Core Workflows
1. Style Management
Create a style conversationally:
"Create a dark mode Mapbox style with 3D buildings, emphasize parks in green,
and use blue for water. Name it 'app-dark-mode'."The AI will use create_style_tool tool to:
- Generate style JSON following Mapbox Style Spec
- Upload to your Mapbox account
- Return style ID and preview URL
Update existing style:
"Update style mapbox://styles/username/style-id to make roads more prominent
and reduce building opacity to 0.6"Validate style:
"Validate this style JSON: [paste style]"2. Token Management
Create scoped token:
"Create a Mapbox token with these scopes:
- styles:read
- fonts:read
- datasets:read
Restrict it to domains: localhost, example.com"List existing tokens:
"Show me all my Mapbox tokens and their scopes"Use case: Generate tokens for different environments (development, staging, production) with appropriate restrictions.
3. Data Validation
Validate GeoJSON:
"Validate this GeoJSON and show any errors:
{
\"type\": \"FeatureCollection\",
\"features\": [...]
}"Validate expressions:
"Is this a valid Mapbox expression?
['case', ['<', ['get', 'population'], 1000], 'small', 'large']"Coordinate conversion:
"Convert longitude -122.4194, latitude 37.7749 from WGS84 to Web Mercator"4. Documentation Access
Get style spec info:
"What properties are available for fill layers in Mapbox GL JS?"Check token scopes:
"What token scopes do I need to use the Directions API?"Streets v8 fields:
"What fields are available in the 'road' layer of Streets v8?"Best Practices
Security
- Never commit access tokens - Use environment variables
- Use scoped tokens - Minimal necessary permissions
- Add URL restrictions - Limit to your domains
- Rotate tokens regularly - Generate new tokens periodically
Style Management
- Version your styles - Save JSON to source control
- Use meaningful names -
prod-light-modenotstyle-123 - Document decisions - Add comments explaining style choices
- Preview before deploying - Always check preview URL
Validation
- Validate early - Check data before creating styles
- Use strict validation - Don't skip validation steps
- Test expressions - Validate before adding to styles
- Verify coordinates - Ensure correct format and bounds
Documentation
- Ask specific questions - "What are fill-extrusion properties?"
- Reference versions - Specify GL JS version if relevant
- Cross-reference - Validate AI responses against official docs