Seaborn — Statistical Plots

Overview

Seaborn is a Python library for statistical data visualization built on top of matplotlib. It works directly with pandas DataFrames, automatically handles grouping by categorical variables, computes confidence intervals and kernel density estimates, and produces attractive publication-ready figures with minimal configuration. Seaborn separates axes-level functions (embeddable in custom layouts) from figure-level functions (with built-in faceting), enabling both quick exploratory analysis and structured multi-panel figures.

When to Use

• Comparing gene expression, protein abundance, or measurement distributions across experimental conditions (treatment vs. control, cell lines, time points)
• Generating grouped box plots, violin plots, or strip plots to show both summary statistics and individual data points simultaneously
• Visualizing pairwise correlations in multi-gene or multi-feature datasets as annotated heatmaps
• Plotting regression fits with confidence bands between continuous variables (e.g., cell viability vs. drug concentration)
• Faceting a single plot type across multiple sample subsets, tissue types, or experimental batches in one call
• Rapid exploratory analysis of a new dataset using pairplot to survey all pairwise relationships at once
• Use matplotlib directly when you need pixel-level control over figure elements, complex mixed-type layouts, or non-statistical custom plots
• Use plotly when the output must be interactive (hover tooltips, zoom, pan) or embedded in a web application

Prerequisites

• Python packages: seaborn>=0.13, matplotlib, pandas, numpy
• Data requirements: Pandas DataFrame in long-form (tidy) format; each observation is a row, each variable is a column
• Environment: Standard Python environment; no GPU or special hardware required

pip install "seaborn>=0.13" matplotlib pandas numpy scipy

Quick Start

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

# Simulate gene expression across conditions
rng = np.random.default_rng(42)
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "gene":      ["BRCA1"] * 60 + ["TP53"] * 60,
    "condition": ["control", "treated"] * 60,
    "log2_expr": np.concatenate([
        rng.normal(5.2, 0.8, 60),
        rng.normal(6.1, 0.9, 60),
    ])
})

sns.set_theme(style="ticks", context="notebook")
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="gene", y="log2_expr", hue="condition", palette="Set2")
plt.ylabel("log2 Expression")
plt.title("Gene Expression by Condition")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("quickstart_boxplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved quickstart_boxplot.png")

Core API

1. Distribution Plots

Visualize univariate distributions and compare them across groups. histplot bins data; kdeplot fits a smooth density estimate; displot is the figure-level wrapper that adds faceting.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(0)
n = 200
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "log2_tpm":  np.concatenate([rng.normal(4.5, 1.1, n), rng.normal(6.0, 1.3, n)]),
    "sample":    ["tumor"] * n + ["normal"] * n,
})

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3, figsize=(15, 4))

# Histogram with density normalization and stacked hue groups
sns.histplot(data=df, x="log2_tpm", hue="sample", stat="density",
             multiple="stack", bins=30, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_title("Histogram (stacked)")

# KDE with fill — bandwidth controlled by bw_adjust
sns.kdeplot(data=df, x="log2_tpm", hue="sample", fill=True,
            bw_adjust=0.8, alpha=0.4, ax=axes[1])
axes[1].set_title("KDE (filled)")

# ECDF — useful for comparing cumulative distributions
sns.ecdfplot(data=df, x="log2_tpm", hue="sample", ax=axes[2])
axes[2].set_title("ECDF")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("distributions.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved distributions.png")

# Bivariate KDE: joint distribution of two continuous variables
rng = np.random.default_rng(1)
df2 = pd.DataFrame({
    "log2_rna": rng.normal(5.5, 1.2, 300),
    "log2_prot": rng.normal(4.8, 1.0, 300) + 0.6 * rng.normal(5.5, 1.2, 300),
})
sns.kdeplot(data=df2, x="log2_rna", y="log2_prot",
            fill=True, levels=8, thresh=0.05, cmap="Blues")
plt.xlabel("log2 RNA (TPM)")
plt.ylabel("log2 Protein (iBAQ)")
plt.title("RNA–Protein Correlation Density")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("bivariate_kde.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved bivariate_kde.png")

