Install via pip with:
$ pip install cdsapi
Get your UID and API key from the CDS portal at the address https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/user and write it into the configuration file, so it looks like:
$ cat ~/.cdsapirc url: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/api/v2 key: <UID>:<API key> verify: 0
Remember to agree to the Terms and Conditions of every dataset that you intend to download.
Perform a small test retrieve of ERA5 data:
$ python
>>> import cdsapi
>>> cds = cdsapi.Client()
>>> cds.retrieve('reanalysis-era5-pressure-levels', {
"variable": "temperature",
"pressure_level": "1000",
"product_type": "reanalysis",
"date": "2017-12-01/2017-12-31",
"time": "12:00",
"format": "grib"
}, 'download.grib')
>>>
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