What is rex?

January 22, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Welcome to The REsource eXtraction (rex) tool!

|Docs| |Tests| |Linter| |PyPi| |PythonV| |Conda| |Licence| |CodeCov| |Zeonodo|

.. |Docs| image:: https://github.com/NatLabRockies/rex/workflows/Documentation/badge.svg :target: https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/

.. |Tests| image:: https://github.com/NatLabRockies/rex/workflows/Pytests/badge.svg :target: https://github.com/NatLabRockies/rex/actions?query=workflow%3A%22Pytests%22

.. |Linter| image:: https://github.com/NatLabRockies/rex/workflows/Lint%20Code%20Base/badge.svg :target: https://github.com/NatLabRockies/rex/actions?query=workflow%3A%22Lint+Code+Base%22

.. |PyPi| image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/NLR-rex.svg :target: https://pypi.org/project/NLR-rex/

.. |PythonV| image:: https://badge.fury.io/py/NLR-rex.svg :target: https://badge.fury.io/py/NLR-rex

.. |Conda| image:: https://anaconda.org/nrel/nrel-rex/badges/version.svg :target: https://anaconda.org/nrel/nrel-rex

.. |Licence| image:: https://anaconda.org/nrel/nrel-rex/badges/license.svg :target: https://anaconda.org/nrel/nrel-rex

.. |CodeCov| image:: https://codecov.io/gh/natlabrockies/rex/branch/main/graph/badge.svg?token=WQ95L11SRS :target: https://codecov.io/gh/natlabrockies/rex

.. |Zeonodo| image:: https://zenodo.org/badge/253541811.svg :target: https://zenodo.org/badge/latestdoi/253541811

.. inclusion-intro

What is rex?

rex stands for REsource eXtraciton tool.

rex enables the efficient and scalable extraction, manipulation, and computation with NLRs flagship renewable resource datasets such as: the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND Toolkit), the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB), the Ocean Surface Wave Hindcast (US Wave) Data, and the High-resolution downscaled climate change data (Sup3rCC).

To get started accessing NLR's datasets, see the primer on NLR Renewable Energy Resource Data <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/misc/examples.nlr_data.html>_ or the installation instructions <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/#installing-rex>_.

You might also want to check out the basic Resource Class <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_autosummary/rex.resource.Resource.html>_ that can be used to efficiently query NLR data, or our various example use cases <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/misc/examples.html>_.

Installing rex

NOTE: The installation instruction below assume that you have python installed on your machine and are using conda <https://docs.conda.io/en/latest/index.html>_ as your package/environment manager.

  1. Create a new environment: conda create --name rex

  2. Activate directory: conda activate rex

  3. Basic rex install: pip install NLR-rex

  4. Install for users outside of NLR that want to access data via HSDS or S3 as per the instructions here <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/misc/examples.nlr_data.html#data-location-external-users>_:

    1. pip install NLR-rex[hsds] for more performant access of the data on HSDS with slightly more setup as per this hsds example <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/misc/examples.hsds.html>_. Note that the highest version of Python currently supported by hsds is Python 3.11.

  1. from home dir, git clone git@github.com:NatLabRockies/rex.git

  2. Create rex environment and install package

    1. Create a conda env: conda create -n rex
    2. Run the command: conda activate rex
    3. cd into the repo cloned in 1.
    4. prior to running pip below, make sure the branch is correct (install from main!)
    5. Install rex and its dependencies by running: pip install . (or pip install -e . if running a dev branch or working on the source code)

  3. Check that rex was installed successfully

    1. From any directory, run the following commands. This should return the help pages for the CLI's.

      • rex
      • NSRDBX
      • WINDX
      • US-wave

rex command line tools

  • rex <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/rex.html#rex>_
  • NSRDBX <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/NSRDBX.html#NSRDBX>_
  • WINDX <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/WINDX.html#WINDX>_
  • US-wave <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/US-wave.html#US-wave>_
  • WaveX <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/WaveX.html#Wavex>_
  • MultiYearX <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/MultiYearX.html#MultiYearX>_
  • rechunk <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/rechunk.html#rechunk>_
  • temporal-stats <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/temporal-stats.html#temporal-stats>_
  • wind-rose <https://natlabrockies.github.io/rex/_cli/wind-rose.html#wind-rose>_