2. Categorical Plots

Compare distributions or aggregated statistics across categorical groups. Axes-level functions (boxplot, violinplot, stripplot, swarmplot, barplot) accept an ax= parameter for embedding in custom layouts.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(2)
conditions = ["DMSO", "Drug A 1uM", "Drug A 10uM", "Drug B 1uM", "Drug B 10uM"]
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "condition": np.repeat(conditions, 30),
    "viability": np.concatenate([
        rng.normal(100, 5, 30),
        rng.normal(92, 7, 30),
        rng.normal(65, 10, 30),
        rng.normal(88, 8, 30),
        rng.normal(45, 12, 30),
    ])
})

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 3, figsize=(18, 5))

# Box plot — shows quartiles and outliers
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
            palette="husl", width=0.5, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_xticklabels(axes[0].get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
axes[0].set_title("Box Plot")

# Violin — KDE shape + inner quartile lines
sns.violinplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
               inner="quart", palette="muted", ax=axes[1])
axes[1].set_xticklabels(axes[1].get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
axes[1].set_title("Violin Plot")

# Strip plot overlaid on box — shows all individual points
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
            palette="pastel", width=0.5, ax=axes[2])
sns.stripplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
              color="black", alpha=0.4, size=3, jitter=True, ax=axes[2])
axes[2].set_xticklabels(axes[2].get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
axes[2].set_title("Box + Strip")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("categorical.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved categorical.png")

# Bar plot with mean ± 95% CI and individual points (swarm)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 5))
sns.barplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
            estimator="mean", errorbar="ci", palette="Set3", ax=ax)
sns.swarmplot(data=df, x="condition", y="viability",
              color="black", size=3, alpha=0.5, ax=ax)
ax.set_ylabel("Cell Viability (%)")
ax.set_xticklabels(ax.get_xticklabels(), rotation=30, ha="right")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("barswarm.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved barswarm.png")

3. Relational Plots

Visualize relationships between continuous variables. scatterplot and lineplot are axes-level; relplot is the figure-level wrapper that supports col and row faceting.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(3)
n = 150
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "molecular_weight": rng.uniform(200, 800, n),
    "logP":             rng.uniform(-2, 6, n),
    "pIC50":            rng.normal(6.5, 1.2, n),
    "target_class":     rng.choice(["kinase", "GPCR", "protease"], n),
    "pass_lipinski":    rng.choice(["yes", "no"], n, p=[0.7, 0.3]),
})

# Scatter with hue (categorical color) + size (continuous) + style (marker)
sns.scatterplot(data=df, x="molecular_weight", y="pIC50",
                hue="target_class", size="logP", style="pass_lipinski",
                sizes=(30, 120), alpha=0.7)
plt.xlabel("Molecular Weight (Da)")
plt.ylabel("pIC50")
plt.title("Compound Bioactivity by Target Class")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("relational_scatter.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved relational_scatter.png")

# Line plot with automatic mean aggregation and SD error band across replicates
timepoints = [0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 24]
groups = ["untreated", "low_dose", "high_dose"]
rows = []
for grp, base in zip(groups, [100.0, 95.0, 80.0]):
    for tp in timepoints:
        for _ in range(5):  # 5 replicates
            rows.append({"timepoint_h": tp, "group": grp,
                         "confluency": base * np.exp(-0.02 * tp * (1 + rng.normal(0, 0.1)))})
time_df = pd.DataFrame(rows)

sns.lineplot(data=time_df, x="timepoint_h", y="confluency",
             hue="group", style="group", errorbar="sd", markers=True, dashes=False)
plt.xlabel("Time (h)")
plt.ylabel("Confluency (%)")
plt.title("Cell Growth Inhibition (mean ± SD, n=5)")
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("lineplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved lineplot.png")

4. Regression Plots

Fit linear (or polynomial/lowess) models and visualize them with confidence bands. regplot is axes-level; lmplot is figure-level with faceting support.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(4)
n = 120
tumor_size = rng.uniform(0.5, 6.0, n)
survival_months = 40 - 5 * tumor_size + rng.normal(0, 4, n)
grade = rng.choice(["low", "high"], n, p=[0.5, 0.5])
df = pd.DataFrame({"tumor_size_cm": tumor_size,
                   "survival_months": survival_months,
                   "grade": grade})

