.serialize Returns an Error

Hello there,

I am new to using intake-esm. I have been following the documentation to read data from a data catalog file and subset it to a new data catalog file.

To do this when I use the .serialize function, it does not write the .jsonc file telling that I do not have write access. ButI do have rite access to the location mentioned in the error message.

Can someone help me figure out this issue.

I tried using the method for NCAR managed data catalogs as well as the datastore url. Both returns the same error.

Thank you!
Nish

Below is the error that I recieve.

```

> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> FileNotFoundError Traceback (most recent call last)
> Cell In[5], line 1
> ----> 1 col_subset.serialize(directory='/glade/work/netige/mdtf_Apr24_2/data_catalogs', name="my_catalog_subset")
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pydantic/deprecated/decorator.py:55, in validate_arguments..validate..wrapper_function(*args, **kwargs)
> 53 @wraps(_func)
> 54 def wrapper_function(*args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
> ---> 55 return vd.call(*args, **kwargs)
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pydantic/deprecated/decorator.py:150, in ValidatedFunction.call(self, *args, **kwargs)
> 148 def call(self, *args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
> 149 m = self.init_model_instance(*args, **kwargs)
> --> 150 return self.execute(m)
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pydantic/deprecated/decorator.py:222, in ValidatedFunction.execute(self, m)
> 220 return self.raw_function(*args_, **kwargs, **var_kwargs)
> 221 else:
> --> 222 return self.raw_function(**d, **var_kwargs)
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/intake_esm/core.py:492, in esm_datastore.serialize(self, name, directory, catalog_type, to_csv_kwargs, json_dump_kwargs, storage_options)
> 446 @pydantic.validate_arguments
> 447 def serialize(
> 448 self,
> (...)
> 454 storage_options: typing.Optional[dict[str, typing.Any]] = None,
> 455 ) -> None:
> 456 """Serialize catalog to corresponding json and csv files.
> 457
> 458 Parameters
> (...)
> 489 >>> cat_subset.serialize(name="cmip6_bcc_esm1", catalog_type="file")
> 490 """
> --> 492 self.esmcat.save(
> 493 name,
> 494 directory=directory,
> 495 catalog_type=catalog_type,
> 496 to_csv_kwargs=to_csv_kwargs,
> 497 json_dump_kwargs=json_dump_kwargs,
> 498 storage_options=storage_options,
> 499 )
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/intake_esm/cat.py:207, in ESMCatalogModel.save(self, name, directory, catalog_type, to_csv_kwargs, json_dump_kwargs, storage_options)
> 204 else:
> 205 data['catalog_dict'] = self.df.to_dict(orient='records')
> --> 207 with fs.open(json_file_name, 'w') as outfile:
> 208 json_kwargs = {'indent': 2}
> 209 json_kwargs.update(json_dump_kwargs or {})
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/fsspec/spec.py:1295, in AbstractFileSystem.open(self, path, mode, block_size, cache_options, compression, **kwargs)
> 1287 mode = mode.replace("t", "") + "b"
> 1289 text_kwargs = {
> 1290 k: kwargs.pop(k)
> 1291 for k in ["encoding", "errors", "newline"]
> 1292 if k in kwargs
> 1293 }
> 1294 return io.TextIOWrapper(
> -> 1295 self.open(
> 1296 path,
> 1297 mode,
> 1298 block_size=block_size,
> 1299 cache_options=cache_options,
> 1300 compression=compression,
> 1301 **kwargs,
> 1302 ),
> 1303 **text_kwargs,
> 1304 )
> 1305 else:
> 1306 ac = kwargs.pop("autocommit", not self._intrans)
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/fsspec/spec.py:1307, in AbstractFileSystem.open(self, path, mode, block_size, cache_options, compression, **kwargs)
> 1305 else:
> 1306 ac = kwargs.pop("autocommit", not self._intrans)
> -> 1307 f = self._open(
> 1308 path,
> 1309 mode=mode,
> 1310 block_size=block_size,
> 1311 autocommit=ac,
> 1312 cache_options=cache_options,
> 1313 **kwargs,
> 1314 )
> 1315 if compression is not None:
> 1316 from fsspec.compression import compr
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/fsspec/implementations/local.py:180, in LocalFileSystem._open(self, path, mode, block_size, **kwargs)
> 178 if self.auto_mkdir and "w" in mode:
> 179 self.makedirs(self._parent(path), exist_ok=True)
> --> 180 return LocalFileOpener(path, mode, fs=self, **kwargs)
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/fsspec/implementations/local.py:302, in LocalFileOpener.__init__(self, path, mode, autocommit, fs, compression, **kwargs)
> 300 self.compression = get_compression(path, compression)
> 301 self.blocksize = io.DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE
> --> 302 self._open()
>
> File /glade/work/netige/conda-envs/mdtf_env/lib/python3.9/site-packages/fsspec/implementations/local.py:307, in LocalFileOpener._open(self)
> 305 if self.f is None or self.f.closed:
> 306 if self.autocommit or "w" not in self.mode:
> --> 307 self.f = open(self.path, mode=self.mode)
> 308 if self.compression:
> 309 compress = compr[self.compression]
>
> FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: "/glade/work/netige/mdtf_Apr24_2/scripts/('file', 'local'):///glade/work/netige/mdtf_Apr24_2/data_catalogs/my_catalog_subset.json"

```

Start in intake_esm/core.py at esm_datastore.serialize and follow the call into intake_esm/cat.py at ESMCatalogModel.save. Inspect how the directory and catalog type produce the path shown in the traceback, then reproduce the reported command and confirm serialization creates the requested JSON catalog without FileNotFoundError.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.