pandas-flowchart 0.1.3

A library for tracking pandas operations and generating HTML or Mermaid flowcharts

pandas-flowchart 📊

A Python library that integrates with pandas to automatically track data transformation operations and generate visual flowcharts using HTML or Mermaid diagrams.

Features

• Automatic Operation Tracking: Intercepts common pandas operations (merge, filter, assign, drop, groupby, etc.)
• Structured Metadata Recording: Captures operation details, row counts, and custom statistics
• Visual Flowcharts: Generates Mermaid diagrams with color-coded operation boxes
• Variable Monitoring: Track specific variables' unique counts and statistics across the pipeline
• Mini-Histograms: ASCII sparkline histograms for numeric variables
• Multiple Output Formats: Export to Markdown, HTML, or raw Mermaid syntax

Example: Healthcare Data Pipeline

This example tracks a realistic analytics workflow for a medical provider: loading patient/exam records, merging them on patient_id, filtering for active adults, deriving age groups, deduplicating visits, and then branching off into staged summaries before rendering the final Mermaid diagram shown below.

[image_link]

Installation

pip install pandas-flowchart

Or install from source:

git clone https://github.com/rschererstm/pandas-flowchart
cd pandas-flowchart
pip install -e .

Quick Start

import pandas as pd
import pandas_flow

# Setup the tracker with variables to monitor
flow = pandas_flow.setup(
    track_row_count=True,
    track_variables={
        "patient_id": "n_unique",
        "exam_date": "n_unique",
    },
    stats_variable="age",
    stats_types=["min", "max", "mean", "std", "histogram"],
)

# Your pandas operations are automatically tracked
patients = pd.read_csv("patients.csv")
exams = pd.read_csv("exams.csv")

# Merge datasets
combined = patients.merge(exams, on="patient_id", how="inner")

# Filter adults
adults = combined.query("age >= 18")

# Add calculated columns
adults = adults.assign(
    age_group=lambda x: pd.cut(x["age"], bins=[18, 30, 50, 70, 100])
)

# Remove duplicates
clean_data = adults.drop_duplicates(subset=["patient_id", "exam_date"])

# Generate the flowchart
flow.render("pipeline_flowchart.md")

This generates a beautiful Mermaid flowchart showing each operation with:

• Operation type and description
• Input/output row counts
• Tracked variable statistics
• Distribution histograms

Detailed Usage

Setting Up the Tracker

import pandas_flow

flow = pandas_flow.setup(
    # Track row counts after each operation
    track_row_count=True,
  
    # Variables to monitor (name -> stat_type)
    # stat_type can be: "n_total", "n_non_null", "n_unique"
    track_variables={
        "user_id": "n_unique",
        "transaction_date": "n_unique",
        "product_category": "n_unique",
    },
  
    # Variable for detailed statistics
    stats_variable="amount",
  
    # Which stats to compute for stats_variable
    stats_types=["min", "max", "mean", "std", "top3_freq", "histogram"],
  
    # Auto-intercept pandas operations (default: True)
    auto_intercept=True,
  
    # Visual theme: "default", "dark", or "light"
    theme="default",
)

Tracked Operations

The library automatically intercepts these pandas operations:

Category	Operations
Data Loading	read_csv, read_excel, read_parquet, read_json
Filtering	query, loc, iloc, boolean indexing
Joins	merge, join
Column Operations	assign, drop, rename
Concatenation	concat
Groupby	groupby + agg/transform
Reshape	pivot, pivot_table, melt
Cleaning	drop_duplicates, dropna, fillna
Sorting	sort_values, sort_index

Manual Tracking

For operations that can't be automatically intercepted (like boolean indexing), use manual tracking:

from pandas_flow.interceptors import track_filter

# Before filtering
original_df = df.copy()

# Filter with boolean indexing
df = df[df["status"] == "active"]

# Manually track the operation
track_filter(flow, original_df, df, 'status == "active"')

Or use the decorator pattern:

@flow.track("Custom Processing", OperationType.CUSTOM)
def process_data(df):
    # Your custom logic
    return df.pipe(custom_transform)

result = process_data(input_df)

