figuredepends

Figuredepends is a term used in data visualization and document preparation to describe the set of inputs that determine a figure’s content and appearance. The phrase is not tied to a single software project or standard; instead, it denotes a conceptual mapping from inputs to rendered output. In practice, figuredepends is about understanding what data, parameters, and external factors must be considered to reproduce or update a figure.

Typically, figuredepends is implemented as metadata, a function argument, or a convention within a notebook or plotting library. A figure may declare its dependencies on a dataset, a version identifier, a time range, parameter values (such as smoothing or color scales), and even external resources like a model file or API results.

Use cases include automatic figure regeneration during document builds, caching of rendered output, and ensuring that revisions to cited data automatically propagate to figures. By recording figure dependencies, authors and systems can determine when a figure is stale and needs to be recomputed.

In reproducible research tooling, figuredepends concepts align with data provenance and workflow provenance, helping to trace how figures were produced from raw inputs. They also support audit trails and transparency about what influenced a visual result.

See also data provenance, reproducible research, figure caching, metadata, and dependency tracking.