> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.siftstack.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Compare Runs visually against a Family baseline

> Overlay Family members on a shared aligned time axis in Explore to inspect variance, identify outliers, and compare a new Run against the historical spread.

After completing this topic, you can plot all Family members in Explore on a common aligned time axis and compare a new Run directly against the historical baseline.

<Note>
  New to Families? Read the [Overview](/documentation/analyze/families/overview) to understand how members, alignments, and statistics work together before proceeding.
</Note>

## When to use this workflow

Use this workflow when you want to:

* Visually inspect how consistently a signal behaves across a group of historical Runs
* Identify outlier Runs before deciding whether to include or exclude them from the Family
* Compare a new Run's signal shape against the historical spread before running Rules

This workflow is typically the first step after creating a Family and a natural complement to running Family Rules.

## Before you begin

* You have a Family with at least two included members and at least one alignment configured. See [Group Runs into a Family](/documentation/analyze/families/group-runs-into-a-family).

## Complete the workflow

### Step 1: Open the Family in Explore

1. In the Sift navigation panel, click **Families**.
2. Click the name of the Family to open its overview page.
3. Click **Explore Family**.

Sift opens Explore with all included Family members preloaded as data sources. Excluded Runs do not appear and cannot be plotted.

If you already have an Explore session open, add the Family by clicking **Select data** in the data selector panel and selecting the Family. This loads all included members into the existing session.

Hover over the Family in the data source panel to see the count of candidate Runs awaiting review. Click **Review Run(s)** to inspect them in Explore before deciding whether to include or exclude them.

### Step 2: Plot Channels

In the <Icon icon="wave-pulse" /> **Channels** tab:

1. Expand a Family member to browse its channels.
2. Click a channel name to plot it, or drag it onto a panel.
3. To plot the same channel from all members at once, right-click the channel name and choose **Plot all with matching name**.

Channels with the same name from different members are plotted together so you can inspect variance across the group at a glance.

### Step 3: Set the alignment

Alignment controls the T-0 reference point that synchronizes all members on the time axis.

For a Time Series Panel, use the **X-axis** control at the bottom of the panel (**Time in UTC**) to switch between the alignments defined on the Family, or open the **Time-Alignment** tab in panel settings.
You can only select from alignments already defined on the Family. You cannot override them in Explore.

Switching to a different alignment immediately re-syncs all members to the new T-0. Any new panel you add to the session inherits the active alignment mode automatically.

### Step 4: Add a new Run for comparison

To compare a Run that is not a Family member against the baseline:

1. Click **Compare settings** on the panel toolbar.
2. Select the Run you want to compare from the data source dropdown.
   Select both the Family and the candidate Run to view:

* If you have a Family open in Explore, click **Select data**, in **Select telemetry source** select **Runs**, select a Run, and then click **Update**.
* If you are starting a new exploration, in Explore, click **Select data**, in **Select telemetry source**, select a Run and select a Family, and then click **Update**.

When viewing the Family's alignments, the candidate Run automatically inherits the Family's alignment method and you can continue to plot channels from both the Family and Run.

If the Run is unable to resolve against the Family's alignment method, go to Panel settings, select the **Time-Alignment** tab, and manually set the Run's alignment method.

The new Run inherits the panel's active alignment automatically and aligns with the Family members without any additional configuration. When you add a non-Family Run, Sift resolves its T-0 using the same alignment type defined on the Family; if the Run does not contain the alignment event, Sift falls back to Run start. Differences from the historical spread are immediately visible.

### Step 5: Create or update a Family from a session

If an Explore session contains the Runs you want to group, you can create a Family or add Runs to an existing one without leaving Explore.

**To create a new Family from the session**:

1. Click **Create Family from Session** in the session options.
2. Name the Family and configure the initial alignment.
3. Click **Create**.

**To add session Runs to an existing Family**:

1. Click **Update Family from Session** in the session toolbar.
2. Select the target Family.
3. Choose which session Runs to add as candidates or members.
4. Click **Save**.

### Step 6: Reduce visual noise

When many overlapping channels make the chart hard to read:

* **Hover** over a channel name in the legend to highlight it and dim all others.
* **Right-click** a channel in the legend to isolate it and hide all others. Right-click again to restore the full view.

To distinguish the Family from the new Run in the legend:

* Enable **Show family name** in **Channel settings** to prefix each channel label with the Family name.
* Enable **Group by family** to group the legend by Family rather than by Run.
* In the legend settings, choose **Collapse to one** and assign the Family a single color so the new Run you added for comparison stands out clearly against the baseline.

## Verify the result

After completing this workflow:

* All included Family members are plotted on a shared aligned time axis.
* Switching alignments re-syncs all members immediately.
* Any new Run you added is overlaid against the historical spread using the same T-0 reference.

## Next steps

* To compute aggregate statistics and write Rules that automatically flag deviations, see [Detect statistical deviations using Family Rules](/documentation/analyze/families/detect-deviations-from-a-historical-baseline).
* To add or remove members based on what you observed in Explore, see [Manage Families](/documentation/analyze/families/keep-a-family-current).


## Related topics

- [Compare a Run against a baseline](/documentation/analyze/compare-run-baseline.md)
- [Manage Families](/documentation/analyze/families/keep-a-family-current.md)
- [Group Runs into a Family](/documentation/analyze/families/group-runs-into-a-family.md)