diff --git a/docs/source/CHANGELOG.rst b/docs/source/CHANGELOG.rst
index 9f628311..63a4d21f 100644
--- a/docs/source/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/docs/source/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ Primary (X.-.-) version numbers are used to denote backwards
 incompatibilities between versions, while minor (-.X.-) numbers
 primarily indicate new features and documentation.
 
-5.0.0-per3 (XXXX-XX-XX)
+5.0.0-per3 (2025-04-25)
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
 * Remove 'GStepBStdevModel', which is useless.  Use GstepBModel. 
 
 
-5.0.0-pre2 (2024-05-24)
+5.0.0-pre2 (2025-03-24)
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
 * Fix problem in kz-conversion.py
diff --git a/src/arpes/io.py b/src/arpes/io.py
index c9db6cc3..17a799de 100644
--- a/src/arpes/io.py
+++ b/src/arpes/io.py
@@ -11,35 +11,30 @@
 of data.
 """
 
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-import pickle
+import json
 import warnings
 from collections.abc import Iterable
 from dataclasses import dataclass
+from functools import singledispatch
 from logging import DEBUG, INFO
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+from typing import Any, Literal, TypedDict, Unpack
 
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 import xarray as xr
 
+from arpes._typing import DataType, XrTypes
+
 from .debug import setup_logger
 from .endstations import ScanDesc, load_scan
 from .example_data.mock import build_mock_tarpes
 
-if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    from _typeshed import Incomplete
-
-    from arpes._typing import XrTypes
-
-
 __all__ = (
-    "easy_pickle",
-    "list_pickles",
+    "load_custom_netcdf",
     "load_data",
     "load_example_data",
+    "save_custom_netcdf",
     "stitch",
 )
 
@@ -52,7 +47,7 @@
 def load_data(
     file: str | Path,
     location: str | None = None,
-    **kwargs: Incomplete,
+    **kwargs: Any,
 ) -> xr.Dataset:
     """Loads a piece of data using available plugins. This the user facing API for data loading.
 
@@ -260,71 +255,130 @@ def _df_or_list_to_files(
     return list(df_or_list)
 
 
-def file_for_pickle(name: str) -> Path | str:
-    here = Path()
-    from .config import CONFIG
+class ToNetCDFParams(TypedDict, total=False):
+    """Typed dictionary for the parameters of the to_netcdf function.
 
-    if CONFIG["WORKSPACE"] and "path" in CONFIG["WORKSPACE"]:
-        here = Path(CONFIG["WORKSPACE"]["path"])
-    path = here / "picklejar" / f"{name}.pickle"
-    path.parent.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
-    return str(path)
+    There are many parameters are available, but here only two are defined.
+    """
 
+    mode: Literal["w", "a"]
+    engine: Literal["netcdf4", "h5netcdf"]
 
-def load_pickle(name: str) -> object:
-    """Loads a workspace local pickle. Inverse to `save_pickle`."""
-    with Path(file_for_pickle(name)).open("rb") as file:
-        return pickle.load(file)  # noqa: S301
 
+@singledispatch
+def save_custom_netcdf(
+    obj: xr.DataArray | xr.Dataset | xr.DataTree,
+    path: str | Path,
+    **kwargs: Unpack[ToNetCDFParams],
+) -> None:
+    """Save an xarray object (DataArray, Dataset, or DataTree) to a NetCDF file.
 
-def save_pickle(data: object, name: str) -> None:
-    """Saves a workspace local pickle. Inverse to `load_pickle`."""
-    with Path(file_for_pickle(name)).open("wb") as pickle_file:
-        pickle.dump(data, pickle_file)
+    Args:
+        obj (xr.DataArray | xr.Dataset | xr.DataTree): The xarray object to save.
+        path (str | Path): The file path to write the NetCDF file to.
+        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments passed to `to_netcdf()`.
+
+    Returns:
+        None
+    """
+    del path, kwargs
+    msg = f"Unsupported type: {type(obj)}"
+    raise NotImplementedError(msg)
 
 
-def easy_pickle(data_or_str: str | object, name: str = "") -> object:
-    """A convenience function around pickling.
+def _jsonify_attrs(obj: DataType) -> DataType:
+    if hasattr(obj, "attrs"):
+        obj.attrs = {"__json__": json.dumps(obj.attrs)}
+    return obj
 
-    Provides a workspace scoped associative set of named pickles which
-    can be used for
 
-    Examples:
-        Retaining analysis results between sessions.
+@save_custom_netcdf.register
+def _(
+    obj: xr.DataArray,
+    path: str | Path,
+    **kwargs: Unpack[ToNetCDFParams],
+) -> None:
+    """Save an xarray object (DataArray, Dataset, or DataTree) to a NetCDF file.
 
-        Sharing results between workspaces.
+    encoding all attrs as JSON strings.
 
-        Caching expensive or interim work.
+    Args:
+        obj (xr.DataArray | xr.Dataset | xr.DataTree): The xarray object to save.
+        path (str | Path): The file path to write the NetCDF file to.
+        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments passed to `to_netcdf()`.
 
