chart

Render time series data as terminal charts.

The chart command reads JSONL from stdin and produces an ASCII visualization in the terminal. It is a terminal operator — it does not emit JSONL.

Examples:

  • Plot – render a continuous time series chart
  • Bar – render values as a bar chart

USAGE

reserve chart [subcommand]

Available Subcommands:

plotrender a continuous time series chart
barrender values as a bar chart

reserve chart [subcommand] –help (for more details about a specific subcommand)

PLOT

Render a time series as a continuous ASCII plot.

Best for trends, direction, and long time series.

Usage: reserve chart plot

# Basic usage
reserve obs get CPIAUCSL --format jsonl | reserve chart plot

# Limit date range
reserve obs get CPIAUCSL --start 2020-01-01 --format jsonl | reserve chart plot

# YoY transformation
reserve obs get CPIAUCSL --start 2020-01-01 --format jsonl | reserve transform pct-change --period 12 | reserve chart plot

Output

reserve obs get UNRATE --format jsonl | reserve chart plot
UNRATE  (1948-01 to 2026-02)
14.8┤                                                                          
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                                               
10.7┤                                                                         
                                                             ││              
                               ││                             ││            
 6.6┤                           ││   ││    │─│                           
            │─│ ││       ││           ││    ││     │─│            │╭    
      │╭   ││      ││                          │─│    │─│       ││     
         ││        │──│                                            ││  │─│ 
 2.5┤                                                                         
    └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     1948-01                           1987-02                        2026-02

BAR

Render a time series as an ASCII bar chart.

Best for discrete comparisons and shorter ranges.

Usage: reserve chart bar

# Basic usage
reserve obs get CPIAUCSL --format jsonl | reserve chart bar

# Limit date range
reserve obs get CPIAUCSL --start 2020-01-01 --format jsonl | reserve chart bar

# YoY transformation
reserve obs get CPIAUCSL --start 2020-01-01 --format jsonl | reserve transform pct-change --period 12 | reserve chart bar

Output

reserve obs get CPIAUCSL --start 2020-01-01 --format jsonl | reserve transform pct-change --period 12 | reserve chart bar

CPIAUCSL  2021-01  2026-02
2021-01  1.37  
2021-02  1.67  ███
2021-03  2.67  ███████████
2021-04  4.13  ████████████████████████
2021-05  4.92  ██████████████████████████████
2021-06   5.3  ██████████████████████████████████
2021-07  5.25  █████████████████████████████████
2021-08  5.15  ████████████████████████████████
2021-09  5.35  ██████████████████████████████████
2021-10  6.24  ██████████████████████████████████████████
2021-11   6.9  ███████████████████████████████████████████████
2021-12  7.17  ██████████████████████████████████████████████████
2022-01  7.56  █████████████████████████████████████████████████████

WORKFLOW

Per the examples above, chart commands require require input and can only be used in a workflow.

See Global Flags for additional global options available for this command.

No affiliation with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Not endorsed nor supported by the FRED® API technical team

© 2026 Derick Schaefer