mbview-go

February 26, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

mbview-go is a Go reimplementation of mapbox/mbview, designed for modern toolchains and distributed as standalone binaries.

The project keeps the local MBTiles inspection workflow from mbview, but replaces the legacy Node.js runtime with Go.

Repository

git clone git@github.com:ATofighi/mbview-go.git
cd mbview-go

Why this project exists

The original mbview is discontinued and no longer practical on newer Node.js versions. mbview-go keeps the same developer experience while remaining easy to install and maintain.

Features

  • mbview-style CLI workflow for one or more .mbtiles files.
  • MapLibre frontend runtime for vector and raster preview.
  • Multiple sources served from a single local server.
  • Per-source toggle controls in the frontend menu when multiple MBTiles are loaded.
  • Optional automatic browser opening.
  • Basemap modes:
    • custom style JSON URL/file (--basemap-style-url)
    • Mapbox default basemap style (--basemap) with access token.
  • Tagged GitHub releases with prebuilt binaries via GoReleaser.

Install

From source

go install github.com/ATofighi/mbview-go/cmd/mbview@latest

From releases

Download the archive for your platform from GitHub Releases and run mbview.

Usage

mbview [options] FILE1.mbtiles [FILE2.mbtiles ...]

Default Mapbox basemap mode

If you do not provide --basemap-style-url, set a Mapbox public token:

export MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN='pk.XXXX'
mbview --port 9000 ./roads.mbtiles ./places.mbtiles

Custom basemap style mode

A custom style JSON URL or local file skips Mapbox token requirements:

mbview --basemap-style-url https://demotiles.maplibre.org/style.json ./roads.mbtiles

or

mbview --basemap-style-url ./style.json ./roads.mbtiles

CLI options

  • --port server port (default 3000)
  • --host bind host (default localhost)
  • --quiet, -q suppress logs except startup URL
  • --no-open, -n do not auto-open browser
  • --basemap, --base, --map mapbox style name/id (default dark)
  • --basemap-style-url custom style JSON URL or file path
  • --mapbox-access-token mapbox token (or MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN env)
  • --center explicit center as lon,lat,zoom
  • --version, -v print version
  • --help print usage

Notes

  • Mixed MBTiles formats in one run are not supported (all inputs must match).
  • Tile endpoints are served as /{source}/{z}/{x}/{y}.{format}.
  • In the map UI, open Menu and use Sources checkboxes to show/hide each MBTiles source.
  • Vector UI preferences for Filter, Popup, and Tiles are remembered in browser localStorage.
  • Style rendering is powered by MapLibre GL JS.

Development

go test ./...

Release process

  1. Push a semantic tag like v0.1.0.
  2. GitHub Actions runs GoReleaser.
  3. Release archives and checksums are published automatically.

License

MIT