# `cube_open()`

**Category:** Construction and backend
**Status:** experimental development API

## Purpose

Open a local read-only NetCDF file as a deferred `<ocean_cube>` descriptor
without reading the complete scientific payload.

## Real signature

```r
cube_open(file, vars = NULL, lon_name = NULL, lat_name = NULL,
          depth_name = NULL, time_name = NULL, source = NULL,
          dataset_id = NULL)
```

Use `cube_collect()` when an independent in-memory cube is required. Remote,
multifile, write, Zarr and lazy-compute-graph behavior remain outside the
contract.