Mapbox Developer MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides AI assistants with direct access to Mapbox developer APIs. This server enables AI models to interact with Mapbox services, helping developers build Mapbox applications more efficiently.

Looking for Mapbox documentation access? Use mcp-docs-server alongside this server — it provides AI assistants with access to Mapbox documentation, guides, and API references from docs.mapbox.com.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8b1b8ef2-9fba-4951-bc9a-beaed4f6aff6

Table of Contents

• Mapbox Developer MCP Server
  • Table of Contents
  • Quick Start
    • Integration with Developer Tools
    • DXT Package Distribution
      • Creating the DXT Package
    • Hosted MCP Endpoint
    • Getting Your Mapbox Access Token
  • Tools
    • Reference Tools
    • Style Management Tools
    • Token Management Tools
      • create-token
      • list-tokens
    • Feedback Tools
    • Local Processing Tools
      • GeoJSON Preview tool (Beta)
      • Coordinate Conversion tool
      • Bounding Box tool
      • compare_styles_tool
      • Style Optimization tool
  • Resources
  • Observability & Tracing
    • Features
    • Quick Start with Jaeger
    • Supported Backends
    • Documentation
    • Environment Variables
  • Development
    • Testing
      • Tool Snapshot Tests
    • Inspecting Server
      • Using Node.js
      • Using Docker
    • Creating New Tools
    • Environment Variables
      • VERBOSE_ERRORS
  • Troubleshooting
  • Release Process
  • Contributing

Quick Start

Integration with Developer Tools

Get started by integrating with your preferred AI development environment:

• Claude Code Integration - Command-line development with Claude
• Claude Desktop Integration - Desktop application integration
• Cursor Integration - Cursor IDE integration
• VS Code Integration - Visual Studio Code with GitHub Copilot

DXT Package Distribution

This MCP server can be packaged as a DXT (Desktop Extension) file for easy distribution and installation. DXT is a standardized format for distributing local MCP servers, similar to browser extensions.

Creating the DXT Package

To create a DXT package:

# Install the DXT CLI tool
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/dxt

# Build the server first
npm run build

# Create the DXT package
npx @anthropic-ai/dxt pack

This will generate mcp-devkit-server.dxt using the configuration in manifest.json.

The DXT package includes:

• Pre-built server code (dist/esm/index.js)
• Server metadata and configuration
• User configuration schema for the Mapbox access token
• Automatic environment variable setup

Hosted MCP Endpoint

For quick access, you can use our hosted MCP endpoint:

Endpoint: https://mcp-devkit.mapbox.com/mcp

For detailed setup instructions for different clients and API usage, see the Hosted MCP Server Guide. Note: This guide references the standard MCP endpoint - you'll need to update the endpoint URL to use the devkit endpoint above.

Getting Your Mapbox Access Token

A Mapbox access token is required to use this MCP server.

1. Sign up for a free Mapbox account at mapbox.com/signup
2. Navigate to your Account page
3. Create a new token with the required scopes for your use case

For more information about Mapbox access tokens, see the Mapbox documentation on access tokens.

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Token Privileges Required

The MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable is required. Each tool requires specific token scopes/privileges to function properly. For example:

• Reading styles requires styles:read scope
• Creating styles requires styles:write scope
• Managing tokens requires tokens:read and tokens:write scopes
• Accessing feedback requires user-feedback:read scope

Tools

Reference Tools

Reference data is exposed as MCP Resources (see Resources section). MCP clients that support the resources protocol can access them directly.

Available References:

• resource://mapbox-style-layers - Mapbox GL JS style specification reference guide covering all layer types (fill, line, symbol, circle, fill-extrusion) and their properties
• resource://mapbox-streets-v8-fields - Complete field definitions for all Mapbox Streets v8 source layers, including enumerated values for each field (useful for building filters)
• resource://mapbox-token-scopes - Comprehensive token scope reference explaining what each scope allows and which scopes are needed for different operations
• resource://mapbox-layer-type-mapping - Mapping of Mapbox Streets v8 source layers to compatible GL JS layer types, with common usage patterns

Example prompts:

• "What fields are available for the landuse layer?"
• "Show me the token scopes reference"
• "What layer type should I use for roads?"
• "Get the Streets v8 fields reference"
• "What scopes do I need to display a map?"

Style Management Tools

Complete set of tools for managing Mapbox styles via the Styles API:

Style Builder Tool - Create and modify Mapbox styles programmatically through conversational prompts

📖 See the Style Builder documentation for detailed usage and examples →

ListStylesTool - List all styles for a Mapbox account

• Input: limit (optional - max number of styles), start (optional - pagination token)
• Returns: Array of style metadata with optional pagination info

CreateStyleTool - Create a new Mapbox style

• Input: name, style (Mapbox style specification)
• Returns: Created style details with ID

RetrieveStyleTool - Retrieve a specific style by ID

• Input: styleId
• Returns: Complete style specification

UpdateStyleTool - Update an existing style

• Input: styleId, name (optional), style (optional)
• Returns: Updated style details

DeleteStyleTool - Delete a style by ID

• Input: styleId
• Returns: Success confirmation

PreviewStyleTool - Generate preview URL for a Mapbox style using an existing public token

• Input: styleId, title (optional), zoomwheel (optional), zoom (optional), center (optional), bearing (optional), pitch (optional)
• Returns: URL to open the style preview in browser
• Note: This tool automatically fetches the first available public token from your account for the preview URL. Requires at least one public token with styles:read scope.

