Chart.js Tooltips (v4.5.1)

Complete guide to configuring and customizing tooltips in Chart.js.

Tooltip Basics

Tooltips display when users hover over chart elements. Chart.js provides extensive customization options.

Basic Configuration

Namespace: options.plugins.tooltip

Basic Example

const chart = new Chart(ctx, {
  type: 'bar',
  data: data,
  options: {
    plugins: {
      tooltip: {
        enabled: true,
        mode: 'index',
        intersect: false,
        backgroundColor: 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.9)',
        titleColor: '#fff',
        bodyColor: '#fff',
        borderColor: '#666',
        borderWidth: 1
      }
    }
  }
});

Tooltip Callbacks

Customize tooltip content using callbacks.

Namespace: options.plugins.tooltip.callbacks

Per-dataset callbacks (beforeLabel, label, afterLabel, labelColor, labelTextColor, labelPointStyle) can be overridden in data.datasets[].tooltip.callbacks.

Format Label with Currency

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      callbacks: {
        label: function(context) {
          let label = context.dataset.label || '';
          if (label) {
            label += ': ';
          }
          if (context.parsed.y !== null) {
            label += new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US', {
              style: 'currency',
              currency: 'USD'
            }).format(context.parsed.y);
          }
          return label;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Add Percentage to Tooltip

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      callbacks: {
        label: function(context) {
          const dataset = context.dataset;
          const total = dataset.data.reduce((sum, val) => sum + val, 0);
          const value = context.parsed;
          const percentage = ((value / total) * 100).toFixed(2);
          return `${context.label}: ${value} (${percentage}%)`;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Multi-Line Labels

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      callbacks: {
        label: function(context) {
          return [
            `Sales: $${context.parsed.y}`,
            `Date: ${context.label}`,
            `Region: North America`
          ];
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Custom Title

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      callbacks: {
        title: function(tooltipItems) {
          const item = tooltipItems[0];
          return `Week of ${item.label}`;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Custom Footer

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      callbacks: {
        footer: function(tooltipItems) {
          let sum = 0;
          tooltipItems.forEach(item => {
            sum += item.parsed.y;
          });
          return 'Total: ' + sum;
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Interaction Modes

Control which elements trigger tooltips.

Index Mode (Vertical Line)

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      mode: 'index',
      intersect: false  // Show even if not directly over point
    }
  },
  interaction: {
    mode: 'index',
    intersect: false
  }
}

Single Point Mode

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      mode: 'point',
      intersect: true  // Require hover directly over point
    }
  }
}

HTML Tooltips (External)

Create fully custom HTML tooltips.

Basic HTML Tooltip

const getOrCreateTooltip = (chart) => {
  let tooltipEl = chart.canvas.parentNode.querySelector('div.chartjs-tooltip');

  if (!tooltipEl) {
    tooltipEl = document.createElement('div');
    tooltipEl.classList.add('chartjs-tooltip');
    tooltipEl.style.background = 'rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7)';
    tooltipEl.style.borderRadius = '3px';
    tooltipEl.style.color = 'white';
    tooltipEl.style.opacity = 1;
    tooltipEl.style.pointerEvents = 'none';
    tooltipEl.style.position = 'absolute';
    tooltipEl.style.transform = 'translate(-50%, 0)';
    tooltipEl.style.transition = 'all .1s ease';

    const table = document.createElement('table');
    table.style.margin = '0px';

    tooltipEl.appendChild(table);
    chart.canvas.parentNode.appendChild(tooltipEl);
  }

  return tooltipEl;
};

const externalTooltipHandler = (context) => {
  const {chart, tooltip} = context;
  const tooltipEl = getOrCreateTooltip(chart);

  // Hide if no tooltip
  if (tooltip.opacity === 0) {
    tooltipEl.style.opacity = 0;
    return;
  }

