wrf-install

A Claude Code Skill for complete WRF+WPS compilation and installation from source.

Aligned with the UCAR Official Compilation Tutorial.

What It Does

Builds a complete WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) modeling environment from source:

• Compiles 6 dependency libraries (netCDF-C, netCDF-Fortran, MPICH, zlib, libpng, Jasper)
• Compiles WRF v4.7.1 (ARW core, dmpar)
• Compiles WPS v4.6.0 (preprocessing system)
• Installs GEOG static geography data
• Verifies each component after installation
• Skips already-built components on re-run

Install

npx wrf-install

Or via Claude Code plugin manager:

claude plugins install wrf-install

Quick Start

1. Download the 9 required source packages (see Download Packages below)
2. Place them in a single directory
3. In Claude Code, type: /wrf-install
4. When prompted, provide the path to your package directory
5. The Skill auto-detects if you’re installing locally or on a remote server
6. Wait ~2 hours for the full build

Works on both local Linux machines and remote servers. The Skill adapts download and file operations automatically.

Download Packages

Option A: One-Click Script (Recommended)

Download all 9 packages with a single command:

# From GitHub Release (fastest, most reliable)
export GITHUB_RELEASE_REPO="your-username/wrf-install"
bash scripts/download_packages.sh ~/Downloads/wrf-packages

# Or specify the repo directly:
bash scripts/download_packages.sh ~/Downloads/wrf-packages "your-username/wrf-install"

The script tries GitHub Release first, then falls back to original source URLs. If you haven’t set up a Release, it will download directly from the original sources.

Option B: Manual Download

Download each file individually from the table below and place them all in one directory.

Required Packages

#	File	Size	Download
1	WRFV4.7.1.tar.gz	55MB	GitHub
2	WPS-4.6.0.tar.gz	5MB	GitHub
3	netcdf-c-4.7.2.tar.gz	6MB	Unidata
4	netcdf-fortran-4.5.2.tar.gz	2MB	Unidata
5	mpich-3.0.4.tar.gz	12MB	MPICH
6	zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz	0.6MB	zlib
7	libpng-1.2.50.tar.gz	0.8MB	SourceForge
8	jasper-1.900.1.tar.gz	1.5MB	UVic
9	geog_low_res_mandatory.tar.gz	500MB	UCAR

Setting Up a GitHub Release (for repo owners)

To host these packages on GitHub for faster downloads:

# 1. Download the packages (if you don't have them)
bash scripts/download_packages.sh ~/Downloads/wrf-packages

# 2. Create a Release and upload assets
gh release create v1.0.0 \
    --title "WRF+WPS Source Packages v1.0.0" \
    --notes "Source packages for WRF v4.7.1 + WPS v4.6.0 installation." \
    ~/Downloads/wrf-packages/*.tar.gz

After the Release is created, users can set GITHUB_RELEASE_REPO to download from it.

Installation Directory

Default: $HOME/Build_WRF

To customize, set before invoking:

export WRF_INSTALL_DIR=/your/custom/path

System Requirements

• Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+ recommended)
• gcc, gfortran, cpp (install via apt install gcc gfortran cpp)
• ~50GB free disk space
• ~2 hours build time

Environment Check

Before starting, run the environment check script:

bash scripts/check_env.sh

Output Structure

After installation:

$WRF_INSTALL_DIR/
├── LIBRARIES/
│   ├── netcdf/       # netCDF-C + netCDF-Fortran
│   ├── mpich/        # MPI
│   └── grib2/        # zlib, libpng, jasper
├── WRF/              # WRF source + compiled binaries
│   ├── main/         # wrf.exe, real.exe, ndown.exe
│   └── test/em_real/ # Run directory
├── WPS/              # WPS source + compiled binaries
│   ├── geogrid.exe
│   ├── ungrib.exe
│   └── metgrid.exe
├── WPS_GEOG/         # Static geography data
│   └── geog/
└── logs/             # Compilation logs

What’s Next

After installation, verify everything works:

# 1. Run the post-install test
bash scripts/test_install.sh

# 2. Test WPS with the example namelist
cd $WRF_INSTALL_DIR/WPS
cp ../wrf-install/examples/namelist.wps.example namelist.wps
# Edit geog_data_path to match your install
./geogrid.exe  # Should print "Successful completion"

# 3. Get ERA5 data and run a real case
# See: https://www2.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/OnLineTutorial/

Example namelist files are in the examples/ directory.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely Cause	Fix
geogrid.exe says “geog_data_path must be specified”	namelist.wps missing or incorrect	Set geog_data_path in &geogrid to your GEOG directory
real.exe runs but no wrfinput_d01 produced	LD_LIBRARY_PATH not set in SSH session	export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$WRF_INSTALL_DIR/LIBRARIES/netcdf/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
Your versions of Fortran and NETCDF are not consistent	System netCDF found before custom build	Rebuild netCDF-C + netCDF-Fortran, ensure custom bin/ is first in PATH
NoahMP submodule files not populating WRF directories	./clean -a destroyed git symlinks	Re-run Phase 2.5 of the Skill
fatal error: netcdf.h during compile	NETCDF env var not set	export NETCDF=$WRF_INSTALL_DIR/LIBRARIES/netcdf
mpirun not found	MPICH not in PATH	export PATH=$WRF_INSTALL_DIR/LIBRARIES/mpich/bin:$PATH
Compilation takes too long	-j 2 too conservative	Increase make -j 4 or -j 8 if you have more cores

Version Compatibility

Component	Version	Min OS
WRF	4.7.1	Ubuntu 20.04+
WPS	4.6.0	Ubuntu 20.04+
netCDF-C	4.7.2	—
netCDF-Fortran	4.5.2	—
MPICH	3.0.4	—
gcc/gfortran	9.x ~ 13.x	—

WRF 4.7.1 ↔ WPS 4.6.0 is the tested compatible pair. Newer versions may work but have not been verified.

License

MIT - See LICENSE

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome. Please ensure any changes to the Skill maintain alignment with the UCAR official tutorial.