carto-create-builder-maps
carto-create-builder-maps
CARTO Builder is a mapping tool that renders interactive maps from a JSON map configuration. This skill covers the full authoring lifecycle via the CLI: create from natural language, edit datasets / layers / widgets / popups / privacy, publish snapshots for shared viewers, validate offline, and operate via the carto maps commands. It also covers cross-profile copy (dev → prod promotion, customer-segregated org delivery via carto maps copy / maps clone) — see the Promote / copy across orgs references below.
For ad-hoc spatial SQL exploration, use carto-query-datawarehouse.
Field shapes, enum values, palette catalogues, and AI-tool catalogues are served by the CLI — never hardcode or assume them. Run carto maps schema [section] for JSON Schema (generated from the same Zod definitions Tier-1 validation uses), carto maps agents models / mcp-tools / core-tools for AI surfaces, and carto connections describe <conn> <table> for dataset metadata. When this doc disagrees with the CLI, the CLI wins.
References
Decision / orientation — read first
references/cartography.md— cartographic decisions ahead of styling: palette family, scale type, basemap pairing, multi-layer hue separation, anti-patterns. Mandatory reading before writing JSON when styling decisions are in scope.references/configuration-shape.md— the JSON skeleton, annotated.keplerMapConfigtop-level structure +datasets[]entries (table / query / tileset / raster) +mapSettingsrules.references/examples.md— working templates validated against a live organization: minimal map, H3 aggregation, SQL parameters, widgets gallery. Load when you need a JSON template to start from.