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(13, 5))

# Linear regression with 95% CI band
sns.regplot(data=df, x="tumor_size_cm", y="survival_months",
            ci=95, scatter_kws={"alpha": 0.4, "s": 25}, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_title("Linear Regression (95% CI)")

# Residuals plot — check for homoscedasticity
sns.residplot(data=df, x="tumor_size_cm", y="survival_months",
              scatter_kws={"alpha": 0.4, "s": 25}, ax=axes[1])
axes[1].axhline(0, color="red", linestyle="--", linewidth=1)
axes[1].set_title("Residuals vs Fitted")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("regression.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved regression.png")

# lmplot — figure-level: separate regression lines per grade (hue) + facets
g = sns.lmplot(data=df, x="tumor_size_cm", y="survival_months",
               hue="grade", col="grade", ci=95,
               scatter_kws={"alpha": 0.4}, height=4, aspect=1.1)
g.set_axis_labels("Tumor Size (cm)", "Survival (months)")
g.set_titles("{col_name} grade")
g.savefig("lmplot_faceted.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved lmplot_faceted.png")

5. Matrix Plots

Visualize rectangular data as color-encoded matrices. heatmap is axes-level; clustermap is figure-level and applies hierarchical clustering to rows and columns.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(5)
genes = [f"GENE{i}" for i in range(1, 9)]
samples = [f"S{i}" for i in range(1, 7)]

# Simulate log2 fold-change matrix (rows=genes, cols=samples)
lfc = pd.DataFrame(
    rng.normal(0, 1.5, size=(8, 6)),
    index=genes, columns=samples
)
# Inject a pattern: first 3 genes up in samples 1-3, down in 4-6
lfc.iloc[:3, :3] += 2.5
lfc.iloc[:3, 3:] -= 2.5

# Correlation heatmap of numeric features
df_num = pd.DataFrame(
    rng.standard_normal((80, 5)),
    columns=["GeneA", "GeneB", "GeneC", "GeneD", "GeneE"]
)
df_num["GeneB"] = df_num["GeneA"] * 0.85 + rng.normal(0, 0.3, 80)
corr = df_num.corr()

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(14, 5))

sns.heatmap(corr, annot=True, fmt=".2f", cmap="coolwarm",
            center=0, square=True, linewidths=0.5, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_title("Pearson Correlation Heatmap")

sns.heatmap(lfc, cmap="RdBu_r", center=0, annot=True, fmt=".1f",
            linewidths=0.3, cbar_kws={"label": "log2FC"}, ax=axes[1])
axes[1].set_title("log2 Fold Change Matrix")

plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("heatmaps.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved heatmaps.png")

# Clustermap with hierarchical clustering and row/column color annotations
rng = np.random.default_rng(6)
n_genes, n_samples = 30, 16
expr = pd.DataFrame(
    rng.lognormal(mean=2.0, sigma=1.2, size=(n_genes, n_samples)),
    index=[f"GENE{i:03d}" for i in range(n_genes)],
    columns=[f"{'T' if i < 8 else 'N'}{i:02d}" for i in range(n_samples)]
)

# Column annotation colors (tumor vs normal)
col_colors = ["#D32F2F" if c.startswith("T") else "#1976D2" for c in expr.columns]

g = sns.clustermap(
    np.log2(expr + 1),
    cmap="viridis",
    standard_scale=0,          # z-score across rows (genes)
    method="ward",
    metric="euclidean",
    col_colors=col_colors,
    figsize=(12, 10),
    linewidths=0,
    cbar_pos=(0.02, 0.8, 0.03, 0.15),
    cbar_kws={"label": "Row z-score"},
)
g.ax_heatmap.set_xlabel("Sample")
g.ax_heatmap.set_ylabel("Gene")
plt.savefig("clustermap.png", dpi=150, bbox_inches="tight")
print("Saved clustermap.png")

