Install eccodes with Homebrew, apk, dnf, Nix, apt, MacPorts

Project links

• Homepage

Commands and aliases

• bufr_compare
• bufr_compare_dir
• bufr_copy
• bufr_count
• bufr_dump
• bufr_filter
• bufr_get
• bufr_index_build
• bufr_ls
• bufr_set
• codes_bufr_filter
• codes_config
• codes_count
• codes_export_resource
• codes_info
• codes_parser
• codes_split_file
• grib2ppm
• grib_compare
• grib_copy
• grib_count
• grib_dump
• grib_filter
• grib_get
• grib_get_data
• grib_histogram
• grib_index_build
• grib_ls
• grib_set
• grib_to_netcdf
• gts_compare
• gts_copy

Project history

ECMWF describes ecCodes as a package providing an API and command-line tools for WMO GRIB editions 1 and 2, BUFR editions 3 and 4, and decoding of WMO GTS abbreviated headers. The repository README says it provides C, Fortran 90, and Python interfaces along with quick command-line access to messages.

The project is explicitly the evolution of ECMWF's older GRIB-API. ECMWF's documentation says ecCodes fully provides GRIB-API functionality for GRIB encoding and decoding, keeps the C, Fortran 90, and Python interfaces, drops the old Fortran 77 interface, and adds a codes_ API that works across supported message formats.

ECMWF marks ecCodes as the primary GRIB encoding/decoding package used at ECMWF and notes that GRIB-API has not been maintained since December 2018. That replacement history is central to ecCodes adoption: existing GRIB-API users were strongly advised to migrate, with compatibility maintained where possible.

The GitHub repository was created in December 2018 and is still active, with the README carrying ECMWF software maturity badges and 2026 releases in the 2.4x series.

Adoption history

ecCodes' adoption follows the operational meteorology stack rather than the usual application-CLI pattern. It is used where GRIB and BUFR data are read, written, inspected, filtered, converted, or bridged into Python, Fortran, C, and NetCDF workflows.

Package metadata shows ecCodes available in Homebrew, Alpine, Fedora-family packaging, MacPorts, Nix, and Debian/Ubuntu data packages. That broad packaging matters because meteorological tools often expect ecCodes definitions and command-line programs such as grib_ls, grib_get, grib_set, bufr_dump, and grib_to_netcdf to be present.

How it is used

Users commonly install ecCodes for command-line inspection and transformation of GRIB/BUFR files, for language bindings, or as a dependency of higher-level weather-data software. The command suite includes GRIB, BUFR, GTS, and generic codes_* tools.

The migration documentation explains that many GRIB-API functions and tools were retained or mapped into ecCodes, while some experimental or superseded tools were removed. That makes ecCodes both a compatibility layer for old workflows and the maintained path forward.

Why package nerds care

ecCodes is the kind of package that quietly makes scientific software distributions work. It ships binary tools, libraries, format definitions, samples, and bindings around specialized international data formats; small packaging mistakes can break large data-processing pipelines.

It is also a case study in successor packaging: GRIB-API users needed a maintained replacement that preserved enough CLI and ABI/API behavior to make migration practical while adding BUFR and GTS coverage under one key/value access model.

Timeline

• 2005: ECMWF copyright range for the software begins.
• 2018: ecCodes GitHub repository created; GRIB-API maintenance ends in December 2018.
• 2021-2022: Public GitHub releases show active 2.x release cadence.
• 2026: ecCodes 2.47.0 released and repository remains active.

Related projects

• GRIB-API is the direct predecessor and compatibility target for much of ecCodes' GRIB functionality.
• CodesUI, mentioned in ECMWF's ecCodes documentation, is a related user interface for ecCodes.
• Higher-level meteorological software commonly pairs ecCodes with Python bindings, Fortran/C applications, and conversion tools such as grib_to_netcdf.

Sources

• https://github.com/ecmwf/eccodes
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ecmwf/eccodes/develop/README.md
• https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/ECC/ecCodes+Home
• https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/ECC/What+is+ecCodes
• https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/ECC/GRIB-API+migration
• https://github.com/ecmwf/eccodes/releases
• https://api.github.com/repos/ecmwf/eccodes