Open files in VS Code and Cursor / Science data

A free NetCDF viewer that runs in VS Code

If you have VS Code, you have a NetCDF viewer on Windows, macOS and Linux. Install the free NetCDF Viewer & HDF5 Viewer extension and click a .nc file. You get the header, a variable tree, a map with coastlines, a time slider and the time series of any point you click. No Python, NCL or other setup is needed, and it also works over Remote SSH.

Install in VS Code Marketplace page Open VSX (Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium)

Free, MIT license. Extension ID zovo.hdf5-netcdf-explorer, version 0.4.0. Needs VS Code 1.90.0 or newer.

NOAA OISST daily sea surface temperature for 2023 (a 450 MB NetCDF-4 file, 365 x 720 x 1440) drawn as a map with coastlines on 1 August 2023, and below it the time series of the clicked point.

Steps in VS Code

Install NetCDF Viewer & HDF5 Viewer from the Marketplace, or press Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on macOS) and run ext install zovo.hdf5-netcdf-explorer.
Click a .nc, .nc4, .netcdf or .cdf file. The overview shows dimensions, variables and attributes, much like ncdump -h.
Pick a variable on the left to draw it as a map. Move the time slider, or press Play.
Click a point on the map to plot its time series.
Save the map as PNG, or export a slice as CSV or JSON. "Copy xarray code" gives you the Python line for the same slice.

Steps in Cursor, Windsurf or VSCodium

Open the Extensions view with Ctrl+Shift+X (Cmd+Shift+X on macOS).
Search for zovo.hdf5-netcdf-explorer and click Install. Cursor, Windsurf and VSCodium install from Open VSX, where it is published as zovo/hdf5-netcdf-explorer.
If your editor has no gallery, download the .vsix from the Open VSX page and run "Extensions: Install from VSIX...".
Then use it the same way as in VS Code.

What NetCDF Viewer & HDF5 Viewer handles

CF decoding: scale_factor, add_offset, _FillValue and time units, including noleap and 360_day calendars.
NetCDF-3, CDF-5 and NetCDF-4 (HDF5) with compressed chunks.
In the README test, a 450 MB NetCDF-4 map drew in about 0.1 s.

What it does not do

No Zarr and no HDF4.
No coastlines on curvilinear (2D lat/lon) or projected grids.
Arrays larger than 512 x 512 are sampled for the map. Exports stop at 1,000,000 values.

Other options

Panoply. The NASA GISS desktop app for NetCDF, HDF and GRIB. It runs on Java.
ncview. A quick X11 viewer for Unix systems.
Scientific Data Viewer (eschalk0.scientific-data-viewer, 5,049 installs, on Open VSX). Its own description lists NetCDF, Zarr, HDF5, GRIB and GeoTIFF.
NetCDF Viewer (RichardMcDonald.netcdf-viewer, 3,286 installs, not on Open VSX). Its own description: "View NetCDF files and metadata".

Install counts and Open VSX status were checked on 8 November 2026. Descriptions in quotes are the extensions' own.

Questions

Is there a NetCDF viewer for Windows?

Yes. This extension runs wherever VS Code runs, including Windows, and needs no Python. Panoply is a desktop option that needs Java.

Can I view NetCDF files on a remote server?

Yes. Open the server with Remote SSH, WSL or a dev container and click the file there.

Can it open Zarr?

No. Scientific Data Viewer says it supports Zarr, or use xarray in Python.

More about NetCDF Viewer & HDF5 Viewer

Read the NetCDF Viewer & HDF5 Viewer page for every feature and setting, or the source code on GitHub.

Support this work

If this extension saves you time, you can support the work on GitHub Sponsors. Monthly tiers start at $5, and one-time tiers start at $15. Sponsorship is optional, and the tool works the same without it.

Zovo on GitHub