Serverless vector and raster tiles with PMTiles for MapLibre GL JS — single-file format, HTTP range requests, hosting on S3/R2/GitHub Pages, generating with Planetiler or tippecanoe, and the pmtiles protocol. Use when you need no tile server or want to host tiles from static storage.

MapLibre PMTiles Patterns PMTiles is a single file format for vector or raster map tiles. You host one (or a few) files on any static host; MapLibre requests byte ranges over HTTP. No tile server, no dynamic backend. This skill covers when to use PMTiles, how to generate and host them, and how to connect them to MapLibre GL JS. When to Use This Skill Hosting map tiles without running a tile server (S3, Cloudflare R2, GitHub Pages, etc.) Building a fully static or serverless map stack Serving large tile sets from a CDN with range requests Generating PMTiles from OSM or other sources (Planetiler, tippecanoe) Using Overture Maps or other single file tile datasets with MapLibre What PMTiles Is and Why It Matters Vector and raster — PMTiles supports both. A file can contain vector layers (e.g. water, roads, POIs), raster imagery (PNG/JPEG), or raster dem (elevation, e.g. Terrarium format for terrain). In the style you use type: 'vector' , type: 'raster' , or type: 'raster dem' accordingly. Single file per map — One .pmtiles file typically contains the full tile pyramid (all zoom levels) and all layers (vector or raster) in one archive. The format stores tiles in a compact layout (e.g. Hilbert curve) so the client can request only the byte ranges it needs. For very large coverage you may split by region into multiple files. HTTP range requests — The client requests only the byte ranges it needs (e.g. one tile), so the server does not need to understand x/y/z. Any host that supports Range headers works. Serving — You can serve directly from static storage (S3, R2, GitHub Pages, Netlify): the client uses range requests, so no tile server is required. Alternatively, [tileserver gl](https://github.com/maptiler/tileserver gl) or [Martin](https://maplibre.org/martin/) can serve PMTiles (from local paths, HTTP URLs, or S3), useful if you want one server that also provides styles, glyphs, or other sources. Creating — You can get PMTiles by converting from MBTiles (PMTiles CLI) or by generating from source data (Planetiler, tippecanoe, GDAL, etc.). Alternatively, [ Protomaps ](https://protomaps.com) is a provider where you can download pre built PMTiles (e.g. global or regional basemaps) and serve them yourself, or create custom extracts via the PMTiles CLI—no need to generate from OSM yourself. Protomaps basemaps are built from OpenStreetMap data; OSM attribution is required in any map that uses them. See The PMTiles CLI and Generating PMTiles below. Good for CDNs — Range requests cache well; put the file behind a CDN for fast global access. When to prefer PMTiles over a traditional tile server: You want zero server logic (static hosting only). You have a bounded dataset (country, region, theme) that fits in one or a few files. You want simple deployment and low ops (upload file, set cache headers, done). When to prefer a tile server (e.g. tileserver gl, Martin): You need dynamic tiles from a database (PostGIS) or frequently updated data. You have a very large global dataset and want to generate tiles on demand or by region only. MapLibre Integration: The PMTiles Protocol MapLibre does not speak PMTiles natively. You use the PMTiles library to add a protocol handler so that a pmtiles:// (or https:// to a .pmtiles file) source works. Install: Register the protocol and use in a style: addProtocol changed in MapLibre GL JS 4.0.0. The v3 (params, callback) signature is gone — the 4.0.0 changelog entry reads "Changes addProtocol to be promise based without the usage of callbacks and cancelable". A handler is now async (params, abortController) and must resolve to an object with a data property : {data, cacheControl?, expires?} . Resolving to a bare ArrayBuffer , Blob , Response or Uint8Array is not the contract — MapLibre reads .data off whatever the handler resolves with, so a bare buffer reads as no data at all and an arrayBuffer request is filled with an empty ArrayBuffer(0) : the tile comes back blank instead of erroring. Register the handler on the module — maplibregl.addProtocol(...) , or the named addProtocol import — once, before the first map is constructed: the protocol registry is global, so one registration covers every map on the page. PMTiles users need no code change. new pmtiles.Protocol().tile is the library's v4 handler wrapped in its v3compat shim ( pmtiles ≥ 3.0.0): it checks whether the second argument is an AbortController and adapts, so the single line maplibregl.addProtocol('pmtiles', protocol.tile) is correct on GL JS v3, v4, v5 and v6, and it already resolves to {data: Uint8Array, cacheControl, expires} . A project still on pmtiles 2.x has a callback only tile and must upgrade the library along with MapLibre. The contract above is what you need when you write your own handler, or when a hand rolled callback handler broke on the v4 upgrade. Referencing layers: The style has one source (e.g. sources.tiles ) pointing at the .pmtiles URL. Each layer in the layers array that draws from that file uses source: 'tiles' and "source layer": "layerName" , where layerName is the name of a vector layer inside the file (from whatever schema the tiles use). Add multiple style layers with different source layer values to show roads, labels, etc. from the same file. Important: The url can be pmtiles://https://... (protocol + HTTPS URL to the .pmtiles file). The library will fetch the file via range requests. Your style must still define glyphs and sprite if you use labels or icons (see [maplibre source wiring](../maplibre source wiring/SKILL.md)). Zoom range comes from the header — use url: , not tiles: . A PMTiles archive stores its own min/max zoom in the header. When you reference it with