6. Multi-Variable Grids

Survey all pairwise relationships with pairplot or display a bivariate distribution with marginals using jointplot. For fully custom grid layouts, use FacetGrid directly.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(7)
n = 60
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "cell_area":      rng.normal(350, 60, n * 3),
    "nucleus_area":   rng.normal(90, 15, n * 3),
    "mean_intensity": rng.exponential(500, n * 3),
    "aspect_ratio":   np.abs(rng.normal(1.3, 0.3, n * 3)),
    "cell_type":      (["HeLa"] * n + ["MCF7"] * n + ["A549"] * n),
})

# Pairplot — matrix of pairwise scatter + KDE on diagonal
g = sns.pairplot(df, hue="cell_type", corner=True,
                 diag_kind="kde", plot_kws={"alpha": 0.5, "s": 20})
g.savefig("pairplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved pairplot.png")

# Jointplot — bivariate KDE with marginal histograms
g = sns.jointplot(data=df, x="cell_area", y="nucleus_area",
                  hue="cell_type", kind="scatter",
                  marginal_kws={"fill": True, "alpha": 0.3})
g.set_axis_labels("Cell Area (µm²)", "Nucleus Area (µm²)")
g.savefig("jointplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved jointplot.png")

# FacetGrid — custom layout: KDE of mean_intensity per cell type
g = sns.FacetGrid(df, col="cell_type", height=3.5, aspect=1.1,
                  sharey=False)
g.map(sns.histplot, "mean_intensity", bins=20, kde=True, color="steelblue")
g.set_axis_labels("Mean Intensity (AU)", "Count")
g.set_titles("{col_name}")
g.tight_layout()
g.savefig("facetgrid_intensity.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved facetgrid_intensity.png")

Key Concepts

Figure-Level vs Axes-Level Functions

Seaborn has two tiers of functions with different return types and composability:

Feature	Axes-Level	Figure-Level
Examples	scatterplot, histplot, boxplot, heatmap, regplot	relplot, displot, catplot, lmplot
Returns	matplotlib.axes.Axes	FacetGrid / JointGrid / PairGrid
Faceting	Manual (create subplots yourself)	Built-in (col=, row= params)
Sizing	figsize= on parent figure	height= + aspect= per facet panel
Placement	ax= parameter	Cannot be placed in an existing axes
Saving	plt.savefig(...)	g.savefig(...)
Use when	Combining different plot types in one figure	Quick multi-panel exploratory views

# Axes-level: place in a pre-allocated subplot grid
fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(12, 5))
sns.violinplot(data=df, x="cell_type", y="cell_area", ax=axes[0])
sns.scatterplot(data=df, x="cell_area", y="nucleus_area", hue="cell_type", ax=axes[1])

Long-Form vs Wide-Form Data

Seaborn semantic mappings (hue, size, style) require long-form (tidy) data where each variable is a column and each observation is a row. Some functions (heatmap, clustermap, lineplot) also accept wide-form.

# Wide-form: unsuitable for hue/style mappings
#   sample_A  sample_B  sample_C
# 0      5.1       6.2       4.8

# Long-form (preferred): melt wide → long
wide = pd.DataFrame({"sampleA": [5.1, 4.3], "sampleB": [6.2, 5.9]})
long = wide.melt(var_name="sample", value_name="log2_expr")
# → columns: sample, log2_expr

Common Workflows

Workflow 1: Differential Expression Scatter with Significance Thresholds

Goal: Visualize log2 fold-change vs -log10 p-value (volcano-style) with significance annotations, colored by regulation status, and labeled top hits.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(42)
n = 500
lfc   = rng.normal(0, 1.5, n)
pvals = 10 ** (-rng.exponential(1.5, n))        # skewed toward low significance
pvals = np.clip(pvals, 1e-20, 1.0)
genes = [f"GENE{i:04d}" for i in range(n)]

df_de = pd.DataFrame({"gene": genes, "log2fc": lfc, "pvalue": pvals})
df_de["neg_log10_p"] = -np.log10(df_de["pvalue"])

