channels where those channels exist.
• Digital paper evidence records a 6.372 pt minimum label against Figurestead's internal 6 pt project floor; it is not physical-printer certification or an external typographic standard.
• Color-vision-deficiency plates are simulations with documented model limits, not medical or universal-accessibility certification.
• Renderer coverage differs between Python and browser runtimes, and all specimens shown here are deterministic synthetic evaluation fixtures.

Figurestead is MIT licensed. See versioning, third-party notices, and trademarks.