Goal: How to put the legend outside the plot

Direct Answer

Set layout and typography explicitly in Matplotlib instead of relying on defaults.

Recommended Workflow

1. Reproduce the behavior with a minimal test case.
2. Verify runtime, dependencies, and configuration.
3. Apply the smallest targeted fix.
4. Re-run the validation on real input.

Concrete Example

1import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
2fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 5))
3ax.plot([1,2,3], [1,4,9])
4ax.legend(["series"], loc="upper left", bbox_to_anchor=(1.02, 1))
5ax.tick_params(labelsize=10)
6fig.suptitle("Overview", fontsize=14)
7plt.tight_layout()
8plt.show()

Validation Checklist

• Primary scenario behaves as expected.
• Edge cases are explicitly handled.
• The change is repeatable in the target environment.

Common Pitfalls

• Verify versions and active configuration before changing code.
• Use representative sample input instead of synthetic happy-path only.
• Change one variable at a time so regressions are attributable.

Summary

Solve for correctness first, then optimize. Tags: data visualization, plotting, legend positioning, chart customization, matplotlib.