← All chart types
flow family
waterfall
Cumulative bars decomposing a starting value to an ending value.
Each bar adds or subtracts from the running total; positive bars climb, negative bars descend. Bridges between two anchored values with explicit deltas. Standard for IR variance walks, P&L bridges, energy-balance breakdowns.
When to use
Reconciliation between two numbers (e.g., revenue this quarter vs last) via additive components.
When NOT to use
The decomposition is into shares of a static total (use bar-stacked or pie).
Rhetorical roles
- decompose
Variants & related
Required primitives
- has_data_labels
- has_axis_titles
Optional primitives
- has_source_note
- connecting-lines
Common anti-patterns
- illustrative-without-disclosure
- missing-totals
Disambiguation rules
- Bars do NOT share a baseline — each starts where the previous ended.
- Often coloured: positive bars (climbing), negative bars (descending), totals (anchor bars).
- If horizontal: waterfall-horizontal. If a bridge with start/end totals + delta bars: waterfall-bridge.