Certain Annotation Options Have No Effect in Time Series Annotations

[TopherLX]

Bug description

I’m trying to visualize the cumulative daily counts of "Entry" and "SDV" operations using both Line and Bar charts. When adding Annotations of type Time Series, I’ve encountered the following issues:

Override time range has no effect
After enabling this option, applying time filters on the dashboard correctly updates the main chart, but the annotation data remains unchanged—regardless of whether the underlying query is synchronous or asynchronous. The annotation line should update according to the applied time filter, but it does not respond even after refreshing, clearing the cache, or waiting.

Override time grain has no effect
When enabled, the annotation continues to use its original time grain, ignoring any changes made to the main chart’s "Time Grain" setting.

Time Shift has no effect
I’ve tried values like 30 days, 2 months, etc., as suggested by the placeholder text, but the annotation visualization shows no shift whatsoever.
Annotation Slice Configuration → Title Column always displays "None"

It’s unclear how to configure this field. No matter what column I select (or if the underlying dataset contains valid string/text columns), it still shows "None".

Additionally, these same options appear to have no effect when the annotation type is set to Event or Interval. This raises the question: are these configuration options actually functional, or are they currently non-operational?

Any guidance or fixes would be greatly appreciated!

Screenshots/recordings

Original chart (day grain)

Chart (day grain) with Time Series Annotation without 'override' options

Chart (day grain) with Time Series Annotation and Override time range selected

Original chart (month grain)

Chart (month grain) with Time Series Annotation without 'override' options

Chart (month grain) with Time Series Annotation and Override time grain selected

Superset version

6.0.0

Python version

3.11

Node version

16

Browser

Chrome

Additional context

No response

Checklist

• I have searched Superset docs and Slack and didn't find a solution to my problem.
• I have searched the GitHub issue tracker and didn't find a similar bug report.
• I have checked Superset's logs for errors and if I found a relevant Python stacktrace, I included it here as text in the "additional context" section.

[dosubot]

Hi @TopherLX! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the superset team.

The "Override time range", "Override time grain", "Time Shift", and "Title Column" options in Time Series Annotations are not functional in Superset 6.0.0. These options are present in the UI but are not wired to the backend or frontend logic, so they have no effect on annotation behavior. This is confirmed by the codebase, which only supports basic annotation metadata (timestamps, description, JSON metadata) and does not implement these override features or the Title Column selection logic. Recent frontend updates improved the annotation editor UI but did not address these options’ functionality.

If you need dynamic or filtered annotation behavior, a common workaround is to calculate the desired metric (like an average or reference line) in your SQL query or dataset and add it as a separate metric or series in your chart. This approach ensures the reference updates automatically with your data. There is currently no built-in way to link annotation layers to dynamic aggregates or to have annotation layers automatically update with dashboard filters or time shifts (source, source).

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[TopherLX]

Thanks for the detailed explanation!

Now I understand that some annotation options aren’t currently functional. In the meantime, could you please clarify how to properly configure the JSON metadata field for annotations?

Is there any official documentation or examples showing the supported structure or use cases for this field?

[dosubot]

There’s no official documentation or enforced schema for the annotation JSON metadata field in Superset. It’s an optional, free-form JSON string—any valid JSON is accepted, but Superset doesn’t interpret or act on specific keys in this field as of 6.0.0. The UI just provides a JSON editor, and the backend only validates that the input is valid JSON (source, source).

You can use this field to store custom descriptive info or metadata for your own reference. For example:

{
  "note": "Reference line for Q1 target",
  "created_by": "analyst_team",
  "color": "#FF0000"
}

Keys like granularity, time_grain_sqla, time_range, and time_shift are mentioned in the codebase as possible overrides, but these are not functional in Superset 6.0.0 (source). So, for now, stick to using the JSON metadata field for static, descriptive, or custom info only.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[TopherLX]

I truly appreciate all the hard work your team has put into this product. That said, I’ve noticed a slight inconsistency between the UI and the underlying front-end/back-end functionality, which can be a bit confusing—and sometimes frustrating—for users. If possible, I’d be very grateful if this could be looked into and aligned more closely in a future update. Thank you so much for your continued dedication!