ValidateStyleTool - Validate Mapbox style JSON against the Mapbox Style Specification

• Input: style (Mapbox style JSON object or JSON string)
• Returns: Validation results including errors, warnings, info messages, and style summary
• Performs comprehensive offline validation checking:
  • Required fields (version, sources, layers)
  • Valid layer and source types
  • Source references and layer IDs
  • Common configuration issues
• Note: This is an offline validation tool that doesn't require API access or token scopes

⚠️ Required Token Scopes:

All style tools require a valid Mapbox access token with specific scopes. Using a token without the correct scope will result in authentication errors.

• ListStylesTool: Requires styles:list scope
• CreateStyleTool: Requires styles:write scope
• RetrieveStyleTool: Requires styles:download scope
• UpdateStyleTool: Requires styles:write scope
• DeleteStyleTool: Requires styles:write scope
• PreviewStyleTool: Requires tokens:read scope (to list tokens) and at least one public token with styles:read scope

Note: The username is automatically extracted from the JWT token payload.

Example prompts:

• "Can you create a Christmas themed Style for me?"
• "Please generate a preview link for this style"
• "Can you change the background to snow style?"

Token Management Tools

create-token

Create a new Mapbox access token with specified scopes and optional URL restrictions.

Parameters:

• note (string, required): Description of the token
• scopes (array of strings, required): Array of scopes/permissions for the token. Must be valid Mapbox scopes (see below)
• allowedUrls (array of strings, optional): URLs where the token can be used (max 100)
• expires (string, optional): Expiration time in ISO 8601 format (maximum 1 hour in the future)

Available Scopes:

Available scopes for public tokens:

• styles:tiles - Read styles as raster tiles
• styles:read - Read styles
• fonts:read - Read fonts
• datasets:read - Read datasets
• vision:read - Read Vision API

Example:

{
  "note": "Development token for my app",
  "scopes": ["styles:read", "fonts:read"],
  "allowedUrls": ["https://myapp.com"]
}

Example prompts:

• "Create a new Mapbox token for my web app with styles:read and fonts:read permissions"
• "Generate a token that expires in 30 minutes with styles:tiles and vision:read scopes"
• "Create a restricted token that only works on https://myapp.com with styles:read, fonts:read, and datasets:read"

list-tokens

List Mapbox access tokens for the authenticated user with optional filtering and pagination.

Parameters:

• default (boolean, optional): Filter to show only the default public token
• limit (number, optional): Maximum number of tokens to return per page (1-100)
• sortby (string, optional): Sort tokens by "created" or "modified" timestamp
• start (string, optional): The token ID after which to start the listing (when provided, auto-pagination is disabled)
• usage (string, optional): Filter by token type: "pk" (public)

Pagination behavior:

• When no start parameter is provided, the tool automatically fetches all pages of results
• When a start parameter is provided, only the requested page is returned (for manual pagination control)

Example:

{
  "limit": 10,
  "sortby": "created",
  "usage": "pk"
}

Example prompts:

• "List all my Mapbox tokens"
• "Show me my public tokens sorted by creation date"
• "Find my default public token"
• "List the 5 most recently modified tokens"
• "Show all public tokens in my account"

Feedback Tools

Access user feedback items from the Mapbox Feedback API. These tools allow you to retrieve and view user-reported issues, suggestions, and feedback about map data, routing, and POI details.

list_feedback_tool - List user feedback items with comprehensive filtering, sorting, and pagination options.

Parameters:

• feedback_ids (array of UUIDs, optional): Filter by one or more feedback item IDs
• after (string, optional): Cursor from a previous response for pagination
• limit (number, optional): Maximum number of items to return (1-1000, default varies)
• sort_by (string, optional): Sort field - received_at (default), created_at, or updated_at
• order (string, optional): Sort direction - asc (default) or desc
• status (array, optional): Filter by status - received, fixed, reviewed, out_of_scope
• category (array, optional): Filter by feedback categories
• search (string, optional): Search phrase to match against feedback text
• trace_id (array, optional): Filter by trace IDs
• created_before, created_after (ISO 8601 string, optional): Filter by creation date range
• received_before, received_after (ISO 8601 string, optional): Filter by received date range
• updated_before, updated_after (ISO 8601 string, optional): Filter by update date range
• format (string, optional): Output format - formatted_text (default) or json_string

Returns: Paginated list of feedback items with pagination cursors.

get_feedback_tool - Get a single user feedback item by its unique ID.

Parameters:

• feedback_id (UUID, required): The unique identifier of the feedback item
• format (string, optional): Output format - formatted_text (default) or json_string

Returns: Single feedback item with details including status, category, feedback text, location, and timestamps.

