---
id: rio-stac
version: "0.12.0"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# rio-stac — Create STAC Items from raster datasets.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 94.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

rio-stac is a rasterio plugin that transforms raster datasets into valid STAC Items—standardized geospatial catalog entries that follow the Spatiotemporal Asset Catalog specification. It reads raster metadata (CRS, bounds, bands, statistics) and wraps them in a STAC-compliant JSON structure, making raster data discoverable and interoperable within STAC ecosystems. The library is built on pystac to ensure strict adherence to the STAC specification.

Typical use is in geospatial data pipelines where you need to catalog raster files for discovery, archival, or integration into larger data systems. It extracts projection information, band statistics, and geometry automatically, then generates a complete STAC Item with assets, links, and metadata ready for publication to a STAC catalog or API.

Use it for:

- Catalog satellite imagery or aerial photography into a STAC-compliant repository for discovery and access.
- Automate metadata extraction from GeoTIFF or COG files to populate a geospatial data catalog.
- Generate STAC Items for raster datasets as part of a data ingestion pipeline into cloud-native geospatial systems.
- Create standardized metadata records for raster analysis outputs to make them discoverable in STAC APIs.
- Batch-process multiple raster files to generate STAC Items for archival or publication.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

rio-stac creates valid STAC Items from raster datasets by reading geospatial metadata and generating standardized catalog entries compatible with the STAC specification.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries a permissive license, and solves a specific and well-defined problem in geospatial data cataloging. It is suitable for production use in STAC-based workflows, with no known security vulnerabilities and support for current Python versions (3.10–3.13).

## Install

pip install rio-stac
uv add rio-stac
poetry add rio-stac

## Installing rio-stac

Before you install: Low friction install with only two runtime dependencies (rasterio and pystac). The package is actively maintained with a recent release in September 2025 and steady repository activity.

License in practice: Permissive license treatment means you can use this package in commercial and proprietary projects without significant legal constraints.

Quickstart:

pip install rio-stac

from rio_stac import rio_stac
import rasterio

with rasterio.open('dataset.tif') as src:
    item = rio_stac.create_stac_item(src)

Requires rasterio, which depends on GDAL/GEOS system libraries; ensure these geospatial dependencies are installed on your system.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package provides a CLI interface (the description shows 'rio stac' command but does not explicitly document it)
- Performance characteristics when processing large raster files or datasets with many bands
- Whether custom STAC extensions beyond projection, raster, and eo can be added or configured

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 94.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

stac item generation from rasters, raster to stac conversion, geospatial metadata cataloging, stac catalog creation tool, rasterio stac plugin, raster dataset stac items, geospatial, stac-catalog, raster-data

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/rio-stac) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/rio-stac/)