Use an AI agent with Scribble Maps (Agent Mode)

Agent Mode lets a browser-enabled AI agent work in the Scribble Maps editor using your signed-in account. You can ask an agent, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, to draw shapes, edit boundaries, organise layers or check a map.

Note: Nothing is installed, and there is no API key to create or store. Your normal sign-in, plan limits and AI credits apply to the agent exactly as they apply to you.

Enable browser access in your AI app

Before using Agent Mode, enable browser access in your AI app so the agent can interact with the editor.

In Claude, use the globe control to enable the browser pane. Browser controls differ between AI apps and may change. Consult your app's help for browser or page access instructions if needed.

Ask the agent to identify a layer you created to check whether it can access the current map. A generic description does not confirm access.

Turn Agent Mode on

There are three ways to start:

Click Enable Agent Mode in the footer of the map editor.
Ask your agent to turn it on. Any of its map calls switches Agent Mode on for you.
Open the editor at https://www.scribblemaps.com/create/#agentMode. That link opens the Agent access panel. Agent Mode itself switches on with the agent's first action.

When Agent Mode is on, a status bar appears at the bottom of the map. It names the tool that is active and the item that is selected, so you can see what the agent is doing while it works. Tool tips also move to a fixed spot at the bottom left, which keeps them out of the way of the map.

To stop, ask the agent to turn Agent Mode off. Reloading the editor also ends it. The editor returns to its standard interface.

Give the agent a task

There are two ways to assign a task. You can use either method during the same session.

Ask your agent directly. In your agent's own chat, tell it what you want on the map. For example: "Draw a 100 metre circle around the CN Tower and drop a marker in the middle." The agent reads the editor, selects the appropriate tool and draws.

Use the Agent access panel. Click Agent access in the editor footer. The panel has a request box, a Send task button, a Cancel task button, a status line and a log of replies. It also shows a short quick start for the agent, which you can hide.

The panel is useful in two situations: when you want to hand a task over yourself, and when your agent can click and type on the page but cannot run JavaScript.

What an agent can do

An agent in Agent Mode has more than 100 of the editor's own tools. The main ones:

Draw markers, lines, polygons and circles. Circles take a real radius in metres. Scribble Maps converts between screen position and latitude and longitude, so the shape lands where it belongs.
Pick tools from the live toolbox, by the same names and keyboard shortcuts you see.
Edit an existing shape. The agent can open a shape, list its editing handles, highlight the one you mean and move that handle. The shape keeps its style and its history.
Style shapes: colours, opacity, line weight, and solid, dashed or dotted lines.
Read the map. It can list what is on the map with names, types and sampled coordinates, and read the current view.
Search and navigate: find a place, go to a coordinate, set the zoom, change the basemap.
Work with data: import a file, filter by attribute, build buffers and travel time areas, add legends and labels, and export an image or GeoJSON.
Add map kits such as USA Zip Codes, USA Parcel Boundaries, Traffic Intelligence and Solar Analysis, and run their reports: a rooftop solar report for a building, or the daily traffic volume on a road. Kits that need Pro Business tell the agent so, and it will hand you the upgrade link for you to review.
Undo and redo, so it can check a step and reverse it.

Ask Scribble for help

Scribble is the map assistant built into the editor. An agent that gets stuck, needs documentation or cannot find a feature can hand the question to Scribble and read the answer, then carry on with the tools itself.

Asking Scribble counts the same way as asking Scribble yourself. Tools the agent uses directly, such as drawing a circle, work exactly as they do when you click them.

Cancel a task or undo edits

Every edit an agent makes goes into the same undo history as your own edits. Use Undo to reverse edits in the map history.

Nothing is saved or shared unless you save or share it. If a task is going the wrong way, click Cancel task in the Agent access panel. Cancelling stops the task; it does not roll back edits that already happened, so use Undo for those.

Compatible agents and devices

Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini all work, as does any other AI agent that can work in your browser tab. You may need to allow your agent to act on the page the first time.

From a phone or tablet. Agent Mode does not run in your phone's own browser. An AI app with an agent-controlled browser can use it. In the ChatGPT mobile app, switch to Work mode and ask for the map you want. The agent opens Scribble Maps in its own browser, which is not signed in, so it shows you an Authorize Scribble Maps link. Open the link on your phone, sign in, check the account and what is being asked for, and approve. The link expires after a short time or once it is used, so ask for a new one if it has lapsed. The agent then builds the map in your account. Save or share it from the agent's chat, or open it later on any device.

Some browsers can also offer the editor's tools to an agent automatically, without you doing anything. Availability varies by browser. Use the setup steps above if automatic access is unavailable.

Check the setup and results

Check browser access on the agent's side before anything else. Ask the agent to identify an existing layer to help check its access.
Let the agent turn Agent Mode on first. It gives you the status bar and keeps the editor's own tips out of the way.
Ask for a place by name or address rather than by coordinates you are not sure about. The agent can search, and coordinates it invents are the most common source of a shape in the wrong spot.
Ask it to check its work. It can read the map back and look at the view, so "check the circle is on the tower" is a reasonable instruction.
Keep the editor tab open while it works. The agent works in that tab.
Review the results before saving or sharing.