⚠️ Required Token Scope:

• Both feedback tools: Require user-feedback:read scope on the access token

Example prompts:

• "List all feedback items with status 'fixed'"
• "Show me feedback items in the 'poi_details' category created after July 1st"
• "Get feedback item with ID 40eae4c7-b157-4b49-a091-7e1099bba77e"
• "Find feedback items containing 'apartment building' in the feedback text"
• "List all routing issue feedback from the last month"

Local Processing Tools

GeoJSON Preview tool (Beta)

Generate a geojson.io URL to visualize GeoJSON data. This tool:

• Validates GeoJSON format (Point, LineString, Polygon, Feature, FeatureCollection, etc.)
• Returns a direct URL to geojson.io for instant visualization
• Supports both GeoJSON objects and JSON strings as input

Example usage:

{
  "geojson": {
    "type": "Point",
    "coordinates": [-122.4194, 37.7749]
  }
}

Returns: A single URL string that can be opened in a browser to view the GeoJSON data.

Note: This is a beta feature currently optimized for small to medium-sized GeoJSON files. Large GeoJSON files may result in very long URLs and slower performance. We plan to optimize this in future versions by implementing alternative approaches for handling large datasets.

Example prompts:

• "Generate a preview URL for this GeoJSON data"
• "Create a geojson.io link for my uploaded route.geojson file"

Validate GeoJSON tool

Validates GeoJSON objects for correctness, checking structure, coordinates, and geometry types. This offline validation tool performs comprehensive checks on GeoJSON data without requiring API access.

Parameters:

• geojson (string or object, required): GeoJSON object or JSON string to validate

What it validates:

• GeoJSON type validity (Feature, FeatureCollection, Point, LineString, Polygon, etc.)
• Required properties (type, coordinates, geometry, features)
• Coordinate array structure and position validity
• Longitude ranges [-180, 180] and latitude ranges [-90, 90]
• Polygon ring closure (first and last coordinates should match)
• Minimum position requirements (LineString needs 2+, Polygon rings need 4+ positions)

Returns:

Validation results including:

• valid (boolean): Overall validity
• errors (array): Critical errors that make the GeoJSON invalid
• warnings (array): Non-critical issues (e.g., unclosed polygon rings, out-of-range coordinates)
• info (array): Informational messages
• statistics: Object with type, feature count, geometry types, and bounding box

Each issue includes:

• severity: "error", "warning", or "info"
• message: Description of the issue
• path: JSON path to the problem (optional)
• suggestion: How to fix the issue (optional)

Example:

{
  "geojson": {
    "type": "Feature",
    "geometry": {
      "type": "Point",
      "coordinates": [102.0, 0.5]
    },
    "properties": {
      "name": "Test Point"
    }
  }
}

Returns:

{
  "valid": true,
  "errors": [],
  "warnings": [],
  "info": [],
  "statistics": {
    "type": "Feature",
    "featureCount": 1,
    "geometryTypes": ["Point"],
    "bbox": [102.0, 0.5, 102.0, 0.5]
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Validate this GeoJSON file and tell me if there are any errors"
• "Check if my GeoJSON coordinates are valid"
• "Is this Feature Collection properly formatted?"

Note: This is an offline validation tool that doesn't require API access or token scopes.

Validate Expression tool

Validates Mapbox style expressions for syntax, operators, and argument correctness. This offline validation tool performs comprehensive checks on Mapbox expressions without requiring API access.

Parameters:

• expression (array or string, required): Mapbox expression to validate (array format or JSON string)

What it validates:

• Expression syntax and structure
• Valid operator names
• Correct argument counts for each operator
• Nested expression validation
• Expression depth (warns about deeply nested expressions)

Returns:

Validation results including:

• valid (boolean): Overall validity
• errors (array): Critical errors that make the expression invalid
• warnings (array): Non-critical issues (e.g., deeply nested expressions)
• info (array): Informational messages
• metadata: Object with expressionType, returnType, and depth

Each issue includes:

• severity: "error", "warning", or "info"
• message: Description of the issue
• path: Path to the problem in the expression (optional)
• suggestion: How to fix the issue (optional)

Supported expression types:

• Data: get, has, id, geometry-type, feature-state, properties
• Lookup: at, in, index-of, slice, length
• Decision: case, match, coalesce
• Ramps & interpolation: interpolate, step
• Math: +, -, *, /, %, ^, sqrt, log10, log2, ln, abs, etc.
• String: concat, downcase, upcase, is-supported-script
• Color: rgb, rgba, to-rgba, hsl, hsla
• Type: array, boolean, collator, format, image, literal, number, number-format, object, string, to-boolean, to-color, to-number, to-string, typeof
• Camera: zoom, pitch, distance-from-center
• Variable binding: let, var

Example:

{
  "expression": ["get", "population"]
}

Returns:

{
  "valid": true,
  "errors": [],
  "warnings": [],
  "info": [
    {
      "severity": "info",
      "message": "Expression validated successfully"
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "expressionType": "data",
    "returnType": "any",
    "depth": 1
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Validate this Mapbox expression: ["get", "population"]"
• "Check if this interpolation expression is correct"
• "Is this expression syntax valid for Mapbox styles?"