Generating Output

# Markdown with Mermaid code block
flow.render("pipeline.md")

# Standalone HTML page (interactive)
flow.render("pipeline.html")

# Raw Mermaid syntax
flow.render("pipeline.mmd")

# Get Mermaid code as string
mermaid_code = flow.get_mermaid(
    title="My Data Pipeline",
    direction="TB",  # TB, LR, BT, RL
    include_legend=False,
    include_stats=True,
)

Context Manager Usage

with pandas_flow.setup(track_variables={"id": "n_unique"}) as flow:
    df = pd.read_csv("data.csv")
    df = df.query("active == True")
    df = df.drop_duplicates()
  
    flow.render("output.md")
# Interceptors are automatically removed after the context

Output Example

Box Contents

Each operation box includes:

• Operation name (bold header)
• Description (what the operation does)
• Input DataFrames with source filename and dimensions
• Output DataFrame dimensions
• Row change indicator (↑ increase / ↓ decrease with percentage)
• Tracked variable statistics
• Distribution histogram (ASCII sparkline or embedded image with x-axis)

Color Scheme

Operations are color-coded by type (pastel/less saturated colors):

Operation Type	Color
Data Loading	Soft Gray (#9ca3af)
Filtering	Soft Blue (#7cb3d9)
Joins	Soft Green (#6dc993)
Column Creation	Soft Orange (#f0a86e)
Drop Operations	Soft Red (#e8918a)
Groupby	Soft Purple (#b99ad1)
Concatenation	Soft Teal (#6bc4ce)
Reshape	Soft Pink (#f5a3c7)
Sorting	Soft Yellow (#f5d76e)

API Reference

pandas_flow.setup()

Main entry point to create and activate a FlowTracker.

Parameters:

• track_row_count (bool): Track row counts after each operation. Default: True
• track_variables (dict): Map of variable names to stat types. Default: None
• stats_variable (str): Variable for detailed statistics. Default: None
• stats_types (list): Statistics to compute. Default: ["min", "max", "mean", "std", "top3_freq", "histogram"]
• auto_intercept (bool): Auto-intercept pandas operations. Default: True
• theme (str): Color theme. Options: "default", "dark", "light"

Returns: FlowTracker instance

FlowTracker.render()

Render the flowchart to a file.

Parameters:

• output_path (str): Output file path (.md, .html, or .mmd)
• title (str): Diagram title. Default: "Data Flow Pipeline"
• direction (str): Flow direction. Options: "TB", "LR", "BT", "RL"
• include_legend (bool): Include color legend. Default: False
• include_stats (bool): Include statistics in boxes. Default: True

FlowTracker.get_mermaid()

Get Mermaid code without saving to file.

FlowTracker.summary()

Get a text summary of all recorded operations.

FlowTracker.clear()

Clear all recorded events.

Architecture

pandas_flow/
├── __init__.py          # Public API exports
├── tracker.py           # FlowTracker central class
├── events.py            # Event types and metadata classes
├── interceptors.py      # Pandas operation interceptors
├── stats.py             # Statistics calculator
├── visualization.py     # ASCII art utilities
└── mermaid_renderer.py  # Mermaid diagram generator

Design Principles

1. Non-invasive: Intercepts operations without modifying your code
2. Configurable: Track only what you need
3. Extensible: Easy to add custom operations
4. Performant: Minimal overhead during data processing

Advanced Features

Multiple DataFrames

The library correctly handles pipelines with multiple DataFrames:

df1 = pd.read_csv("sales.csv")
df2 = pd.read_csv("products.csv")
df3 = pd.read_csv("customers.csv")

# Multiple merges are tracked with proper connections
result = df1.merge(df2, on="product_id").merge(df3, on="customer_id")

Chained Operations

Method chaining is fully supported:

result = (
    pd.read_csv("data.csv")
    .query("status == 'active'")
    .drop_duplicates(subset=["id"])
    .assign(processed=True)
    .sort_values("date")
)

Export to PNG

For PNG export, install the optional dependency:

pip install pandas-flowchart[png]

Then use the Mermaid CLI or a Mermaid renderer service.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.