# Build a bullet chart

> Grade a measure against its goal: a bar for the actual, a tick for the target, and up to three shaded bands behind it, one bullet per category.

Analyze · 3 min read · Updated 2026-10-28

A bullet chart shows how a measure is doing against its goal. Each bullet draws the actual value as a bar, the target as a tick across it, and optional shaded bands behind it for ranges like poor, fair and good. Pick Bullet from the chart type selector - it sits with the horizontal bar charts.

## Fill the role shelves

A bullet chart has a shelf for each role, so you never have to remember which measure goes first. Only Actual is required; leave Category empty and you get a single bullet for the whole dataset.

| Shelf | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| Actual | The measure drawn as the bar. |
| Target | Optional. The goal, drawn as a tick across the bar. |
| Bands | Optional. Up to three measures that mark the shaded ranges behind the bar. Their order doesn't matter - each row sorts them. |
| Category | Optional. One bullet per member, such as one per region or sales rep. |
| Color | Optional. Tints the actual bar. A dimension other than Category splits each bullet by its members. |
| Tooltip | Optional. Extra fields to show on hover. |

1. Pick Bullet from the chart type selector.
2. Drag the measure you're tracking to Actual.
3. Drag your goal measure to Target, or type a fixed goal in the format pane.
4. Drag a dimension to Category to get one bullet per member.

> **Note:** A Target or Band has to be in the same unit as the Actual, so the tick and the bands share the bar's scale. A target in dollars won't grade a bar counted in orders.

## Use one goal for every bullet

When the goal is a single number rather than a column - a $150K quota for every rep, say - open the format pane and find Bullet options. Type it into Target value, and type up to three comma-separated limits into Band limits (for example 50, 75, 100). A field on the Target or Bands shelf wins over a typed value.

## Format a bullet chart

- Target label shows the target's value at the end of each bullet.
- % of Target shows how far along each bullet is, as a share of its target.
- Band 1, 2 and 3 Shade set the color of each band; reset one to go back to the default gray.
- The actual bar's color lives in the Color section, like any other chart.

## Build it from the chat

Ask the Analyst pane or a dashboard's Storyteller pane for one in plain words - "show sales against quota by region as a bullet chart" or "add Stretch Goal as a band" - and Golden fills the shelves for you. Bullet charts work the same way in Analyze and on dashboards.

### Related

- [Build a chart with shelves](https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/chart-builder)
- [Chart types in Golden](https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/chart-types)
- [Format a chart](https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/format-a-chart)
- [Build an interval plot](https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/interval-plots)

Source: https://goldenanalytics.com/docs/bullet-charts