Note: This is an offline validation tool that doesn't require API access or token scopes.

Coordinate Conversion tool

Convert coordinates between different coordinate reference systems (CRS), specifically between WGS84 (EPSG:4326) and Web Mercator (EPSG:3857).

Parameters:

• coordinates (array, required): Array of coordinate pairs to convert. Each coordinate pair should be [longitude, latitude] for WGS84 or [x, y] for Web Mercator
• fromCRS (string, required): Source coordinate reference system. Supported values: "EPSG:4326" (WGS84), "EPSG:3857" (Web Mercator)
• toCRS (string, required): Target coordinate reference system. Supported values: "EPSG:4326" (WGS84), "EPSG:3857" (Web Mercator)

Returns:

An array of converted coordinate pairs in the target CRS format.

Example:

{
  "coordinates": [
    [-122.4194, 37.7749],
    [-74.006, 40.7128]
  ],
  "fromCRS": "EPSG:4326",
  "toCRS": "EPSG:3857"
}

Example prompts:

• "Convert these coordinates from WGS84 to Web Mercator: [-122.4194, 37.7749] and [-74.006, 40.7128]"
• "Convert the coordinates [-13627361.0, 4544761.0] from Web Mercator to WGS84"

Bounding Box tool

Calculates the bounding box of given GeoJSON content, returning coordinates as [minX, minY, maxX, maxY].

Parameters:

• geojson (string or object, required): GeoJSON content to calculate bounding box for. Can be provided as:
  • A JSON string that will be parsed
  • A GeoJSON object

Supported GeoJSON types:

• Point
• LineString
• Polygon
• MultiPoint
• MultiLineString
• MultiPolygon
• GeometryCollection
• Feature
• FeatureCollection

Returns:

An array of four numbers representing the bounding box: [minX, minY, maxX, maxY]

• minX: Western-most longitude
• minY: Southern-most latitude
• maxX: Eastern-most longitude
• maxY: Northern-most latitude

Example:

{
  "geojson": {
    "type": "FeatureCollection",
    "features": [
      {
        "type": "Feature",
        "geometry": {
          "type": "Point",
          "coordinates": [-73.9857, 40.7484]
        },
        "properties": {}
      },
      {
        "type": "Feature",
        "geometry": {
          "type": "Point",
          "coordinates": [-74.006, 40.7128]
        },
        "properties": {}
      }
    ]
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Calculate the bounding box of this GeoJSON file" (then upload a .geojson file)
• "What's the bounding box for the coordinates in the uploaded parks.geojson file?"

Color Contrast Checker tool

Checks color contrast ratios between foreground and background colors for WCAG 2.1 accessibility compliance.

Parameters:

• foregroundColor (string, required): Foreground color (text color) in any CSS format (hex, rgb, rgba, named colors)
• backgroundColor (string, required): Background color in any CSS format (hex, rgb, rgba, named colors)
• level (string, optional): WCAG conformance level to check against ("AA" or "AAA", default: "AA")
• fontSize (string, optional): Font size category ("normal" or "large", default: "normal")
  • Normal: < 18pt or < 14pt bold
  • Large: ≥ 18pt or ≥ 14pt bold

Color format support:

• Hex colors: #RGB, #RRGGBB, #RRGGBBAA
• RGB/RGBA: rgb(r, g, b), rgba(r, g, b, a)
• Named colors: black, white, red, blue, gray, etc.

WCAG 2.1 requirements:

• WCAG AA: 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text
• WCAG AAA: 7:1 for normal text, 4.5:1 for large text

Returns:

A JSON object with:

• contrastRatio: Calculated contrast ratio (e.g., 21 for black on white)
• passes: Whether the combination meets the specified WCAG level
• level: WCAG level checked ("AA" or "AAA")
• fontSize: Font size category ("normal" or "large")
• minimumRequired: Minimum contrast ratio required for the level and font size
• wcagRequirements: Complete WCAG contrast requirements for all levels
• recommendations: Array of suggestions (only included when contrast fails)

Example:

{
  "contrastRatio": 21,
  "passes": true,
  "level": "AA",
  "fontSize": "normal",
  "minimumRequired": 4.5,
  "wcagRequirements": {
    "AA": { "normal": 4.5, "large": 3.0 },
    "AAA": { "normal": 7.0, "large": 4.5 }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Check if black text on white background is WCAG AA compliant"
• "What's the contrast ratio between #4264fb and white?"
• "Does gray text (#767676) on white meet AAA standards for large text?"
• "Check color contrast for rgb(51, 51, 51) on rgb(245, 245, 245)"
• "Is this color combination accessible: foreground 'navy' on background 'lightblue'?"

compare_styles_tool

Compares two Mapbox styles and reports structural differences, including changes to layers, sources, and properties. This offline comparison tool performs deep object comparison without requiring API access.

