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Date Comparison

Show how this period compares with the last one.

moderate Analytics

What it adds

Period-over-period comparison on analytics figures, with aligned periods, honest handling of incomplete ranges, and sane percentage changes.

What your agent is told to do

6
  1. 1

    Offer previous period and same period last year as comparison options, and allow a custom comparison range.

  2. 2

    Make the comparison period exactly the same length as the selected period, and state the compared dates in the UI. An unexplained percentage is not information.

  3. 3

    When the current period is still running, compare like for like — either compare elapsed portions only, or label the figure as partial. Do not compare four days against thirty and call it a decline.

  4. 4

    Do all bucketing and boundary arithmetic in the reporting time zone, and show which time zone that is.

  5. 5

    Show direction with more than colour: an arrow or a sign, so the change is readable to colourblind users and in monochrome print.

  6. 6

    Do NOT build a new range-selection control — the picker is owned by Date Range Picker; read the selected range from it and extend that feature if it needs a comparison mode.

Edge cases it handles

7
  • A zero baseline has no percentage change. Show 'no prior data' or the absolute figure, never infinity or a 100% that means nothing.
  • A tiny baseline produces absurd percentages — two to six is +200%. Suppress or annotate changes below a minimum sample.
  • Month-over-month comparison across months of different lengths must either align by day count or say it is aligning by calendar month.
  • Leap days and daylight-saving transitions make some periods 23 or 25 hours long; bucket boundaries must not drift.
  • Same period last year should align by weekday for weekly-seasonal metrics, or the comparison is noise.
  • Rate metrics do not subtract like counts — a change in conversion rate is percentage points, not percent.
  • Late-arriving data will change yesterday's number after you have already shown a comparison; either wait for the data to settle or label recent figures as provisional.

Definition of done

9
  • Every comparison states both date ranges explicitly.
  • Comparison periods are equal in length to the selected period.
  • Incomplete current periods are either elapsed-matched or clearly labelled as partial.
  • All boundaries are computed in a stated reporting time zone.
  • Zero and near-zero baselines never produce a misleading percentage.
  • Direction is conveyed by more than colour alone.
  • Range selection continues to be handled by Date Range Picker.
  • The feature matches the existing design system.
  • No existing functionality is broken.

Related features

How it works

  1. 1

    Copy the link

    Grab the Markdown instruction URL for this feature.

  2. 2

    Give it to your AI

    Paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, v0, Lovable — whatever you build with.

  3. 3

    It inspects, then implements

    Your agent reads your existing app first, then adds the feature to fit it.

Works with your stack

These instructions are written to adapt. They tell the agent to detect your framework, match your existing design system, and reuse what you already have — rather than assuming a particular stack.

Need it tighter than that? Customize the feature and tell it exactly what you're running.