Show HN: I built a tool to generate charts from text
4 kristoff200512 2 7/9/2025, 7:03:44 PM chartfromtext.com ↗
I built ChartFromText.com to solve a simple but recurring annoyance of mine. I often need a quick chart for a README file, a Slack message, or a simple presentation, and firing up Google Sheets or Excel always felt like overkill.
The goal was to create the absolute fastest path from raw data to a usable chart. You just paste text like Apples: 50, Bananas: 80, and the chart appears instantly.
What it does:
Parses simple key-value text (colons, commas, or newlines).
Instantly generates Pie, Bar, and Line charts.
Renders data labels directly on the chart for readability.
Lets you download the chart as a PNG with a clean, white background, ready for use anywhere.
The Tech Stack:
I intentionally kept it as simple as possible. It's a single HTML file with:
Vanilla JavaScript for all the logic. No frameworks.
Chart.js and the chartjs-plugin-datalabels for the heavy lifting on the charting side. They are fantastic libraries.
TailwindCSS via the CDN for styling. It allowed me to build a clean UI very quickly without a build step.
The entire thing is client-side, so your data never leaves your browser, which was a key principle for me.
I've tried to build a tool that I would love to use: fast, free, private, and does one thing well.
I would genuinely love to get your feedback. Is the UI intuitive? Are there any obvious features missing that you'd expect? Does it render correctly on your device?
Thanks for checking it out!
Can be used on WP blogs when counting category or tag labels. Do plugin?
For large datasets, see something like https://www.instagram.com/visualcap/p/DLDnLKvvIQC/ -- perhaps look at https://masonry.desandro.com/ - but something else might be better.
https://www.instagram.com/visualcap/p/DLfL3ahvAPQ/ (percentage measurement)
-- Imagine having this done in real-time for all the coins and their market caps, or maybe a subset of the middle-tier coins
I totally get this! At the same time, I often find I don’t even need actual numbers—just labeling the X and Y axes and describing the general shape of the line is enough to communicate the idea. Not sure how to do that though.