Parameters:

• styleA (string or object, required): First Mapbox style to compare (JSON string or style object)
• styleB (string or object, required): Second Mapbox style to compare (JSON string or style object)
• ignoreMetadata (boolean, optional): If true, ignores metadata fields (id, owner, created, modified, draft, visibility) when comparing

Comparison features:

• Deep recursive comparison of nested structures
• Layer comparison by ID (not array position)
• Detailed diff reporting with JSON paths
• Identifies additions, removals, and modifications
• Optional metadata filtering

Returns:

{
  "identical": false,
  "differences": [
    {
      "path": "layers.water.paint.fill-color",
      "type": "modified",
      "valueA": "#a0c8f0",
      "valueB": "#b0d0ff",
      "description": "Modified property at layers.water.paint.fill-color"
    }
  ],
  "summary": {
    "totalDifferences": 1,
    "added": 0,
    "removed": 0,
    "modified": 1
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Compare these two Mapbox styles and show me the differences"
• "What changed between my old style and new style?"
• "Compare styles ignoring metadata fields"

Style Optimization tool

Optimizes Mapbox styles by removing redundancies, simplifying expressions, and reducing file size.

Parameters:

• style (string or object, required): Mapbox style to optimize (JSON string or style object)
• optimizations (array, optional): Specific optimizations to apply. If not specified, all optimizations are applied. Available optimizations:
  • remove-unused-sources: Remove sources not referenced by any layer
  • remove-duplicate-layers: Remove layers that are exact duplicates
  • simplify-expressions: Simplify boolean expressions (e.g., ["all", true] → true)
  • remove-empty-layers: Remove layers with no visible properties (excluding background layers)
  • consolidate-filters: Identify layers with identical filters that could be consolidated

Optimizations performed:

• Remove unused sources: Identifies and removes source definitions that aren't referenced by any layer
• Remove duplicate layers: Detects layers with identical properties (excluding ID) and removes duplicates
• Simplify expressions: Simplifies boolean logic in filters and property expressions:
  • ["all", true] → true
  • ["any", false] → false
  • ["!", false] → true
  • ["!", true] → false
• Remove empty layers: Removes layers with no paint or layout properties (background layers are preserved)
• Consolidate filters: Identifies groups of layers with identical filter expressions

Returns:

A JSON object with:

• optimizedStyle: The optimized Mapbox style
• optimizations: Array of optimizations applied
• summary: Statistics including size savings and percent reduction

Example:

{
  "optimizedStyle": { "version": 8, "sources": {}, "layers": [] },
  "optimizations": [
    {
      "type": "remove-unused-sources",
      "description": "Removed 2 unused source(s): unused-source1, unused-source2",
      "count": 2
    }
  ],
  "summary": {
    "totalOptimizations": 2,
    "originalSize": 1234,
    "optimizedSize": 890,
    "sizeSaved": 344,
    "percentReduction": 27.88
  }
}

Example prompts:

• "Optimize this Mapbox style to reduce its file size"
• "Remove unused sources from my style"
• "Simplify the expressions in this style"
• "Find and remove duplicate layers in my map style"
• "Optimize my style but only remove unused sources and empty layers"

Agent Skills

This repository includes Agent Skills that provide domain expertise for building maps with Mapbox. Skills teach AI assistants about map design, security best practices, and common implementation patterns.

Available Skills:

• 🎨 mapbox-cartography: Map design principles, color theory, visual hierarchy, typography
• 🔐 mapbox-token-security: Token management, scope control, URL restrictions, rotation strategies
• 📐 mapbox-style-patterns: Common style patterns and layer configurations for typical scenarios
• 🔧 mapbox-integration-patterns: Framework-specific integration patterns for React, Vue, Svelte, Angular, and vanilla JS
• ✅ mapbox-style-quality: Expert guidance on validating, optimizing, and ensuring quality of Mapbox styles through validation, accessibility checks, and optimization

Skills complement the MCP server by providing expertise (how to think about design) while tools provide capabilities (how to execute actions).

For complete documentation and usage instructions, see skills/README.md.

Using Skills with Claude Code

To use these skills in Claude Code, create a symlink:

mkdir -p .claude
ln -s ../skills .claude/skills

Or copy to your global skills directory:

cp -r skills/* ~/.claude/skills/

Using Skills with Claude API

Upload skills as zip files via the Skills API. See Claude API Skills documentation.

Prompts

MCP Prompts are pre-built workflow templates that guide AI assistants through multi-step tasks. They orchestrate multiple tools in the correct sequence, providing best practices and error handling built-in.

Available Prompts:

create-and-preview-style

Create a new Mapbox map style and generate a shareable preview link with automatic token management.

Arguments:

• style_name (required): Name for the new map style
• style_description (optional): Description of the style theme or purpose
• base_style (optional): Base style to start from (e.g., "streets-v12", "dark-v11")
• preview_location (optional): Location to center the preview map
• preview_zoom (optional): Zoom level for the preview (0-22, default: 12)

What it does:

1. Checks for an existing public token with styles:read scope
2. Creates a new public token if needed
3. Creates the map style
4. Generates a preview link

Example usage:

Use prompt: create-and-preview-style
Arguments:
  style_name: "My Custom Map"
  style_description: "A dark-themed map for nighttime navigation"
  base_style: "dark-v11"
  preview_location: "San Francisco"
  preview_zoom: "13"

build-custom-map

Use conversational AI to build a custom styled map based on a theme description.

