What is Galaxy Charts?

Galaxy Charts is the visualization plugin framework of the Galaxy platform. It provides the core infrastructure for developing and embedding visualizations using a simple and extensible plugin interface.

At its core, Galaxy Charts is framework-agnostic. Visualizations can be implemented with plain JavaScript or any frontend framework of your choice. See the framework guide for the XML wrapper and the runtime contract.

Key Features

• Local and Remote Data Access: Load data locally or connect to a remote Galaxy instance to access data providers and resources through the Galaxy API.
• Modern Development Workflow: Develop, test and iterate on plugins outside of Galaxy with hot-reloading and modern tooling.
• Embed Anything: Any JavaScript-based visualization library can be packaged as a Galaxy Charts plugin.

Galaxy Charts UI

Galaxy Charts UI is an optional Vue 3 package that builds on top of the framework and provides:

• Input Forms: Renders complete input forms directly from a plugin’s XML.
• Access Utilities: Simplifies Galaxy server interaction and data retrieval.
• Starter Template: Pre-configured Vue 3, Vite, Naive UI, and Tailwind stack.
• Generic Slot: A generic slot for your plugin code using any frontend stack.

Which path should I take?

If you want…	Use
A configurable input form auto-generated from your XML	Galaxy Charts UI
Maximum flexibility with any framework (React, Svelte, Vanilla, Vue, and more)	Vite-only approach