Turnilo - Interactive Data Exploration

Turnilo - Interactive Data Exploration

Turnilo is an open-source data exploration tool that lets you slice, filter, and visualize data through a drag-and-drop interface — no SQL required. It turns raw datasets into interactive explorations in seconds.

DataReporter embeds Turnilo to provide interactive exploration directly within your dashboards. Unlike standard visualizations which are query-result-driven, Turnilo lets users pivot, drill down, and explore data in real time without writing queries.

Key Features

• Drag-and-drop interface — Explore dimensions and measures without SQL
• Multiple visualization types — Bar charts, line charts, tables, totals, and heat maps
• Real-time filtering — Click to filter, split, and drill down into data
• Dashboard embedding — Turnilo widgets integrate natively into DataReporter dashboards
• Multi-backend support — Works with PostgreSQL, MySQL, BigQuery, Athena, Druid, and JSON data sources
• Hash-based state — Every exploration state is encoded in a URL hash for easy sharing and bookmarking
• Parameter mapping — Dashboard-level filters (e.g., date ranges) pass through to Turnilo widgets automatically

Visualization Types

Turnilo provides the following built-in visualization types:

Bar Chart

Displays categorical data as horizontal or vertical bars. Supports grouping, stacking, and sorting by any measure.

Line Chart

Time-series visualization with support for multiple measures, comparison periods, and trend analysis.

Table

Tabular display of dimension/measure combinations with sorting and pagination.

Totals

Single-number summary showing aggregated measure values with optional comparison to previous periods.

Heat Map

Two-dimensional visualization using color intensity to represent measure values across dimension intersections.

Supported Data Sources

Turnilo in DataReporter connects through the Plywood backend and supports:

How It Works

1. Plywood Backend — A dedicated service (port 3000) handles query translation and execution against your data sources
2. Configuration Endpoint — /config-turnilo provides data cube definitions, dimensions, and measures to the frontend
3. Dashboard Widgets — Turnilo visualizations embed in DataReporter dashboards as widgets with the [turnilo-widget] marker
4. State Management — Each widget’s state (filters, splits, measures) is encoded as a hash in the widget configuration

Getting Started

To use Turnilo in DataReporter:

1. Ensure the Plywood service is running (included in the standard Docker deployment)
2. Navigate to any dashboard
3. Add a new Turnilo widget
4. Select your data cube, dimensions, and measures
5. Explore your data interactively

For datacube configuration (dimensions, measures, and Plywood expressions), see Datacube Configuration.