Arguments:

• theme (required): Theme description (e.g., "dark cyberpunk", "nature-focused", "minimal monochrome")
• emphasis (optional): Features to emphasize (e.g., "parks and green spaces", "transit lines")
• preview_location (optional): Location to center the preview map
• preview_zoom (optional): Zoom level for the preview (0-22, default: 12)

What it does:

1. Uses the Style Builder tool to create a themed style based on your description
2. Creates the style in your Mapbox account
3. Generates a preview link

Example usage:

Use prompt: build-custom-map
Arguments:
  theme: "retro 80s neon"
  emphasis: "nightlife and entertainment venues"
  preview_location: "Tokyo"
  preview_zoom: "14"

analyze-geojson

Analyze and visualize GeoJSON data with automatic validation and bounding box calculation.

Arguments:

• geojson_data (required): GeoJSON object or string to analyze
• show_bounds (optional): Calculate and display bounding box (true/false, default: true)
• convert_coordinates (optional): Provide Web Mercator conversion examples (true/false, default: false)

What it does:

1. Validates GeoJSON format
2. Calculates bounding box (if requested)
3. Provides coordinate conversion examples (if requested)
4. Generates an interactive visualization link

Example usage:

Use prompt: analyze-geojson
Arguments:
  geojson_data: {"type":"FeatureCollection","features":[...]}
  show_bounds: "true"
  convert_coordinates: "false"

setup-mapbox-project

Complete setup workflow for a new Mapbox project with proper token security and style initialization.

Arguments:

• project_name (required): Name of the project or application
• project_type (optional): Type of project: "web", "mobile", "backend", or "fullstack" (default: "web")
• production_domain (optional): Production domain for URL restrictions (e.g., "myapp.com")
• style_theme (optional): Initial style theme: "light", "dark", "streets", "outdoors", "satellite" (default: "light")

What it does:

1. Creates development token with localhost URL restrictions
2. Creates production token with domain URL restrictions (if provided)
3. Creates backend secret token for server-side operations (if needed)
4. Creates an initial map style using the specified theme
5. Generates preview link and provides integration guidance

Example usage:

Use prompt: setup-mapbox-project
Arguments:
  project_name: "Restaurant Finder"
  project_type: "fullstack"
  production_domain: "restaurantfinder.com"
  style_theme: "light"

debug-mapbox-integration

Systematic troubleshooting workflow for diagnosing and fixing Mapbox integration issues.

Arguments:

• issue_description (required): Description of the problem (e.g., "map not loading", "401 error")
• error_message (optional): Exact error message from console or logs
• style_id (optional): Mapbox style ID being used, if applicable
• environment (optional): Where the issue occurs: "development", "production", "staging"

What it does:

1. Verifies token validity and required scopes
2. Checks style configuration and existence
3. Analyzes error messages and provides specific solutions
4. Tests API endpoints to isolate the problem
5. Provides step-by-step fix instructions
6. Offers prevention strategies

Example usage:

Use prompt: debug-mapbox-integration
Arguments:
  issue_description: "Getting 401 errors when map loads"
  error_message: "401 Unauthorized"
  style_id: "my-style-id"
  environment: "production"

design-data-driven-style

Create a map style with data-driven properties that respond dynamically to feature data using expressions.

Arguments:

• style_name (required): Name for the data-driven style
• data_description (required): Description of the data (e.g., "population by city", "earthquake magnitudes")
• property_name (required): Name of the data property to visualize (e.g., "population", "magnitude")
• visualization_type (optional): How to visualize: "color", "size", "both", "heatmap" (default: "color")
• color_scheme (optional): Color scheme: "sequential", "diverging", "categorical" (default: "sequential")

What it does:

1. Explains data-driven styling concepts and expressions
2. Provides appropriate expression templates for your use case
3. Offers color scales and size ranges based on visualization type
4. Creates the style with data-driven layers
5. Includes advanced expression examples (zoom-based, conditional)
6. Provides best practices for accessibility and performance

Example usage:

Use prompt: design-data-driven-style
Arguments:
  style_name: "Population Density Map"
  data_description: "City population data"
  property_name: "population"
  visualization_type: "both"
  color_scheme: "sequential"

prepare-style-for-production

Comprehensive quality validation workflow for Mapbox styles before production deployment.

Arguments:

• style_id_or_json (required): Either a Mapbox style ID or complete style JSON
• skip_optimization (optional): Set to "true" to skip style optimization (default: false)
• wcag_level (optional): WCAG compliance level: "AA" or "AAA" (default: "AA")

What it does:

1. Loads the style (retrieves from Mapbox or parses JSON)
2. Validates all expressions (filters, paint properties, layout properties)
3. Validates GeoJSON sources for coordinate and structure errors
4. Checks color contrast for text layers (WCAG compliance)
5. Optimizes the style (removes redundancies, simplifies expressions)
6. Generates a comprehensive quality report with deployment readiness assessment

Example usage:

Use prompt: prepare-style-for-production
Arguments:
  style_id_or_json: "username/my-style-id"
  wcag_level: "AA"
  skip_optimization: "false"

Related:

See the mapbox-style-quality skill for detailed guidance on when to use validation tools, best practices, and optimization strategies.

