From f8c7a4309547c6a402cb00c056e97fe0555cfa8b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Josh Borrow <josh@joshborrow.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 18:29:48 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] Added functionality to load sources from file

---
 tilemaker/metadata/generation.py | 21 +++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tilemaker/metadata/generation.py b/tilemaker/metadata/generation.py
index 91649fd..5567253 100644
--- a/tilemaker/metadata/generation.py
+++ b/tilemaker/metadata/generation.py
@@ -10,10 +10,11 @@
 import structlog
 from astropy import units
 from astropy.io import fits
-from pydantic import BaseModel
+from pydantic import BaseModel, TypeAdapter
 
 from tilemaker.metadata.core import DataConfiguration
 from tilemaker.metadata.definitions import Band, FITSLayerProvider, Layer, Map, MapGroup
+from tilemaker.metadata.sources import Source, SourceGroup
 
 # Define the hits unit
 hits = units.def_unit("hits", units.dimensionless_unscaled)
@@ -25,14 +26,30 @@ def generate(
 ) -> DataConfiguration:
     map_files = [x for x in filenames if "fits" in x.name]
     map_group = map_group_from_fits(map_files, force_auto_contrast=force_auto_contrast)
+    source_files = [x for x in filenames if "json" in x.name]
+    source_groups = [source_group_from_json(x) for x in source_files]
 
-    return DataConfiguration(map_groups=[map_group], boxes=[], source_groups=[])
+    return DataConfiguration(
+        map_groups=[map_group], boxes=[], source_groups=source_groups
+    )
 
 
 def filename_to_id(filename: str | Path) -> str:
     return md5(str(filename).encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()[:6]
 
 
+def source_group_from_json(source_file: Path) -> SourceGroup:
+    with open(source_file, "r") as handle:
+        SourceListTypeAdapter = TypeAdapter(list[Source])
+        return SourceGroup(
+            source_group_id=filename_to_id(source_file),
+            name=source_file.name,
+            description="Source group read from file",
+            sources=SourceListTypeAdapter.validate_json(handle.read()),
+            grant=None,
+        )
+
+
 def map_group_from_fits(
     filenames: list[Path],
     force_auto_contrast: bool = False,

From 96b3021ab7710c2abbd63446057c32909f8d13ff Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Josh Borrow <josh@joshborrow.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 18:31:01 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] Docs

---
 README.md | 4 ++++
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 354924a..835bc71 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -488,6 +488,10 @@ called 'extra' that will be rendered in the UI. For example:
   }
 ]
 ```
+Such a list of sources can be loaded using `tilemaker open` by passing the JSON filename, e.g.
+```
+tilemaker open my_catalog.json my_map.fits
+```
 
 ### Highlight Boxes
 

From 5afc0d907590853129bbcb20a560f017f7bc9021 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Josh Borrow <josh@joshborrow.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2026 18:31:23 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] Rev version

---
 pyproject.toml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9152bb6..826134e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ tilemaker = ["server/static/*", "server/static/assets/*"]
 
 [project]
 name = "tilemaker"
-version = "2.3.3"
+version = "2.4.0"
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 dependencies = [
     "pixell",