Matplotlib

This is the foundation of Python visualization. If you need publication-quality figures with precise control over every axis, label, and spine, this is what you reach for. The skill emphasizes the object-oriented interface (fig, ax = plt.subplots()) over the pyplot state machine, which is the right call for anything beyond throwaway plots. It's verbose compared to Seaborn but gives you full customization for scientific papers, multi-panel layouts, heatmaps, and LaTeX-formatted labels. The anti-patterns section is honest about common mistakes like mixing interfaces and using rainbow colormaps. For interactive dashboards or quick statistical plots, look elsewhere, but for static figures that need to be perfect, this is still the standard.

skills.sh installs: 375
GitHub stars: 25
last updated: Aug 21, 2026

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Install

$ npx -y skills add tondevrel/scientific-agent-skills --skill matplotlib --agent claude-code

Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.

Files

Matplotlib - Data Visualization

The most widely used library for 2D (and basic 3D) plotting. It provides full control over every element of a figure, from line styles to axis spines.

When to Use

Creating publication-quality 2D plots (Line, Scatter, Bar, Hist)
Visualizing scientific data (Heatmaps, Contours, Vector fields)
Generating complex multi-panel figures
Fine-tuning plots for papers/reports (LaTeX support)
Building custom visualization tools and dashboards
Plotting data directly from NumPy arrays or Pandas DataFrames

Reference Documentation

Official docs: https://matplotlib.org/stable/index.html
Gallery: https://matplotlib.org/stable/gallery/index.html (Essential for finding examples)
Search patterns: plt.subplots, ax.set_title, ax.legend, plt.savefig, matplotlib.colors

Core Principles

Two Interfaces: Choose Wisely

Interface	Method	Use Case
Object-Oriented (OO)	`fig, ax = plt.subplots()`	Recommended. Best for complex, reproducible plots.
Pyplot (State-based)	`plt.plot(x, y)`	Quick interactive checks. Avoid for scripts/modules.