Resources

This server exposes static reference documentation as MCP Resources. MCP clients that support the resources protocol can access them directly.

Available Resources:

1. Mapbox Style Specification Guide (resource://mapbox-style-layers)

   • Complete reference for Mapbox GL JS layer types and properties
   • Covers fill, line, symbol, circle, and fill-extrusion layers
   • Includes paint and layout properties for each layer type

2. Mapbox Streets v8 Fields Reference (resource://mapbox-streets-v8-fields)

   • Field definitions for all Streets v8 source layers
   • Enumerated values for filterable fields
   • Essential for building accurate style filters
   • Example: landuse layer has class field with values like park, cemetery, hospital, etc.

3. Mapbox Token Scopes Reference (resource://mapbox-token-scopes)

   • Comprehensive documentation of token scopes
   • Explains public vs. secret token scopes
   • Common scope combinations for different use cases
   • Best practices for token management

4. Mapbox Layer Type Mapping (resource://mapbox-layer-type-mapping)

   • Maps Streets v8 source layers to compatible GL JS layer types
   • Organized by geometry type (polygon, line, point)
   • Includes common usage patterns and examples
   • Helps avoid incompatible layer type/source layer combinations

Note: Resources provide static reference data that doesn't change frequently, while tools provide dynamic, user-specific data (like listing your styles or tokens) and perform actions (like creating styles or tokens).

Observability & Tracing

This server includes comprehensive distributed tracing using OpenTelemetry (OTEL) for production-ready observability.

Features

• Opt-in Configuration: Tracing is disabled by default, enabling it requires only setting an OTLP endpoint
• Tool Execution Tracing: Automatic instrumentation of all tool executions with timing, success/failure status, and error details
• HTTP Request Instrumentation: Complete request/response tracing for Mapbox API calls with CloudFront correlation IDs
• Configuration Tracing: Startup configuration loading with error tracking
• Security: Input/output sizes logged but content is protected
• Low Overhead: <1% CPU impact, ~10MB memory for trace buffers

Quick Start with Jaeger

# 1. Start Jaeger (Docker required)
npm run tracing:jaeger:start

# 2. Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env to add MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN
# OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT is already set to http://localhost:4318

# 3. Run the server
npm run inspect:build

# 4. View traces at http://localhost:16686

# 5. Stop Jaeger when done
npm run tracing:jaeger:stop

Supported Backends

The server supports any OTLP-compatible backend including:

• Development: Jaeger (local Docker)
• Cloud Providers: AWS X-Ray, Azure Monitor, Google Cloud Trace
• SaaS Platforms: Datadog, New Relic, Honeycomb

See .env.example for configuration examples for each platform.

Documentation

• Complete Tracing Guide - Detailed configuration, features, and integration examples
• Verification Guide - Step-by-step verification and troubleshooting

Environment Variables

# Enable tracing (required)
OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT=http://localhost:4318

# Optional configuration
OTEL_SERVICE_NAME=mapbox-mcp-devkit-server
OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER=traceidratio
OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG=0.1  # Sample 10% for high-volume

Development

Testing

Tool Snapshot Tests

The project includes snapshot tests to ensure tool integrity and prevent accidental additions or removals of tools. These tests automatically discover all tools and create a snapshot of their metadata.

What the snapshot test covers:

• Tool class names (TypeScript classes follow PascalCaseTool convention, e.g., ListStylesTool)
• Tool names (MCP identifiers must follow snake_case_tool convention, e.g., list_styles_tool)
• Tool descriptions

When to update snapshots:

1. Adding a new tool: After creating a new tool, run the test with snapshot update flag:

   npm test -- test/tools/tool-naming-convention.test.ts --updateSnapshot
   

2. Removing a tool: After removing a tool, update the snapshot:

   npm test -- src/tools/tool-naming-convention.test.ts --updateSnapshot
   

3. Modifying tool metadata: If you change a tool's name or description, update the snapshot:

   npm test -- src/tools/tool-naming-convention.test.ts --updateSnapshot
   

Running snapshot tests:

# Run all tests (snapshot will fail if tools have changed)
npm test

# Update snapshots after intentional changes
npm test -- --updateSnapshot

Important: Only update snapshots when you have intentionally added, removed, or modified tools. Unexpected snapshot failures indicate accidental changes to the tool structure.

Inspecting Server

Using Node.js

# Run the built image
npm run inspect:build

Using Docker

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t mapbox-mcp-devkit .

