> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hazel.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Hazel visualizes data

> Hazel picks a visual for the argument the plan needs to make. What each family of form is for, and how to ask for a different one.

You will present these visuals out loud, so each one has to carry the point you are making at that moment. Hazel picks the form that fits the claim: a **Donut chart** says "this total splits like this," a **Range of outcomes** says "we do not know the answer, we know the spread."

So the visual you get is sometimes not the one you would have named. Ask for a different one.

## The families of form

These are the product's own names: search the designer palette for them, or name them in a request.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Words">
    **Narrative** for a few sentences in plain language, written for this household; Summary, Today and Goals each open with one. **Mission statement** for the household's own words about what the money is for, shown as a quote when the household has said it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Headline numbers">
    **Key numbers** for a row of headline figures at the top of a section. **Highlight cards** for short callouts: what is working, what needs attention. **Info cards** for a card per item: one per goal, account or action item.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Probability">
    **Success gauge** for probability of success today next to probability with the plan. **Probability bar** for one probability shown against a target. **Range of outcomes** for the spread of results across Monte Carlo simulations.

    A modeled probability above your firm's display ceiling shows as greater than that ceiling, with a short note under the figure. The ceiling is ninety-nine percent unless your firm changes it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Time">
    **Scenario paths** for wealth over time on the current path next to wealth with the plan. **Stacked columns** for yearly columns split into their sources. **Inflows & outflows** for money in and money out, side by side over the years. **Whole-life cash flow** for every year's money in, out and remaining, as a chart plus a table. **Time spans** for when things start and end. **Timeline** for steps in order.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Composition">
    **Donut chart** for how a total splits across its pieces. **Breakdown chart** for one total broken into its parts. **Mix comparison** for labeled strips showing how several totals each split, the form for current mix next to target mix.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Comparison">
    **Before & after** for key figures with and without the recommendations. **Scenario comparison** for two or three choices side by side over the same rows. **Progress to target** for stacked pieces measured against a target, where the gap is the point. **Change table** for rows moving from one value to another, with a total. **Bar chart** for amounts compared across years or categories, including a plain largest-first ranking.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Ranking and priority">
    **Ranked list** for the Social Security claiming decision: what each start age pays a month, plus the total collected by a planning age the household picks. For any other ranking, ask for a **Bar chart**. **Priority list** for Hazel's ranked priorities for this household, with blocks able to sit inside a priority. **Savings order** for where each next dollar of savings should go, in order.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Decisions and actions">
    **Recommendation** for one clear recommendation and the reasoning behind it. **Decision log** for decisions made, approved and still open. **Questions** for what the household needs to confirm or correct. **Asset location moves** for which holdings move to which accounts, and why.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Structure and interaction">
    **Levers to try** for dials such as savings rate or retirement age, with every figure bound to one moving as you drag it. See [Levers and scenarios](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/levers-and-scenarios). **Tab group** for turning a set of blocks into tabs. **Table** for rows and columns: accounts, amounts, schedules.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

For what each form needs to work, see the [Visual reference](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/visual-reference).

## Asking for a different visual

Ask in plain English, on any part of the plan:

```text theme={null}
Replace the retirement bar chart with the range of outcomes. I want
them to see the spread, not a single line.
```

```text theme={null}
Turn the Roth conversion schedule into a table with a column for the
bracket it fills.
```

* **Naming the argument works better than naming the chart.** "I want them to see the spread" gets you the right form even when you name the wrong one.
* **A form Hazel cannot fill will not appear.** A **Scenario comparison** needs options whose numbers genuinely differ. When the plan's data cannot support the form you named, Hazel says so and offers the one that fits. A **Range of outcomes** reads as a spread only while the **Monte Carlo** switch is on in [Market assumptions](/guides/financial-planning/assumptions/market-assumptions), where it starts on.

<Tip>
  For a visual in every plan your firm builds, put it in your layout in [Plan design](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/overview) rather than asking plan by plan, and set how closely Hazel follows that layout with the [strictness](/guides/financial-planning/settings/personas/strictness) control.
</Tip>

## Where to go next

* [Visual reference](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/visual-reference)
* [Changing a plan with chat](/guides/financial-planning/the-plan/changing-a-plan-with-chat)
* [Block settings](/guides/financial-planning/plan-design/block-settings): pinning a form into your firm's layout.