fix(rasterx): self-contained tile.raster bytes (no VRT payloads)

README.md

@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
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docs/docs/beta-release-notes.mdx

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Released 2026-05-19. Per-version highlights; full migration tables are in the pe
 - **EWKT / EWKB support for `rst_clip`.** `JTS.fromWKT` / `JTS.fromWKB` auto-detect EWKT/EWKB; new `JTS.toEWKT` / `JTS.toEWKB` helpers emit SRID-preserving forms. `rst_clip` reprojects the cutline when its SRID differs from the raster CRS, and falls back to the raster's CRS (Mosaic-compatible) when the SRID is `0` / unresolvable.
 - **`rst_transform` rejects invalid SRIDs.** `targetSrid <= 0` and unresolvable EPSG codes now surface a clear error via tile metadata `error_message` instead of returning a raster with an uninitialized CRS.
 - **`/vsimem/` path-handling hardening.** `rst_memsize` / `rst_unlink` / GDAL writer in-memory byte fetch now use `startsWith("/vsimem/")` (not `contains`) and null-check `GetMemFileBuffer`, so datasets whose description embeds the substring (e.g. NetCDF subdataset selectors) aren't mis-routed through the in-memory branch.
+- **`tile.raster` bytes are always self-contained (no VRT payloads).** Three RasterX operations — `MergeRasters` (`gbx_rst_merge`, `gbx_rst_merge_agg`), `MergeBands` (`gbx_rst_frombands`), and `PixelCombineRasters` (`gbx_rst_derivedband`, `gbx_rst_derivedband_agg`, `gbx_rst_combineavg`, `gbx_rst_combineavg_agg`) — used to return tiles whose `metadata("driver")` claimed `VRT` even though the on-disk file was a materialized GTiff. That mis-tag propagated through `RasterDriver.writeToBytes` (which keys both the tempfile extension AND the `-of` flag in the inner `gdal_translate` call off `metadata.driver`), causing the serialized `tile.raster` payload to be VRT XML referencing a `/vsimem/` tempfile only reachable on the producing executor. Single-node testing passed by accident; multi-executor clusters hit `file not found` when the VRT was opened elsewhere. Fix: `GDALTranslate.executeTranslate` now records the **output** dataset's driver in its returned metadata (not the input's), and `RasterDriver.writeToBytes` defensively coerces VRT to GTiff on serialization + sniffs the result to refuse shipping VRT bytes. Regression coverage in [`RST_NoVrtPayloadTest`](https://github.com/databrickslabs/geobrix/blob/main/src/test/scala/com/databricks/labs/gbx/rasterx/expressions/RST_NoVrtPayloadTest.scala).
 - **Scalar args without `f.lit(...)`.** Python wrappers auto-wrap `bool` / `int` / `float` / `bytes`; Scala adds typed overloads. SQL was already natively-typed. String literals still wrap in `f.lit(...)` per pyspark's column-ref convention. Details and migration examples in [Scalar values vs `lit(...)` wrapping](#scalar-values-vs-lit-wrapping).
 - **Example notebooks — EO Series, xView, and enablement diagrams.** New end-to-end walkthroughs under `docs/examples/` covering EO time-series, xView object-detection rasters, and RasterX architecture diagrams.
 - **Supply-chain hardening (lockdown).** Jobs pinned to the Databricks-hardened runner group (org-level allowlist, ephemeral VMs, constrained secret access); every Maven dependency, transitive dep, plugin, and plugin dependency is PGP-verified against `.maven-keys.list` before any compile or test execution; pip and Maven routed through JFrog with OIDC; init script + pinned package versions vetted; new [Security](./security.mdx) page in the docs.

docs/docs/packages/rasterx.mdx

@@ -106,6 +106,12 @@ Functions to access raster properties and metadata:
 - `gbx_rst_merge_agg` - Merge rasters with aggregation
 - `gbx_rst_derivedband_agg` - Derived band aggregate
 
+## Tile payload
+
+Every RasterX function returns a tile whose `raster` field is a **self-contained, in-memory raster** (GTiff by default) — safe to serialize between Spark stages and executors, persist to Delta, hand off to `rasterio` / `gdal`, or write back out via the `gdal` writer. The bytes are never an XML reference to a per-executor `/vsimem/` tempfile or to a path that only exists on the producing node.
+
+Functions that internally build via an intermediate VRT — `gbx_rst_merge`, `gbx_rst_merge_agg`, `gbx_rst_frombands`, `gbx_rst_combineavg`, `gbx_rst_combineavg_agg`, `gbx_rst_derivedband`, `gbx_rst_derivedband_agg` — materialize the result to GTiff before returning, so downstream stages on different executors see real raster bytes. Inspect a tile's payload format from `tile.metadata.driver`; for any of the functions above, it will read `GTiff` (not `VRT`). See [Beta Release Notes](../beta-release-notes#whats-new-in-v030) for the v0.3.0 correctness fix that introduced this invariant.
+
 ## Usage Examples
 
 ### Python/PySpark

notebooks/examples/eo-series/01. Search STACs.ipynb

@@ -47,6 +47,32 @@
     "### Imports + Config"
    ]
   },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 0,
+   "metadata": {
+    "application/vnd.databricks.v1+cell": {
+     "cellMetadata": {
+      "byteLimit": 2048000,
+      "rowLimit": 10000
+     },
+     "inputWidgets": {},
+     "nuid": "03fc478a-2feb-457f-a21d-4327994d6304",
+     "showTitle": false,
+     "tableResultSettingsMap": {},
+     "title": ""
+    }
+   },
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "import warnings\n",
+    "warnings.filterwarnings(\n",
+    "    \"ignore\",\n",
+    "    message=r\".*make_tokens_by_line.*received a list of lines.*\",\n",
+    "    category=UserWarning,\n",
+    ")"
+   ]
+  },
   {
    "cell_type": "code",
    "execution_count": 0,