Customization¶

BenchBox visualization supports customization for themes, colors, and terminal display options.

Themes¶

BenchBox provides light and dark themes optimized for different contexts:

benchbox visualize results/*.json --theme light   # Default, best for light terminals
benchbox visualize results/*.json --theme dark    # Best for dark terminal backgrounds

Theme Differences:

Aspect	Light Theme	Dark Theme
Background	Terminal default	Terminal default
Text emphasis	Dark gray tones	Light gray tones
Chart palette	Same colorblind-safe colors	Same colorblind-safe colors

Color Palette¶

BenchBox uses a colorblind-safe categorical palette designed for data visualization:

Palette Colors:

Color	Hex	Usage
Teal	`#1b9e77`	Primary series, best performer
Orange	`#d95f02`	Secondary series
Purple	`#7570b3`	Tertiary series
Pink	`#e7298a`	Fourth series
Green	`#66a61e`	Fifth series
Yellow	`#e6ab02`	Sixth series
Brown	`#a6761d`	Seventh series
Gray	`#666666`	Eighth series

Special Colors:

Purpose	Color	Hex
Best performer	Green	`#28a745`
Worst performer	Red	`#dc3545`
Improvement (%)	Green	`#66a61e`
Regression (%)	Orange	`#d95f02`

Terminal Display Options¶

Color Control¶

# Full ANSI color output (default)
benchbox visualize results/*.json

# Disable colors (for piping to files or plain terminals)
benchbox visualize results/*.json --no-color

Character Set¶

# Unicode block characters (default): ▏▎▍▌▋▊▉█
benchbox visualize results/*.json

# ASCII-only characters for basic terminals: .-=+#@
benchbox visualize results/*.json --no-unicode

Terminal Width¶

Charts automatically detect terminal width and constrain output to 40-120 characters. The chart rendering adapts:

Labels are truncated to fit available space
Bar widths scale proportionally
Legends wrap as needed

Accessibility¶

BenchBox visualizations are designed for accessibility:

Color Accessibility:

Palette passes WCAG AA contrast requirements
Colorblind-safe: distinguishable for deuteranopia, protanopia, tritanopia
--no-color flag for screen readers and plain text processing

Screen Reader Support:

Text-based output is inherently screen reader compatible
Use --no-color to strip ANSI codes for cleanest plain text
Consistent labeling with values, legends, and scale notes

Contrast Ratios:

Text on background: minimum 4.5:1 (WCAG AA)
Chart elements: minimum 3:1

Advanced: Python API Customization¶

For fine-grained control, use the Python API directly:

from benchbox.core.visualization.ascii.base import ASCIIChartOptions
from benchbox.core.visualization.ascii.bar_chart import ASCIIBarChart, BarData

# Custom chart options
opts = ASCIIChartOptions(
    use_color=True,
    use_unicode=True,
    theme="dark",
    width=100,  # Override terminal width detection
)

# Create chart with custom settings
data = [
    BarData(label="Platform A", value=100.5, is_best=True),
    BarData(label="Platform B", value=150.2),
    BarData(label="Platform C", value=200.1, is_worst=True),
]

chart = ASCIIBarChart(
    data=data,
    title="Custom Chart Title",
    metric_label="Execution Time (ms)",
    options=opts,
)

print(chart.render())

Using the Generic Factory¶

from benchbox.core.visualization.exporters import render_ascii_chart

# Render any chart type via the generic factory
output = render_ascii_chart(
    chart_type="performance_bar",
    data=data,
    title="My Chart",
)
print(output)

Exporting to File¶

from benchbox.core.visualization.exporters import export_ascii

export_ascii(
    ascii_content=chart.render(),
    output_dir="./charts",
    base_name="performance_comparison",
    format="txt",
)

Configuration Summary¶

Option	CLI Flag	Default	Values
Theme	`--theme`	`light`	`light`, `dark`
Colors	`--no-color`	enabled	flag to disable
Unicode	`--no-unicode`	enabled	flag to disable
Template	`--template`	none	`default`, `flagship`, `head_to_head`, `trends`, `cost_optimization`, `comparison`
Chart type	`--chart-type`	`auto`	`auto`, `all`, `performance_bar`, `distribution_box`, `query_heatmap`, `query_histogram`, `cost_scatter`, `time_series`