  // Set Text
  if (tooltip.body) {
    const titleLines = tooltip.title || [];
    const bodyLines = tooltip.body.map(b => b.lines);

    const tableHead = document.createElement('thead');
    titleLines.forEach(title => {
      const tr = document.createElement('tr');
      tr.style.borderWidth = 0;
      const th = document.createElement('th');
      th.style.borderWidth = 0;
      const text = document.createTextNode(title);
      th.appendChild(text);
      tr.appendChild(th);
      tableHead.appendChild(tr);
    });

    const tableBody = document.createElement('tbody');
    bodyLines.forEach((body, i) => {
      const colors = tooltip.labelColors[i];
      const span = document.createElement('span');
      span.style.background = colors.backgroundColor;
      span.style.borderColor = colors.borderColor;
      span.style.borderWidth = '2px';
      span.style.marginRight = '10px';
      span.style.height = '10px';
      span.style.width = '10px';
      span.style.display = 'inline-block';

      const tr = document.createElement('tr');
      tr.style.backgroundColor = 'inherit';
      tr.style.borderWidth = 0;

      const td = document.createElement('td');
      td.style.borderWidth = 0;
      const text = document.createTextNode(body);
      td.appendChild(span);
      td.appendChild(text);
      tr.appendChild(td);
      tableBody.appendChild(tr);
    });

    const tableRoot = tooltipEl.querySelector('table');
    while (tableRoot.firstChild) {
      tableRoot.firstChild.remove();
    }
    tableRoot.appendChild(tableHead);
    tableRoot.appendChild(tableBody);
  }

  const {offsetLeft: positionX, offsetTop: positionY} = chart.canvas;

  // Display, position, and set styles
  tooltipEl.style.opacity = 1;
  tooltipEl.style.left = positionX + tooltip.caretX + 'px';
  tooltipEl.style.top = positionY + tooltip.caretY + 'px';
  tooltipEl.style.font = tooltip.options.bodyFont.string;
  tooltipEl.style.padding = tooltip.options.padding + 'px';
};

// Use external tooltip
const chart = new Chart(ctx, {
  type: 'line',
  data: data,
  options: {
    plugins: {
      tooltip: {
        enabled: false,  // Disable canvas tooltip
        external: externalTooltipHandler
      }
    }
  }
});

Tooltip Styling

Custom Colors

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      backgroundColor: 'rgba(255, 99, 132, 0.9)',
      titleColor: '#fff',
      bodyColor: '#fff',
      borderColor: 'rgb(255, 99, 132)',
      borderWidth: 2,
      cornerRadius: 10,
      displayColors: true,
      padding: 15
    }
  }
}

Custom Fonts

options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      titleFont: {
        size: 16,
        weight: 'bold',
        family: 'Arial'
      },
      bodyFont: {
        size: 14,
        weight: 'normal',
        family: 'Arial'
      }
    }
  }
}

Disabling Tooltips

// Disable all tooltips
options: {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      enabled: false
    }
  }
}

// Disable for specific dataset
datasets: [{
  label: 'Sales',
  data: [10, 20, 30],
  tooltip: {
    enabled: false
  }
}]

Custom Position Modes

Define custom tooltip positioning by adding to Chart.Tooltip.positioners.

import { Tooltip } from 'chart.js';

// Register custom positioner
Tooltip.positioners.topLeft = function(elements, eventPosition) {
  const tooltip = this;
  return {
    x: 0,
    y: 0,
    xAlign: 'left',
    yAlign: 'top'
  };
};

// Use custom position
new Chart(ctx, {
  type: 'bar',
  data: data,
  options: {
    plugins: {
      tooltip: {
        position: 'topLeft'
      }
    }
  }
});

TypeScript Declaration

declare module 'chart.js' {
  interface TooltipPositionerMap {
    topLeft: TooltipPositionerFunction<ChartType>;
  }
}

Framework Integration

React

import { Bar } from 'react-chartjs-2';

function ChartWithTooltip() {
  const options = {
    plugins: {
      tooltip: {
        callbacks: {
          label: (context) => {
            return `$${context.parsed.y.toLocaleString()}`;
          }
        }
      }
    }
  };

  return <Bar data={data} options={options} />;
}

Vue

<script setup>
import { Bar } from 'vue-chartjs';

const chartOptions = {
  plugins: {
    tooltip: {
      callbacks: {
        label: (context) => {
          return `€${context.parsed.y}`;
        }
      }
    }
  }
};
</script>

<template>
  <Bar :data="chartData" :options="chartOptions" />
</template>

Additional Resources

References

• references/tooltip-model.md - Complete tooltip model interface for external handlers
• references/callback-signatures.md - Full callback reference with per-dataset overrides

Examples

• examples/html-tooltip.html - Complete HTML tooltip implementation
• examples/conditional-tooltips.html - Filter, sort, and conditional styling examples