Plotly · Class

go.Violin

go.Violin creates a configurable interactive violin trace from plotly.graph_objects. Use it when the lower-level Graph Objects API is preferable to Plotly Express.

How it works

go.Violin is a low-level Plotly Graph Objects trace for visualizing a distribution. Pass observations through x or y, then configure its statistical overlays, appearance, orientation, and interaction before displaying it in a Figure.

Syntax

go.Violin(arg=None, alignmentgroup=None, bandwidth=None, box=None, customdata=None, fillcolor=None, hoverinfo=None, hoveron=None, jitter=None, legendgroup=None, line=None, meanline=None, name=None, opacity=None, orientation=None, pointpos=None, points=None, scalemode=None, scalegroup=None, side=None, span=None, spanmode=None, text=None, uid=None, uirevision=None, unselected=None, visible=None, width=None, x=None, x0=None, y=None, y0=None, **kwargs)

Returns

A Plotly violin trace object suitable for insertion into a Figure.

Key points

Import plotly.graph_objects and instantiate go.Violin when constructing the trace directly.
A violin trace can be supplied as the data argument when creating a go.Figure.
The trace supports a visible mean line plus independent fill-color and opacity styling.
The documented example uses x0 to provide the category position or label for the trace.
The official page directs readers to the violin reference for the complete set of chart attributes and to px.violin() for the Express API.

Common mistakes

Use Graph Objects when you need lower-level control than Plotly Express provides; this class is the generic violin-trace option.

Example: Basic go.Violin trace

import plotly.graph_objects as go

fig = go.Figure(go.Violin(
    y=[1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5],
    box_visible=True,
    meanline_visible=True,
    line_color="black",
    fillcolor="lightseagreen",
    opacity=0.6,
    x0="Values"
))
fig.show()

Creates an interactive violin trace from numeric observations and enables an embedded box plot and mean line.

When to use it

Low-level chart construction

Construct a distribution chart directly with Graph Objects.

Distribution diagnostics

Show quartiles and central tendency alongside the density shape.

Custom presentation

Style a violin trace for an interactive report or dashboard.

Interview questions

QWhat is go.Violin and how is it used?

go.Violin is a class in plotly.graph_objects used to construct a violin trace. Add the trace to a go.Figure, typically supplying observations with x or y.

Follow-up: How would you expose distribution details? Enable options such as box_visible and meanline_visible, then style the trace with its line, fill, and opacity settings.

QHow do you create a basic Plotly violin chart?

A violin trace can be created with go.Violin(y=values, ...) and passed directly to go.Figure. The resulting figure is interactive and can be shown with fig.show().

Follow-up: How can you choose between the low-level and high-level APIs? Use px.violin() for a convenient starting point, and go.Violin when direct trace configuration is needed.

QWhich options are demonstrated for controlling a violin trace?

The documented example configures a vertical distribution with y, adds a visible box and mean line, and customizes the outline, fill color, opacity, and category label. These settings are trace attributes supplied to the constructor.

Follow-up: How would you build several distributions? Add multiple go.Violin traces to the same figure and configure their grouping or overlay behavior through the relevant trace and layout attributes.

plotly.graph_objects
go.Figure
px.violin()
Violin chart attribute reference

Source: Violin plots in Python - Plotly. Checked 2026-10-15.