Bundled plugins
The plugin bundle is the same whether you render via the CLI or the HTTP server — both share a single renderer. This page is the reference both tracks point back to.
chartjs2img ships with Chart.js core plus 12 ecosystem plugins, all pre-loaded by the renderer. You don't install anything — just use the options in your config JSON. Both engines bundle the same versions: the default skia engine imports them from npm, and the browser engine loads them from CDN inside the page.
chartjs-plugin-zoom needs the browser engine
Zoom / pan is interaction-only and requires a live DOM, so it is not included in the default skia engine. Use --engine browser (CLI) or "engine": "browser" (HTTP) if you rely on it. See Rendering engines.
For each plugin's full option schema, run chartjs2img llm and grep the relevant section, or see the upstream docs linked below.
Core
| Plugin | Version | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| chart.js | 4.4.9 | Everything — this is Chart.js itself |
Supported chart.type values out of the box: bar, line, pie, doughnut, radar, polarArea, scatter, bubble.
Visual decorations
| Plugin | Version | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| chartjs-plugin-datalabels | 2.2.0 | Display values on bars, points, slices |
| chartjs-plugin-annotation | 3.1.0 | Threshold lines, boxes, labels, polygons |
| chartjs-plugin-zoom | 2.2.0 | Initial-range / zoom configuration |
| chartjs-plugin-gradient | 0.6.1 | Gradient fills without manual canvas code |
Note on datalabels: datalabels is hidden by default; turn it on explicitly per-chart via
options.plugins.datalabels.display: true(or per-dataset) if you want values to appear.
Additional chart types
| Plugin | Version | Adds chart.type |
|---|---|---|
| chartjs-chart-matrix | 2.0.1 | matrix — heatmaps |
| chartjs-chart-sankey | 0.12.1 | sankey — flow diagrams |
| chartjs-chart-treemap | 2.3.1 | treemap — hierarchical boxes |
| chartjs-chart-wordcloud | 4.4.3 | wordcloud — word clouds |
| chartjs-chart-geo | 4.3.3 | choropleth, bubbleMap — geographic charts |
| chartjs-chart-graph | 4.3.3 | graph, forceDirectedGraph, dendrogram, tree — networks |
| chartjs-chart-venn | 4.3.3 | venn, euler — set diagrams |
Date adapter
| Plugin | Version | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| chartjs-adapter-date-fns | 3.0.0 | Time-scale axes (scales.x.type: "time") |
What's NOT bundled
- Animation —
options.animationis forced OFF internally. The renderer needs a stable final frame to screenshot; animations would be cropped mid-transition. - Custom plugins you bring yourself — the renderer runs only the plugins listed above (baked into the bundle). To add another plugin, see Developer Guide → Adding a Chart.js plugin.
Forcing / overriding at render time
A Chart.js plugin can usually be enabled via options.plugins.<name>. For per-dataset overrides (e.g. datalabels) you can also set per-dataset properties — see each plugin's upstream docs. chartjs2img llm includes the full option tree for every bundled plugin.