Pine Script & ThinkScript Converter

What the Converter Does

Pine Script is the language behind most community indicators and strategies, written for TradingView. ThinkScript is the thinkorswim equivalent. ChartingLens turns either one into an indicator that runs natively on your chart: the same plots, colors, boxes, labels and tables, with the script's inputs still adjustable.

Conversion is rules first. A built-in converter compiles the script directly, with no AI model involved, and runs it on your chart's data before anything is drawn. Only when a script uses a construct the converter can't compile does the AI Assistant translate it instead, and that translation is also run against your chart, and corrected if it errors or draws nothing, before you see it.

How to Convert a Script

In a multi-chart layout, the card's Selected chart / All charts toggle decides where it goes. Once it is applied, the card's button changes to Remove from Chart.

What Converts

• Plots: plot() in the style the script sets (line, step line, histogram, columns, area, circles or cross), including bar-by-bar colors.
• Fills and levels: fill(), linefill and hline(), with levels kept inside an oscillator's own pane.
• Markers and colors: plotshape, plotchar, plotarrow, plotcandle, plotbar, bgcolor and barcolor.
• Drawing objects: label, line, box, polyline and table (tables appear as an overlay on the chart).
• Pane placement: the script's overlay setting decides whether it draws on price or in its own pane.
• Other timeframes and symbols: request.security() and request.security_lower_tf(). Intrabar detail exists only for the recent history the data provider serves (roughly a month of 5 to 30 minute bars, a week of 1-minute bars, two years of hourly), and the reply says so.
• Language features: arrays, maps, matrices, user-defined types, methods, var and varip, switch and loops.
• Alerts and orders: alertcondition() definitions, and strategy.entry, strategy.order, strategy.exit (stops, targets, trailing stops), strategy.close and strategy.cancel.

Pine Script versions

Pine Script v6, v5 and v4 convert, and so do older scripts that still use v2 and v3 spellings such as study(), security() and bare sma(). A paste that lost its indentation on the way is rebuilt before converting, and the reply says so.

ThinkScript studies

Most thinkorswim studies convert by rules: plots and their painting strategies, AddCloud, AssignPriceColor, AssignBackgroundColor, AddLabel (shown top-left), AddChartBubble, AddVerticalLine, Alert, AddOrder and higher aggregation periods. Where thinkorswim's formula differs from the standard one (ExpAverage and WildersAverage start from the first price), the converter writes out thinkorswim's version so the numbers match from the first bars. Moving off the platform? See our thinkorswim alternatives roundup.

What Gets Approximated, and How You Find Out

Every conversion reply carries a note. A clean rules conversion says every construct was supported and nothing was approximated. Otherwise the note names what changed:

• Constructs the rules converter can't compile, such as a nested request.security() or request.financial(), go to the assistant's translation. The note lists what it dropped or approximated, and says so if it could not be verified on the current chart.
• Footprint and volume-row data is not available: request.footprint() and those calls return na, and the note names them.
• Imported libraries: one widely used library is built in and runs exactly. For other imports, the assistant writes the functions the script calls into the script, and the note says they are reconstructions worth checking.
• Proprietary thinkorswim studies such as TTM Squeeze, TTM Trend and TTM Wave have no published formula, so the assistant translates the script to Pine, then compiles and verifies it. The reply says so and advises checking the values if exact numbers matter. Studies needing options, open-interest or fundamental data take the same route.
• Not carried over: ThinkScript's SetStopLoss and SetPercentTrailStop (the note says so), and pyramiding, so a second entry in the same direction is ignored.

Backtesting Converted Strategies

Every conversion card has a Backtest Signals button, and an applied script with trade signals gets a backtest icon in its legend, so you can re-run it after a page refresh. The backtest trades the script's own orders bar by bar: market orders fill at the next bar's open, stop and limit entries when price reaches them, and a protective stop is taken before a target when one bar touches both. Markers are not guessed at as trades, and a script with no strategy orders gets a plain message that there is nothing to backtest.

If a script paints signals late or deletes them (repainting), the backtest re-runs it on the history as it stood at each bar and trades each signal where it first appeared. It shares its engine with the AI Strategy Backtester; see also how to backtest a trading strategy.

After Conversion

• Settings: the legend gear opens the script's inputs as checkboxes, dropdowns, number fields with the script's own limits, color pickers and text. Change them and click Apply.
• Saved library: Save adds the indicator, with its settings, to the Saved category of the Indicators menu, synced to your account (see Technical Indicators). Saved layouts keep converted indicators too.
• Modify with AI: the legend pencil (Premium) takes a described change, such as "make the demand zones green", updates the indicator in place and keeps a change history you can undo from.
• Alerts: scripts with alertcondition() calls or trade signals get a bell in the legend. These signal alerts are Premium and fire on a closed bar while ChartingLens is open with the indicator on a chart. Server-checked alerts are covered under Price Alerts.
• Scanning: run a converted indicator across a market or your watchlists with the custom script scanner.

Use Cases

Free vs Premium vs Pro

Frequently Asked Questions

Does converting a Pine Script cost AI credits?

No. Converting a pasted Pine Script or ThinkScript study uses none of your daily AI credits, even when the assistant translates part of it. Conversion is included on Premium and Pro.

Which Pine Script versions does the converter accept?

Pine Script v6, v5 and v4, plus older scripts that still use v2 and v3 spellings such as study(), security() and bare sma().

Can I backtest a converted Pine Script strategy?

Yes. Click Backtest Signals on the conversion card, or the backtest icon in the legend. The backtest trades the script's own strategy.entry, strategy.exit and strategy.close orders, filled bar by bar. Pyramiding is not simulated.

What happens when part of a script can't be converted exactly?

The reply tells you. Every conversion includes a note saying either that nothing was approximated, or exactly what was approximated or returns na, such as footprint data or a reconstructed library.

Can it convert thinkorswim studies like TTM Squeeze?

Most ThinkScript studies convert by rules with no AI involved. TTM Squeeze and other proprietary thinkorswim studies have no published formula, so the assistant translates them instead and says so. Check the values if exact numbers matter.

Is Pine Script conversion available on the Free plan?

No. On Free, pasting a script shows an upgrade message instead. Premium ($14.99/mo) and Pro ($29.99/mo) include Pine Script and ThinkScript conversion, the indicator library and backtesting converted strategies.