Open Meteo

When to use

You need weather forecasts (hourly/daily/current) for coordinates.
You need air quality / pollen forecasts (hourly/current) for coordinates.
You need to resolve a user-provided place name to coordinates and timezone (geocoding).
You need to support multi-location batching (comma-separated lat/lon lists).
You need a deterministic checklist for Open-Meteo query parameters, response parsing, and error handling.

Goal

Provide a reliable, production-friendly way to call Open-Meteo APIs (Forecast, Air Quality, Geocoding), choose variables, control time/units/timezone, and parse responses consistently.

Steps

Pick the correct API and base URL

Forecast:
```
https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/forecast
```

Air Quality:

https://air-quality-api.open-meteo.com/v1/air-quality

Geocoding:

https://geocoding-api.open-meteo.com/v1/search

Resolve coordinates (if you only have a name)
- Call Geocoding with
```
name
```
  and optional
```
language
```
  ,
```
countryCode
```
  ,
```
count
```
  .
- Use the returned
```
latitude
```
  ,
```
longitude
```
  , and
```
timezone
```
  for subsequent calls.
Design your time axis (timezone, timeformat, and range)
- Prefer
```
timezone=auto
```
  when results must align to local midnight.
- If you request
```
daily=...
```
  , set
```
timezone
```
  (docs: daily requires timezone).
- Choose
```
timeformat=iso8601
```
  for readability, or
```
timeformat=unixtime
```
  for compactness.
  - If using
    unixtime
    , remember timestamps are GMT+0 and you must apply
    utc_offset_seconds
    for correct local dates.
- Choose range controls:
  - forecast_days
    and optional
    past_days
    , or
  - explicit
    start_date
    /
    end_date
    (YYYY-MM-DD), and for sub-daily
    start_hour
    /
    end_hour
    .
Choose variables minimally (avoid "download everything")
- Forecast: request only the variables you need via
```
hourly=...
```
  ,
```
daily=...
```
  ,
```
current=...
```
  .
- Air Quality: request only the variables you need via
```
hourly=...
```
  ,
```
current=...
```
  .
- Keep variable names exact; typos return a JSON error with
```
error: true
```
  .
Choose units and model selection deliberately
- Forecast units:
  - temperature_unit
    (
    celsius
    /
    fahrenheit
    )
  - wind_speed_unit
    (
    kmh
    /
    ms
    /
    mph
    /
    kn
    )
  - precipitation_unit
    (
    mm
    /
    inch
    )
- Forecast model selection:
  - default
    models=auto
    / “Best match” combines the best models.
  - you can explicitly request models via
    models=...
    .
  - provider-specific forecast endpoints also exist (provider implied by path). See
    references/models.md
    (section "Endpoints vs
    models=
    ") for examples and doc links.
  - for provider/model-specific selection tradeoffs, see
    references/models.md
    .
- Air Quality domain selection:
  - domains=auto
    (default) or
    cams_europe
    /
    cams_global
    .
Implement robust request/response handling
- Treat HTTP errors and JSON-level errors separately.
- JSON error format is:
  - {"error": true, "reason": "..."}
- When requesting multiple locations (comma-separated coordinates), expect the JSON output shape to change to a list of structures.
- Optionally use
```
format=csv
```
  or
```
format=xlsx
```
  when you need data export.
Validate correctness with a “known city” check
- Geocode “Berlin” → Forecast
```
hourly=temperature_2m
```
  for 1–2 days → verify timezone and array lengths.
- Air Quality
```
hourly=pm10,pm2_5,european_aqi
```
  → verify units and presence of
```
hourly_units
```
  .

Critical prohibitions

Do not include out-of-scope APIs in this skill’s implementation guidance: Historical Weather, Ensemble Models, Seasonal Forecast, Climate Change, Marine, Satellite Radiation, Elevation, Flood.
Do not omit
```
timezone
```
when requesting
```
daily
```
variables (per docs).
Do not assume
```
unixtime
```
timestamps are local time; they are GMT+0 and require
```
utc_offset_seconds
```
adjustment.
Do not silently ignore
```
{"error": true}
```
responses; fail fast with the provided
```
reason
```
.
Do not request huge variable sets by default; keep queries minimal to reduce payload and avoid accidental overuse.

Definition of done

You can geocode a place name and obtain coordinates/timezone.
You can fetch Forecast data with at least one
```
hourly
```
, one
```
daily
```
(with timezone), and one
```
current
```
variable.
You can fetch Air Quality data for at least one pollutant and one AQI metric.
Your client code handles both HTTP-level failures and JSON-level
```
error: true
```
with clear messages.
Attribution requirements from the docs are captured for Air Quality (CAMS) and Geocoding (GeoNames).

open-meteo

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content