Using target file with CDS API results in corrupted netcdf

,

I want to download agrERA5 data using target to assign a custom file name and not have unzip after download.

When I use client.retrieve(dataset, request).download() it downloads successfully and results in a .zip with a single netcdf in it.

If I use client.retrieve(dataset, request, target), the resulting .nc file is corrupted, I cannot open it on Panoply or read it with ncdump.

Here’s my code:

import cdsapi

client = cdsapi.Client()

dataset = "sis-agrometeorological-indicators"

basedir='path/to/folder'

request = {
    "variable": "precipitation_flux",
    "year": ["1979"],
    "month": [
        "01", 
        # "02", "03",
        # "04", "05", "06",
        # "07", "08", "09",
        # "10", "11", "12"
    ],
    "day": [
        "01", 
        # "02", "03",
        # "04", "05", "06",
        # "07", "08", "09",
        # "10", "11", "12",
        # "13", "14", "15",
        # "16", "17", "18",
        # "19", "20", "21",
        # "22", "23", "24",
        # "25", "26", "27",
        # "28", "29", "30",
        # "31"
    ],
    "version": "1_1",
    "area": [38, -18, -35, 52],
    "data_format": "netcdf",  # I've tried with and without this line
}
target = basedir + "precipitation_flux_1979_01_01.nc"

client.retrieve(dataset, request, target)

# client.retrieve(dataset, request).download()

Hi,
when you use target and specify .nc, you still get a zip file as for this dataset the only available format is zip.

Thanks

Thank you, Michela. Is this documented anywhere in the CDS or the documentation of the dataset? I cannot find it.