Installation

Prerequisites

PointFlow requires these peer dependencies in your project:

Package	Version
react	≥ 18
react-dom	≥ 18
three	≥ 0.160
@react-three/fiber	≥ 8
@react-three/drei	≥ 9

Install them if you don't already have them:

npm install three @react-three/fiber @react-three/drei

Install PointFlow

npm install pointflow

That's the base package. It includes StreamedPointCloud, PointCloud, CopcPointCloud, usePointFlow, and all transport adapters.

Optional subpackages

Two features are opt-in to keep the base bundle small:

LAZ support

LAZ is compressed LAS. If you don't need it, you pay zero bundle cost. When you do, import from pointflow/laz:

# No extra install needed — pointflow/laz is a subpath of the same package

import { createLazLoader } from "pointflow/laz";

<PointCloud src="/scan.laz" loaderFactory={createLazLoader} />

The laz-perf WASM binary (~210 KB) is base64-inlined in the worker. No CDN, no separate fetch, no server config.

COPC support

COPC (Cloud Optimized Point Cloud) is a format for streaming LiDAR data from S3 or any static host via HTTP range requests. Import from pointflow/copc:

import { CopcPointCloud } from "pointflow/copc";

<CopcPointCloud src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/bucket/scan.copc.laz" />

TypeScript

PointFlow ships with full TypeScript types. No @types/ package is needed. All props, methods, and callbacks are typed.

WebGPU and browser support

Browser	Renderer used
Chrome / Edge	WebGPU (compute + indirect draw)
Firefox	WebGL (automatic fallback)
Safari	WebGL (WebGPU is experimental)

PointFlow detects support at runtime and picks the best available path. You don't need to check or configure anything. If you want to force one path, pass rendererBackend="webgl" or rendererBackend="webgpu" to any component.

Bundler notes

PointFlow publishes ES modules. Vite, webpack 5, and Parcel all work without configuration. If you're using an older bundler or a monorepo with shared node_modules, make sure three and @react-three/fiber resolve to a single instance. Multiple instances of three in the same page will cause render errors.

Next

Quick start walks you through your first streaming scene.