Why are all of the nodes in this standalone tikz document moved to the bottom left? I am using pgfplots

Question

I have the following code that I am using in pgfplots in a standalone tikz document:

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning, arrows.meta}

\pgfplotsset{every axis/.append style={
                     tick label style={font=\footnotesize},
                 }}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[grid=both,
                 xmin=-1.5, xmax=9.997,
                 ymin=-1.9975, ymax=5.9975,
                 axis lines=middle,
                 xlabel=\(x\), ylabel=\(y\),
                 xticklabels={}, yticklabels={},
                 clip=false,
                 y axis line style={Stealth-Stealth},
                 x axis line style={Stealth-Stealth}
            ]

        % graph curve
        \addplot[stealth-stealth, domain=-2.15:4.15, samples=50] ({x^2-2*x}, {x+1});

        % points on curve
        \node [circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=below left:{\(t=0\)}] at (0, 1) {};
        \node [circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=below left:{\(t=-2\)}] at (8, -1) {};
        \node [circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=above left:{\(t=2\)}] at (0, 3) {};
        \node [circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=above left:{\(t=4\)}] at (8, 5) {};

        % orientation of curve, code from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/142650/296881
        \def\NORM{sqrt((2*t-2)^2 + 1^2)}
        \addplot[thick,-latex, , samples=6, domain=-1.5:3.5, variable=\t,quiver={
            u=(2*t-2)/\NORM, v=1/\NORM,
                scale arrows=0.1,
        }]
        ({t^2-2*t}, {t+1});
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

This is the entire document. I expected it to look like this: When I run the code within the tikzpicture environment with \documentclass{article}, that is what I get, the correct result. However, when I run the above code with \documentclass[tikz]{standalone}, I get that all of the nodes are clumped together at the bottom left like this:

How do I fix this?

Answer 1

If you use PGFPlots, you are advised to always set the compat option, because this will affect the way how certain parts of the syntax are interpreted. For older versions of PGFPlots, you would have to type (axis cs:1,1) instead of (1,1) if you want to place some coordinate of a TikZ path at the relevant position inside the axis environment. For newer versions, this is not needed anymore, but to actually make use of the new syntax, you need to set the compat option to a newer version. Check the PGFPlots manual for more information about this.

Hence, you either need to change the coordinates for the TikZ commands in your code to meed the requirements of the older syntax (with axis cs), or you need to set the value for the compat option to a relatively new version (or just use newest). I would recommend setting the compat option.

So, a working solution would look like this:

\documentclass[border=10pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta}

\pgfplotsset{
    compat=newest, % or at least 1.11
    every axis/.append style={
        tick label style={font=\footnotesize},
    }
}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[
        grid=both,
         xmin=-1.5, xmax=9.997,
         ymin=-1.9975, ymax=5.9975,
         axis lines=middle,
         xlabel=\(x\), ylabel=\(y\),
         xticklabels={}, yticklabels={},
         clip=false,
         y axis line style={Stealth-Stealth},
         x axis line style={Stealth-Stealth}
    ]

        % graph curve
        \addplot[stealth-stealth, domain=-2.15:4.15, samples=50] ({x^2-2*x}, {x+1});

        % points on curve
        \node[circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=below left:{\(t=0\)}] at (0, 1) {};
        \node[circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=below left:{\(t=-2\)}] at (8, -1) {};
        \node[circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=above left:{\(t=2\)}] at (0, 3) {};
        \node[circle, fill=black, scale=0.4, label=above left:{\(t=4\)}] at (8, 5) {};

        % orientation of curve, code from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/142650/296881
        \def\NORM{sqrt((2*t-2)^2 + 1^2)}
        \addplot[thick,-latex, samples=6, domain=-1.5:3.5, variable=\t, quiver={
            u=(2*t-2)/\NORM, v=1/\NORM,
            scale arrows=0.1,
        }]
        ({t^2-2*t}, {t+1});
    \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}