# Classify regulation status
lfc_thresh = 1.0
padj_thresh = 0.05
df_de["sig"] = "NS"
df_de.loc[(df_de["log2fc"] >  lfc_thresh) & (df_de["pvalue"] < padj_thresh), "sig"] = "Up"
df_de.loc[(df_de["log2fc"] < -lfc_thresh) & (df_de["pvalue"] < padj_thresh), "sig"] = "Down"

palette = {"NS": "#AAAAAA", "Up": "#D32F2F", "Down": "#1976D2"}

sns.set_theme(style="ticks", context="paper", font_scale=1.1)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(8, 6))

sns.scatterplot(data=df_de, x="log2fc", y="neg_log10_p",
                hue="sig", palette=palette,
                alpha=0.6, s=18, linewidth=0, ax=ax)

# Threshold lines
ax.axhline(-np.log10(padj_thresh), color="black", linestyle="--", linewidth=0.8)
ax.axvline( lfc_thresh,            color="black", linestyle="--", linewidth=0.8)
ax.axvline(-lfc_thresh,            color="black", linestyle="--", linewidth=0.8)

# Label top 5 most significant genes per direction
for direction in ["Up", "Down"]:
    top = df_de[df_de["sig"] == direction].nlargest(5, "neg_log10_p")
    for _, row in top.iterrows():
        ax.text(row["log2fc"], row["neg_log10_p"] + 0.3, row["gene"],
                fontsize=6, ha="center", va="bottom",
                color=palette[direction])

# Annotation counts
n_up   = (df_de["sig"] == "Up").sum()
n_down = (df_de["sig"] == "Down").sum()
ax.set_title(f"Volcano Plot  |  Up: {n_up}  Down: {n_down}")
ax.set_xlabel("log2 Fold Change")
ax.set_ylabel("-log10 p-value")
sns.despine(trim=True)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("volcano_plot.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
print(f"Volcano: {n_up} up, {n_down} down — saved volcano_plot.png")

Workflow 2: Multi-Condition Comparison with Grouped Violin + Strip Plots

Goal: Compare gene expression (or any continuous measurement) across multiple treatments and time points, showing full distributions plus individual replicates.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(99)
genes    = ["BRCA1", "TP53", "EGFR"]
treats   = ["DMSO", "Drug A", "Drug B"]
timepoints = ["6h", "24h", "48h"]
rows = []
for gene in genes:
    base_expr = {"BRCA1": 7.5, "TP53": 6.2, "EGFR": 8.1}[gene]
    for treat in treats:
        treat_shift = {"DMSO": 0.0, "Drug A": -0.8, "Drug B": 0.6}[treat]
        for tp in timepoints:
            tp_shift = {"6h": 0.0, "24h": 0.3, "48h": 0.6}[tp]
            for _ in range(12):
                rows.append({
                    "gene":      gene,
                    "treatment": treat,
                    "timepoint": tp,
                    "log2_expr": base_expr + treat_shift + tp_shift + rng.normal(0, 0.5),
                })
df_mc = pd.DataFrame(rows)

sns.set_theme(style="whitegrid", context="paper", font_scale=1.0)
g = sns.catplot(
    data=df_mc,
    x="timepoint", y="log2_expr",
    hue="treatment",
    col="gene",
    kind="violin",
    inner="quart",
    dodge=True,
    palette="Set2",
    height=4, aspect=0.9,
    col_order=genes,
    order=timepoints,
)

# Overlay individual points
for ax in g.axes.flat:
    gene_label = ax.get_title()
    gene_name  = gene_label.split(" = ")[-1] if " = " in gene_label else gene_label
    subset = df_mc[df_mc["gene"] == gene_name]
    sns.stripplot(
        data=subset,
        x="timepoint", y="log2_expr",
        hue="treatment",
        dodge=True,
        jitter=True,
        size=2.5,
        alpha=0.4,
        palette="dark:black",
        order=timepoints,
        legend=False,
        ax=ax,
    )

g.set_axis_labels("Timepoint", "log2 Expression")
g.set_titles("{col_name}")
g.add_legend(title="Treatment")
sns.despine(trim=True)
g.tight_layout()
g.savefig("multigroup_violin.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
print("Saved multigroup_violin.png")