# Run and inspect the server
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector docker run -i --rm --env MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN="YOUR_TOKEN" mapbox-mcp-devkit

Creating New Tools

npx plop create-tool
# 1. Choose tool type:
#    - Mapbox tool (makes API calls to Mapbox services)
#    - Local tool (local processing, no API calls)
# 2. Provide tool name without suffix using PascalCase (e.g. Search)

Generated file structure:

The plop generator creates three files for each new tool:

src/tools/your-tool-name-tool/
├── YourToolNameTool.schema.ts    # Input schema definition and types
├── YourToolNameTool.ts           # Main tool implementation
└── YourToolNameTool.test.ts      # Unit tests

After creating a new tool:

1. Update the input schema in YourToolNameTool.schema.ts:

   • Define the input parameters using Zod schema
   • Export both the schema and the inferred TypeScript type

2. Update the tool description in YourToolNameTool.ts:

   • Provide a clear description of what the tool does

3. Implement the tool logic in the execute method

4. Update test cases with actual test data in YourToolNameTool.test.ts

5. Update the snapshot test to include the new tool:

   npm test -- src/tools/tool-naming-convention.test.ts --updateSnapshot
   

6. Run all tests to ensure everything works:

   npm test
   

Schema separation benefits:

• Better code organization with separate schema files
• Easier maintenance when schema changes
• Consistent with existing tools in the project
• Enhanced TypeScript type safety

Environment Variables

VERBOSE_ERRORS

Set VERBOSE_ERRORS=true to get detailed error messages from the MCP server. This is useful for debugging issues when integrating with MCP clients.

By default, the server returns generic error messages. With verbose errors enabled, you'll receive the actual error details, which can help diagnose API connection issues, invalid parameters, or other problems.

ENABLE_MCP_UI

Interactive Previews: MCP Apps (primary) & MCP-UI (compatibility)

This server actively invests in MCP Apps as its primary interactive preview protocol, delivering self-contained HTML app panels directly inside the chat. MCP Apps is supported by Claude Desktop, VS Code with GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code — no configuration needed.

MCP-UI (@mcp-ui/server) is also maintained for backwards compatibility with clients like Goose. It is not being removed, but new interactive preview development is focused on MCP Apps.

Supported Tools:

• preview_style_tool - Interactive Mapbox style preview panel
• geojson_preview_tool - Interactive GeoJSON visualization panel
• style_comparison_tool - Side-by-side style comparison panel

Client support:

Client	MCP Apps	MCP-UI
Claude Desktop	✅
VS Code with GitHub Copilot	✅
Claude Code	✅
Goose	✅	✅
Other clients

Disabling MCP-UI (Optional):

MCP Apps support is always active. If you want to disable the MCP-UI UIResource (used by Goose):

Via environment variable:

export ENABLE_MCP_UI=false

Or via command-line flag:

node dist/esm/index.js --disable-mcp-ui

Note: You typically don't need to disable this. All clients receive a usable text URL regardless; interactive previews are a progressive enhancement on top.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Tools fail with authentication errors

Solution: Check that your MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN has the required scopes for the tool you're using. See the token scopes section above.

Issue: Large GeoJSON files cause slow performance

Solution: The GeoJSON preview tool may be slow with very large files. Consider simplifying geometries or using smaller datasets for preview purposes.

Release Process

Follow these steps to publish a new release:

1. Bump the version in package.json to the target version (e.g., 1.0.0).

2. Sync versions across manifest.json and server.json:

   node scripts/sync-manifest-version.cjs
   

   This reads the version from package.json and updates manifest.json and server.json (including packages[0].version) to match.

3. Prepare the changelog — this replaces the "Unreleased" heading with the version and date:

   npm run changelog:prepare-release 1.0.0
   

4. Commit, tag, and push:

   git add package.json manifest.json server.json CHANGELOG.md
   git commit -m "Release v1.0.0"
   git tag v1.0.0
   git push && git push --tags
   

5. Publish via the mcp-server-publisher workflow:

   • Go to the Actions tab in the mcp-server-publisher repo
   • Select "Manual Release MCP Server to NPM and MCP Registry"
   • Choose mcp-devkit-server from the repository dropdown
   • Enter the version — it must exactly match the package.json version
   • Leave the branch field empty for stable releases (or specify a branch for dev releases)
   • The workflow will: build, test, publish to NPM (@mapbox/mcp-devkit-server), publish to the MCP Registry, create a DXT package, and create a GitHub Release

Version Files

The following files must have matching versions before publishing:

File	Fields
package.json	version (source of truth)
manifest.json	version
server.json	version, packages[0].version

The sync-manifest-version.cjs script handles syncing these automatically from package.json.

Dev Releases

To publish a pre-release from a feature branch:

1. Set the version in package.json with a pre-release suffix (e.g., 1.0.0-dev or 1.0.0-beta)
2. Run node scripts/sync-manifest-version.cjs
3. In the publisher workflow, enter the version and specify the branch name
4. The package will be published to NPM under the dev tag (won't affect latest)

Contributing

We welcome contributions to the Mapbox Development MCP Server! Please review our documentation:

• Engineering Standards (docs/engineering_standards.md) - Comprehensive guidelines for all contributors
• CLAUDE.md - Architecture and technical patterns
• AGENTS.md - Critical patterns and common errors for AI agents
• GitHub Copilot Guidelines - Copilot-specific development practices