Introducing: Generative Chart Controls

When we launched generative apps in May, we unlocked a whole new degree of visualization flexibility for interactive data. Because everything is code, you can build anything! Collapsible sections, fine-grained chart annotations, animated presentations and infographics – it’s all possible, and the Hex platform provides trusted context, governance, and security.

This is a massive leap forward from traditional viz tools, where you’re limited to pre-built chart types and layouts.

But, there’s a big downside, though: GenApps didn’t offer the precision, point-and-click tweaks that were legitimately useful in older tools. Want to rename an axis, swap a color, or change the legend? Well, you have to go talk to the agent – which can take a while (and burn tokens).

With today’s launch of Generative Chart Controls, however, we’ve broken that tradeoff, bringing the best of point-and-click chart controls into the world of code generation.

Last-mile precision, for code-generated visualization

Now, visualizations in Hex GenApps include a Style button – opening an intuitive, point and click panel that lets you make tweaks and adjustments without prompting.

It’s still all “just code”, but under the hood, Hex is taking the inputs from those controls and updating the app – so everything stays in sync.

Let’s take a look at what you can do with this:

Chart basics: Update the chart title, style and height

Restyle your series: Switch series modes and colors to match how you have the sales segments in your read out deck

Update your axes: Swap ARR_WON for "Won ARR ($)" so it feel's polished and stakeholder ready

Control the legend: Add a legend and move it to where readers will find it quickly

Our visualization team has built a library of custom D3 viz components that the agent can reference while building an app so out of the box your charts should look really good (and better than what you'd normally get out of the box with LLMs)!

Breaking the tradeoff of code and control

With generative apps, we want to break the tradeoff between being able to build anything you want, and being able to actually trust collaborate, and use what you've built.

Generative Chart Controls are the next piece - you no longer have to choose between custom visualizations and precise, last mile edits.

And this is just the start, text edits, layout controls and faster ways to polish your whole app are all on the way.

Give it a spin today, and let us know what you think!