Workflow 3: Pairwise Feature Exploration for Cell Morphology

Goal: Quickly survey pairwise relationships in a multi-feature cell morphology dataset using pairplot, then examine one key pair with a jointplot.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(12)
n_per_type = 80
df_morph = pd.DataFrame({
    "cell_area_um2":    np.concatenate([rng.normal(320, 50, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(420, 70, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(280, 40, n_per_type)]),
    "nucleus_area_um2": np.concatenate([rng.normal(85, 12, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(110, 18, n_per_type),
                                        rng.normal(75, 10, n_per_type)]),
    "eccentricity":     np.abs(np.concatenate([rng.normal(0.6, 0.12, n_per_type),
                                               rng.normal(0.8, 0.10, n_per_type),
                                               rng.normal(0.5, 0.09, n_per_type)])),
    "mean_dapi":        np.concatenate([rng.exponential(400, n_per_type),
                                        rng.exponential(600, n_per_type),
                                        rng.exponential(350, n_per_type)]),
    "cell_line":        ["HeLa"] * n_per_type + ["MCF7"] * n_per_type + ["U2OS"] * n_per_type,
})

# 1. Pairplot survey
g = sns.pairplot(df_morph, hue="cell_line", corner=True,
                 diag_kind="kde", plot_kws={"alpha": 0.5, "s": 15},
                 palette="Dark2")
g.savefig("morphology_pairplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved morphology_pairplot.png")

# 2. Focused jointplot for the most informative pair
g2 = sns.jointplot(data=df_morph, x="cell_area_um2", y="nucleus_area_um2",
                   hue="cell_line", kind="scatter",
                   marginal_kws={"fill": True, "alpha": 0.25},
                   palette="Dark2", alpha=0.6)
g2.set_axis_labels("Cell Area (µm²)", "Nucleus Area (µm²)")
g2.savefig("morphology_jointplot.png", dpi=150)
print("Saved morphology_jointplot.png")

Key Parameters

Parameter	Function(s)	Default	Range / Options	Effect
hue	All plot functions	None	Column name (categorical or continuous)	Color-encodes a variable; triggers automatic legend
style	scatterplot, lineplot	None	Categorical column name	Encodes variable with marker shape or line dash pattern
size	scatterplot, lineplot	None	Categorical or continuous column	Encodes variable via point or line size
col / row	Figure-level only (relplot, displot, catplot, lmplot)	None	Categorical column name	Creates one subplot panel per unique value
col_wrap	Figure-level only	None	int	Wraps columns onto a new row after N panels
estimator	barplot, pointplot	"mean"	"mean", "median", any callable	Aggregation function applied within each category
errorbar	barplot, lineplot, pointplot	("ci", 95)	"ci", "sd", "se", "pi", None	Error bar type displayed around the estimate
stat	histplot	"count"	"count", "frequency", "density", "probability"	Normalization applied to histogram bar heights
bw_adjust	kdeplot, violinplot	1.0	0.1–3.0	KDE bandwidth multiplier; lower=spikier, higher=smoother
multiple	histplot, kdeplot	"layer"	"layer", "stack", "dodge", "fill"	How overlapping hue groups are drawn
inner	violinplot	"box"	"box", "quart", "point", "stick", None	Interior annotation inside the violin body
standard_scale	clustermap	None	0 (rows), 1 (columns)	Z-score normalization axis before clustering
dodge	boxplot, violinplot, stripplot	Varies	True, False	Separate hue-grouped elements along the axis
context	set_theme()	"notebook"	"paper", "notebook", "talk", "poster"	Scales font and line widths for output medium

Best Practices

1. Prefer long-form DataFrames with named columns: Seaborn's semantic mapping (hue, style, size) reads variable names directly from column names. Passing raw arrays loses axis labels and legends. Use pd.melt() to convert wide-form data.

2. Call set_theme() once at the top of a script: This sets the global style, context, and palette for all subsequent plots, ensuring consistency. Reset to defaults with sns.set_theme().

   sns.set_theme(style="ticks", context="paper", font_scale=1.1,
                 rc={"axes.spines.right": False, "axes.spines.top": False})
   

3. Use axes-level functions for mixed-type custom layouts: Figure-level functions (relplot, catplot) create their own figure and cannot be placed in an existing Axes. When combining different plot types (e.g., scatter + violin + heatmap), allocate a plt.subplots() grid and use axes-level functions with ax=.