url: 'pmtiles://https://...' , the protocol reads that header and hands MapLibre a TileJSON with the correct minzoom / maxzoom , so overzoom past the archive's max works automatically and you never set maxzoom by hand. If you instead hand wire a tiles: ['pmtiles://.../{z}/{x}/{y}'] template, you bypass that header lookup. The protocol still serves the per tile requests up to the archive's max — this is not a missing handler or 404 problem — but MapLibre, given no zoom range, assumes maxzoom: 22 and keeps requesting zoom levels the archive doesn't contain, which come back empty (blank tiles for vector, nothing for raster) instead of overzooming. Always use url: . ❌ A source has exactly two tile location properties: url and tiles . There is no tileset property in the MapLibre style spec, for vector , raster or raster dem sources. If a zoom range is wrong, fix which of the two you used; don't reach for a third. Raster and raster dem: The same protocol works for raster PMTiles. Use a type: 'raster' source for imagery. For terrain/elevation, use a type: 'raster dem' source with "encoding": "terrarium" (or "mapbox" ) so MapLibre can apply hillshade or 3D terrain; then reference it in the style’s terrain property. Example source: Using PMTiles with React: Register the protocol once at application startup, not inside each component, so MapLibre has the handler before any map mounts. For example, call maplibregl.addProtocol('pmtiles', protocol.tile) in a root level effect or when your map provider initializes. On unmount of the last map (or when the app tears down), call maplibregl.removeProtocol('pmtiles') to avoid leaks. See [PMTiles for MapLibre GL](https://docs.protomaps.com/pmtiles/maplibre) (Protomaps) for a React oriented setup. Hosting PMTiles Any host that serves the file and supports HTTP Range requests is suitable. AWS S3 — Enable public read (or signed URLs); S3 supports Range. Set Cache Control and optionally use CloudFront. Cloudflare R2 — S3 compatible; enable public access or use signed URLs. Put behind Cloudflare for caching. GitHub Pages — MapLibre GL JS can load tiles from a .pmtiles file in the same repo as long as the file size is under 100 MB. Netlify / Vercel — Upload the .pmtiles file; static hosting typically supports Range. Check each provider’s file size limits. Any static host — Ensure the server returns Accept Ranges: bytes and responds correctly to Range headers. CORS: Browsers will send cross origin requests to the PMTiles URL. The host must send Access Control Allow Origin: (or your domain) and Access Control Allow Headers: Range (or allow all). Otherwise MapLibre will fail to load tiles. Cache headers: For better performance, set long cache for the .pmtiles file (e.g. Cache Control: public, max age=31536000 if the file is immutable). CDNs will cache range responses. The PMTiles CLI The [pmtiles CLI](https://docs.protomaps.com/pmtiles/cli) is the official command line tool for working with PMTiles (and MBTiles for conversion). It’s a single binary with no runtime dependencies—you download it and run it. Why install and use it: Convert MBTiles to PMTiles — Many tools (tippecanoe, GDAL, martin cp) output MBTiles. One command turns any .mbtiles file into a .pmtiles file: pmtiles convert in.mbtiles out.pmtiles . This is often the simplest way to get PMTiles when your pipeline already produces MBTiles. Inspect and verify archives — pmtiles show <file prints header and metadata (bounds, zoom range, tile count). pmtiles verify <file checks archive integrity. Useful for debugging or confirming a file before uploading. Extract subsets — pmtiles extract creates a smaller .pmtiles file from an existing one (e.g. by bounding box or zoom range), so you can ship a region or a limited zoom band without regenerating from source. ❌ The subcommand list is closed — don't reach for a plausible sounding verb. go pmtiles ships exactly show , tile , verify , extract , merge , serve , convert , cluster , upload , edit and version . There is no info verb and no inspect verb, and nothing sets metadata from the command line except edit . To read an archive's header, bounds and zoom range, the command is pmtiles show ; to check integrity, pmtiles verify . Install: Download the binary for your OS/arch from [GitHub Releases (go pmtiles)](https://github.com/protomaps/go pmtiles/releases), or use Docker: protomaps/go pmtiles . What it does not do: The CLI only works with tile archives (MBTiles and PMTiles). It does not read GeoJSON, Shapefile, OSM, or other source formats. To create PMTiles from those, use a tool that generates tiles (see Generating PMTiles below) and, if that tool outputs MBTiles, run pmtiles convert to get PMTiles. Generating PMTiles Two paths: (1) Convert — The PMTiles CLI converts MBTiles ↔ PMTiles only; it does not read GeoJSON, Shapefile, OSM, or other source formats. (2) Generate from source data — Tools like tippecanoe, Planetiler and ogr2ogr via GDAL read from many file types or databases and produce vector tiles (PMTiles or MBTiles). If they output MBTiles, use pmtiles convert to get PMTiles. PMTiles CLI (convert only: MBTiles ↔ PMTiles) See The PMTiles CLI above for why to install it and other commands ( show , verify , extract ). To convert MBTiles to PMTiles: The following tools generate tiles from source data (GeoJSON, OSM, Shapefile, PostGIS, etc.). They output PMTiles or MBTiles; if MBTiles, run pmtiles convert to get PMTiles. Planetiler (OSM / OpenMapTiles schema) [Planetiler](https://github.com/onthegomap/planetiler) reads OpenStreetMap (or other sources) and outputs PMTiles or MBTiles in the OpenMapTiles schema. See Planetiler docs for area names, custom sources, and schema options. Output is a single .pmtiles file you can upload to S3/R2/static host. tippecanoe [tippecanoe](https://github.com/felt/tippecanoe) generates vector tiles from source formats: GeoJSON, FlatGeobuf, CSV. From v2.17 onward it can out

maplibre-pmtiles-patterns