← All chart types
composition family
pie
Slices of a circle proportional to category share.
The classic parts-of-a-whole chart. Works only when you have very few large slices and the differences are obvious. Falls apart at 5+ slices because angle is hard to compare.
When to use
2–4 slices where the largest is dominant and the comparison is between two groups (us vs them, ours vs market).
When NOT to use
5+ slices (use bar-horizontal sorted), small differences between slices (use bar), or you need precise values (use treemap with labels or bar).
Rhetorical roles
- distribute
Variants & related
Required primitives
- has_legend OR has_data_labels
Optional primitives
- has_title
- has_source_note
Common anti-patterns
- too-many-slices
- 3d-distortion
- rainbow-palette
- mismatched-encoding
Disambiguation rules
- Closed circle divided into wedges from a centre point.
- If there is a hole in the middle, it is donut.
- If the circle is half-cut (semi-circular), it is still a pie variant — note in type_freeform.