4. Use colorblind-safe palettes: sns.set_palette("colorblind") or palette="colorblind" produces a palette distinguishable by readers with common color vision deficiencies. For diverging data, use "RdBu_r" or "coolwarm" with center=0.

5. Overlay individual data points on summary plots: Violin and bar plots hide distribution shape and sample size. Overlaying a stripplot or swarmplot with alpha=0.4 and small size conveys data density without obscuring the summary statistic.

6. Size figure-level plots with height and aspect, not figsize: Figure-level functions ignore figsize. Use height= (inches per panel) and aspect= (width-to-height ratio per panel). For axes-level, set figsize on the plt.subplots() call.

7. Anti-pattern — calling plt.savefig() on a figure-level grid: Figure-level functions return a FacetGrid/JointGrid object. Save it with g.savefig("out.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight"), not plt.savefig(), which may capture a blank figure.

Common Recipes

Recipe: Publication-Ready Figure with Custom Palette and 300 DPI Export

When to use: Preparing a multi-panel figure for journal submission or a slide deck.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

sns.set_theme(style="ticks", context="paper", font_scale=1.2,
              rc={"pdf.fonttype": 42, "ps.fonttype": 42})

rng = np.random.default_rng(7)
df = pd.DataFrame({
    "condition": np.repeat(["Control", "Treated"], 40),
    "ki67_pct":  np.concatenate([rng.normal(18, 4, 40), rng.normal(32, 6, 40)]),
    "apoptosis": np.concatenate([rng.normal(5, 1.5, 40), rng.normal(12, 2.5, 40)]),
})

custom_palette = {"Control": "#4575B4", "Treated": "#D73027"}

fig, axes = plt.subplots(1, 2, figsize=(8, 4))

# Panel A
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="condition", y="ki67_pct",
            palette=custom_palette, width=0.45, linewidth=1.2, ax=axes[0])
sns.stripplot(data=df, x="condition", y="ki67_pct",
              color="black", alpha=0.35, size=3, jitter=True, ax=axes[0])
axes[0].set_ylabel("Ki67 Positive Cells (%)")
axes[0].set_xlabel("")
axes[0].set_title("A", loc="left", fontweight="bold")

# Panel B
sns.boxplot(data=df, x="condition", y="apoptosis",
            palette=custom_palette, width=0.45, linewidth=1.2, ax=axes[1])
sns.stripplot(data=df, x="condition", y="apoptosis",
              color="black", alpha=0.35, size=3, jitter=True, ax=axes[1])
axes[1].set_ylabel("Apoptotic Cells (%)")
axes[1].set_xlabel("")
axes[1].set_title("B", loc="left", fontweight="bold")

sns.despine(trim=True)
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig("figure1.pdf", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
plt.savefig("figure1.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
print("Saved figure1.pdf and figure1.png at 300 DPI")

Recipe: Clustered Heatmap with Row and Column Color Annotations

When to use: Displaying a gene expression matrix with sample group annotations and hierarchical clustering to reveal co-expression modules.

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.patches as mpatches
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

rng = np.random.default_rng(21)
n_genes, n_samples = 40, 20
conditions = ["tumor"] * 10 + ["normal"] * 10

# Simulate expression: 3 co-expression modules
expr = pd.DataFrame(
    rng.lognormal(2.5, 0.8, (n_genes, n_samples)),
    index=[f"GENE{i:03d}" for i in range(n_genes)],
    columns=[f"{c[0].upper()}{i:02d}" for i, c in enumerate(conditions)],
)
# Module 1: genes 0-13 up in tumor
expr.iloc[:14, :10]  *= 3.0
# Module 2: genes 14-27 down in tumor
expr.iloc[14:28, :10] *= 0.3
# Module 3: genes 28-39 unchanged

log_expr = np.log2(expr + 1)

# Column colors: tumor=red, normal=blue
cond_pal = {"tumor": "#C62828", "normal": "#1565C0"}
col_colors = [cond_pal[c] for c in conditions]

