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Using deck.gl Standalone

The deck.gl core library and layers have no dependencies on React, Mapbox GL, or Maplibre GL and can be used by any JavaScript application.

Our get-started examples contains vanilla JavaScript templates that serve as a starting point for your application.

Using @deck.gl/core​

@deck.gl/core is a submodule of deck.gl that contains no React dependency.

The Deck class takes deck.gl layer instances and viewport parameters, and renders those layers as a transparent overlay.

npm install @deck.gl/core @deck.gl/layers
import {Deck} from '@deck.gl/core';
import {ScatterplotLayer} from '@deck.gl/layers';

const INITIAL_VIEW_STATE = {
  latitude: 37.8,
  longitude: -122.45,
  zoom: 15
};

const deckInstance = new Deck({
  initialViewState: INITIAL_VIEW_STATE,
  controller: true,
  layers: [
    new ScatterplotLayer({
      data: [
        {position: [-122.45, 37.8], color: [255, 0, 0], radius: 100}
      ],
      getPosition: d => d.position,
      getFillColor: d => d.color,
      getRadius: d => d.radius
    })
  ]
});

Using the Scripting API​

deck.gl also offers a standalone bundled version of the library - a native JavaScript scripting interface like that of d3.js. You can now use deck.gl in prototype environments such as Codepen, JSFiddle and Observable. This effort aims to make it easier for designers, creative coders and data scientists everywhere to leverage the GPU for interactive visualizations. The scripting API offers out-of-the-box integration with Mapbox GL JS or MapLibre GL JS. To add a base map to your visualization, you need to include the base map library and stylesheet:

To use deck.gl in a scripting environment, include the standalone version in a script tag:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/deck.gl@latest/dist.min.js"></script>
<!-- optional if mapbox base map is needed -->
<script src="https://api.mapbox.com/mapbox-gl-js/v3.2.0/mapbox-gl.js"></script>
<link href="https://api.mapbox.com/mapbox-gl-js/v3.2.0/mapbox-gl.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<!-- Allow the map to render in full screen  -->
<style>
  body {
    width: 100vw;
    height: 100vh;
    margin: 0;
  }
</style>

It exposes two global objects deck and luma. Any exports from the deck.gl core can be accessed by deck.<Class>.

The scripting API's DeckGL class extends the core Deck class with some additional features such as Mapbox or Maplibre integration.

//This example renders a scatterplot with DeckGL, on top of a basemap rendered with mapbox-gl, using a map style JSON from Carto.
const {DeckGL, ScatterplotLayer} = deck;

new DeckGL({
  mapboxApiAccessToken: '<mapbox-access-token>',
  mapStyle: 'mapbox://styles/mapbox/light-v9',
  initialViewState: {
    longitude: -122.45,
    latitude: 37.8,
    zoom: 15
  },
  controller: true,
  layers: [
    new ScatterplotLayer({
      data: [
        {position: [-122.45, 37.8], color: [255, 0, 0], radius: 100}
      ],
      getPosition: d => d.position,
      getFillColor: d => d.color,
      getRadius: d => d.radius
    })
  ]
});

Check our codepen showcase and observable profile for examples.