---
id: ecmwf-datastores-client
version: "0.5.3"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# ecmwf-datastores-client — ECMWF Data Stores Service (DSS) API Python client

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 547.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

This is a Python client for ECMWF's Data Stores Service API, designed to simplify access to climate and weather datasets hosted by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. It wraps HTTP requests to the DSS API and provides methods for browsing available collections, submitting data retrieval requests, and downloading results. The client supports both blocking (synchronous) and non-blocking (asynchronous) workflows: you can call retrieve() to wait for data, or submit() to queue a job and check status later.

The package requires Python 3.10 or later and depends on requests for HTTP communication, attrs for data structures, multiurl for URL handling, and typing-extensions for type hints. It is marked Production/Stable by ECMWF and supports current Python versions through 3.14. Configuration is flexible—credentials can come from environment variables, a config file, or direct arguments—making it suitable for both interactive scripts and automated pipelines.

Use it for:

- Download ERA5 reanalysis data for specific dates, variables, and pressure levels for climate research
- Retrieve historical weather datasets programmatically for machine learning training pipelines
- Query available collections and their metadata to explore what climate data is accessible
- Submit long-running data requests asynchronously and check job status without blocking
- Integrate ECMWF data retrieval into automated scientific workflows or data processing pipelines

## Worth the install?

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

Python client for the ECMWF Data Stores Service API, enabling retrieval of climate and weather datasets through a simple interface with support for synchronous and asynchronous job submission.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries no known vulnerabilities, and is licensed permissively. Install it if you need to access ECMWF climate or weather datasets from Python; the API is straightforward and the client handles both simple and complex retrieval patterns. The main prerequisite is having valid ECMWF credentials.

## Install

pip install ecmwf-datastores-client
uv add ecmwf-datastores-client
poetry add ecmwf-datastores-client

## Installing ecmwf-datastores-client

Before you install: Low install friction with four straightforward runtime dependencies (attrs, multiurl, requests, typing-extensions). Actively maintained with a release 14 days ago and marked as Production/Stable.

License in practice: Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; attribution and license notice required in distributions.

Quickstart:

pip install ecmwf-datastores-client

from ecmwf.datastores import Client
client = Client()
client.retrieve('reanalysis-era5-pressure-levels', {'variable': ['temperature'], 'year': ['2022']}, target='data.grib')

Requires valid ECMWF API credentials (url and key) via environment variables ECMWF_DATASTORES_URL and ECMWF_DATASTORES_KEY, or configuration file at ~/.ecmwfdatastoresrc, or passed as keyword arguments to Client().

Verify before relying:

- Whether multiurl dependency handles retry logic or failover across multiple data sources
- Performance characteristics for large dataset retrievals or concurrent requests
- Whether the client supports streaming or requires full download before access

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 547.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

ECMWF data retrieval API client, climate dataset download Python, weather data API client, ERA5 data access, scientific data store client, ECMWF DSS API, atmospheric data retrieval, climate-data, api-client, scientific-computing

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