# Row colors: module membership
module_pal = {"up": "#EF9A9A", "down": "#90CAF9", "stable": "#C8E6C9"}
row_modules = (["up"] * 14) + (["down"] * 14) + (["stable"] * 12)
row_colors  = [module_pal[m] for m in row_modules]

g = sns.clustermap(
    log_expr,
    cmap="RdYlBu_r",
    center=log_expr.values.mean(),
    standard_scale=0,           # z-score per gene (row)
    method="ward",
    metric="euclidean",
    col_colors=col_colors,
    row_colors=row_colors,
    figsize=(14, 12),
    linewidths=0,
    cbar_pos=(0.02, 0.85, 0.03, 0.12),
    cbar_kws={"label": "Row z-score"},
    dendrogram_ratio=(0.12, 0.08),
)
g.ax_heatmap.set_xlabel("Sample", fontsize=10)
g.ax_heatmap.set_ylabel("Gene",   fontsize=10)
g.ax_heatmap.set_title("Gene Expression Clustermap", fontsize=12, pad=80)

# Manual legend for column/row annotations
legend_handles = [
    mpatches.Patch(color="#C62828", label="Tumor"),
    mpatches.Patch(color="#1565C0", label="Normal"),
    mpatches.Patch(color="#EF9A9A", label="Up in tumor"),
    mpatches.Patch(color="#90CAF9", label="Down in tumor"),
    mpatches.Patch(color="#C8E6C9", label="Stable"),
]
g.ax_heatmap.legend(handles=legend_handles, bbox_to_anchor=(1.25, 1.05),
                    loc="upper left", frameon=False, fontsize=9)

plt.savefig("clustermap_annotated.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
print("Saved clustermap_annotated.png")

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Solution
Legend placed outside plot, clipped in saved file	Figure-level functions place the legend outside by default	Add bbox_inches="tight" to savefig(): g.savefig("out.png", dpi=300, bbox_inches="tight")
TypeError: FacetGrid.savefig() or blank figure saved	Called plt.savefig() on a figure-level grid that owns its own figure	Use g.savefig(...) instead of plt.savefig(...)
Overlapping x-axis category labels	Long label strings overlap at default rotation	Add plt.xticks(rotation=45, ha="right") and plt.tight_layout() after the plot call
ValueError: Could not interpret value ... for parameter 'hue'	Data is in wide-form; hue mapping requires long-form	Convert with df.melt(id_vars=[...], var_name="sample", value_name="expr")
KDE bandwidth too smooth (loses bimodality)	Default bw_adjust=1.0 over-smooths small datasets	Lower to bw_adjust=0.5; confirm peaks with histplot
clustermap ignores figsize	Figure-level functions do not accept figsize as a kwarg in older seaborn	Pass figsize as a direct argument: sns.clustermap(..., figsize=(12, 10))
Violin plot is a thin line (no shape)	Too few observations for KDE estimation	Switch to kind="box" or kind="strip"; or use cut=0 to restrict KDE to data range
Colors not distinguishable for many groups	Default palette repeats with >6 categories	Use sns.color_palette("husl", n_colors=N) or "tab20" for up to 20 distinct colors
Figure-level function ignores ax= parameter	Axes-level distinction: figure-level functions create their own figure	Use the corresponding axes-level function (scatterplot, histplot, etc.) with ax=

Related Skills

• matplotlib-scientific-plotting — low-level figure building, custom annotations, non-statistical plot types, and multi-panel layouts that mix seaborn with raw matplotlib
• plotly-interactive-plots — interactive charts with hover, zoom, and HTML/Dash export
• pydeseq2-differential-expression — produces the log2FC and p-values that feed into volcano-style scatter plots
• scikit-image-processing — generates cell morphology measurements visualized with seaborn categorical/distribution plots
• scientific-visualization — decision guide for selecting the right chart type and color scheme before coding

References

• Seaborn official documentation — API reference, tutorial, and gallery
• Seaborn example gallery — visual index of all plot types
• Seaborn GitHub — source code and issue tracker
• Waskom ML (2021). "seaborn: statistical data visualization." Journal of Open Source Software, 6(60), 3021. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.03021