---
title: Charts, tables and infographics
category: read
summary: When the numbers in a Manifest deserve a picture, how to build a table, chart or infographic from them, and how to stay honest about what the data supports.
order: 15
updated: 2026-10-07
next: build-and-save-a-beacon
related: present-manifests-to-your-users, manifest-anatomy-field-guide
reference: /agents/personal-agent-onboarding.txt, /synorb-instructions.md
---
A good visual lets your user see in two seconds what a paragraph needs a minute to say. A bad visual invents precision. The method below lets the visual show only numbers that Synorb delivered.
## When to use this
Draw something when the story has numbers that **move or compare**:
- a change over time (a rate path, a price, a count rising day by day),
- a comparison across sources or entities (three banks' rate views side by side),
- a before and after (old pricing against new, last quarter against this one), or
- a result overview your user will scan (a run's hits by Stream, the window covered, allowance left).
Do not draw anything for a story with no comparable numbers. Three unrelated stories that each mention one figure are not a trend. A clear narrative is enough, and it is better than a decoration.
Pick the richest form your display can show:
| Your display can | Use |
| --- | --- |
| Render HTML, SVG or images (an artifact, a dashboard, a web view) | An SVG chart, stat card or full infographic, as below |
| Run code (a notebook, a sandbox) | Any plotting library you have, saved as an image with alt text |
| Show only Markdown | A table, plus a text bar if it helps |
| Speak only (voice) | Lead with the one number that matters, in a sentence |
| Send email | An inline table and, if you attach an image, alt text and a link to the sources |
## Smallest working call
Pull a compact scan. Compact output carries up to three `facts` per Brief at `brief.facts`. Full bodies (`compact: false`) carry all of them at `brief.body.facts`. Each fact is a `label` and `value` pair traceable to the source:
```mcp billed
synorb-manifests
{"stream_ids": ["STREAM_ID"], "days": 14, "target_count": 10, "compact": true}
```
Now find the numbers that are truly comparable. This helper accepts a figure only if it is a plain number with an optional currency symbol or percent sign. It keeps a label only if two or more sources report it in the same unit:
```python
import re
from html import escape
NUMBER = re.compile(r"^\s*([$€£]?)\s*(-?\d[\d,]*\.?\d*)\s*(%?)\s*$")
def parse_number(value):
match = NUMBER.match(str(value))
if not match:
return None
unit = match.group(1) or match.group(3)
return float(match.group(2).replace(",", "")), unit
def comparable_facts(manifests, min_sources=2):
by_label = {}
for m in manifests:
brief = m.get("brief") or {}
facts = brief.get("facts") or (brief.get("body") or {}).get("facts") or []
source = (m.get("source") or {}).get("source_name") or "Source"
for fact in facts:
parsed = parse_number(fact.get("value"))
if parsed and fact.get("label"):
by_label.setdefault(fact["label"], []).append(
{
"source": source,
"date": m.get("published_date"),
"value": parsed[0],
"unit": parsed[1],
"manifest_id": m.get("manifest_id"),
}
)
return {
label: rows
for label, rows in by_label.items()
if len(rows) >= min_sources and len({r["unit"] for r in rows}) == 1
}
```
A comparison table works on every display:
```python
def markdown_table(label, rows):
unit = rows[0]["unit"]
lines = ["| Source | Date | " + label + " |", "| --- | --- | ---: |"]
for r in rows:
shown = unit + format(r["value"], ",g") if unit == "$" else format(r["value"], ",g") + unit
lines.append("| " + r["source"] + " | " + str(r["date"]) + " | " + shown + " |")
return "\n".join(lines)
```
A bar chart is a self-contained SVG for any display that can render one. It has a title, a text description for screen readers, a value on every bar, and a source line:
```python
def svg_bars(title, rows, source_note=""):
if not rows or any(r["value"] < 0 for r in rows):
return None # use a table for negative values
width, left, bar_h, gap, top = 560, 190, 26, 10, 46
height = top + len(rows) * (bar_h + gap) + 34
peak = max(r["value"] for r in rows) or 1
unit = rows[0]["unit"]
desc = "; ".join(r["source"] + ": " + format(r["value"], ",g") + unit for r in rows)
parts = [
'")
return "\n".join(parts)
```
Use them together:
```python
facts = comparable_facts(manifests)
for label, rows in facts.items():
print(markdown_table(label, rows))
svg = svg_bars(label, rows, "Sources: " + ", ".join(sorted({r["source"] for r in rows})))
```
## What you get back
For three sources that each report the same measure in percent, `markdown_table` returns:
```markdown
| Source | Date | Policy rate view |
| --- | --- | ---: |
| Bank A | 2026-10-02 | 4.25% |
| Bank B | 2026-10-03 | 4.5% |
| Bank C | 2026-10-05 | 4.75% |
```
`svg_bars` returns one `