-    For reproducibility reasons, you should generally prefer to
-    duplicate anaysis results using common code to prevent stale data
-    dependencies, but there are good reasons to use pickling as well.
+    Returns:
+        None
+    """
+    _jsonify_attrs(obj).to_netcdf(path, **kwargs)
 
-    This function knows whether we are pickling or unpickling depending on
-    whether one or two arguments are provided.
+
+@save_custom_netcdf.register
+def _(
+    obj: xr.Dataset,
+    path: str | Path,
+    **kwargs: Unpack[ToNetCDFParams],
+) -> None:
+    """Save an xarray object (DataArray, Dataset, or DataTree) to a NetCDF file.
+
+    encoding all attrs as JSON strings.
 
     Args:
-        data_or_str: If saving, the data to be pickled. If loading, the name of the pickle to load.
-        name: If saving (non-None value), the name to associate. Defaults to None.
+        obj (xr.DataArray | xr.Dataset | xr.DataTree): The xarray object to save.
+        path (str | Path): The file path to write the NetCDF file to.
+        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments passed to `to_netcdf()`.
 
     Returns:
-        None if name is not None, which indicates that we are saving data.
-        Otherwise, returns the unpickled value associated to `name`.
+        None
     """
-    # we are loading data
-    if isinstance(data_or_str, str) or not name:
-        assert isinstance(data_or_str, str)
-        return load_pickle(data_or_str)
-    # we are saving data
-    assert isinstance(name, str)
-    save_pickle(data_or_str, name)
-    return None
+    ds_jsonified = xr.Dataset({name: _jsonify_attrs(var) for name, var in obj.data_vars.items()})
+    _jsonify_attrs(ds_jsonified).to_netcdf(path, **kwargs)
+
+
+@save_custom_netcdf.register
+def _(
+    obj: xr.DataTree,
+    path: str | Path,
+    **kwargs: Unpack[ToNetCDFParams],
+) -> None:
+    def jsonify_attrs_dataset(obj: xr.Dataset) -> xr.Dataset:
+        ds_jsonified = xr.Dataset(
+            {name: _jsonify_attrs(var) for name, var in obj.data_vars.items()},
+        )
+        assert isinstance(ds_jsonified, xr.Dataset)
+        return _jsonify_attrs(ds_jsonified)
+
+    new_tree = obj.map_over_datasets(jsonify_attrs_dataset)
+    assert isinstance(new_tree, xr.DataTree)
+    new_tree.to_netcdf(path, **kwargs)
+
+
+def load_custom_netcdf(
+    path: str | Path,
+    **kwargs: Unpack[ToNetCDFParams],
+) -> xr.DataArray | xr.Dataset | xr.DataTree:
+    """Load an xarray object from a NetCDF file and decode all JSON-encoded attrs.
 
+    The object type (DataArray, Dataset, or DataTree) is determined automatically
 
-def list_pickles() -> list[str]:
-    """Generates a summary list of (workspace-local) pickled results and data.
+
+    from the saved metadata.
+
+    Args:
+        path (str | Path): The file path to read the NetCDF file from.
+        **kwargs: Additional keyword arguments passed to the appropriate `open_*` function.
 
     Returns:
-        A list of the named pickles, suitable for passing to `easy_pickle`.
+        xr.DataArray | xr.Dataset | xr.DataTree: The loaded and decoded xarray object.
     """
-    return [str(s.stem) for s in Path(file_for_pickle("just-a-pickle")).parent.glob("*.pickle")]
+    obj = xr.open_dataset(path, **kwargs)
+
+    # Check and decode attrs if necessary
+    if hasattr(obj, "attrs"):
+        obj.attrs = {k: (json.loads(v) if isinstance(v, str) else v) for k, v in obj.attrs.items()}
+
+    # If it's a DataTree, reconstruct it
+    if isinstance(obj, xr.DataTree):
+        obj = xr.open_datatree(path, **kwargs)
+
+    return obj
diff --git a/tests/test_io.py b/tests/test_io.py
index 659784fd..0fc9b3a2 100644
--- a/tests/test_io.py
+++ b/tests/test_io.py
@@ -1,11 +1,122 @@
 """Unit test of io module in aryspes."""
 
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+
 import pytest
+import xarray as xr
 
-from arpes.io import load_example_data
+from arpes.io import load_custom_netcdf, load_example_data, save_custom_netcdf
 
 
 def test_load_example_raises_kye_error() -> None:
     msg = "Could not find requested example_name: cut0.*"
     with pytest.raises(KeyError, match=msg):
         load_example_data("cut0")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def sample_dataarray() -> xr.DataArray:
+    """Fixture to provide a sample xarray.DataArray for testing."""
+    data = xr.DataArray([1, 2, 3], dims=["x"], coords={"x": [0, 1, 2]})
+    data.attrs = {"description": "Test DataArray", "info": {"nested": "value"}}
+    return data
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def sample_dataset() -> xr.Dataset:
+    """Fixture to provide a sample xarray.Dataset for testing."""
+    data = xr.Dataset({"var": ("x", [1, 2, 3])}, coords={"x": [0, 1, 2]})
+    data.attrs = {"description": "Test Dataset", "info": {"nested": "value"}}
+    return data
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def sample_datatree() -> xr.DataTree:
+    """Fixture to provide a sample xarray.DataTree for testing."""
+    node1 = xr.DataArray([1, 2], name="node1")
+    node2 = xr.DataArray([3, 4], name="node2")
+    dataset = xr.Dataset({"node1": node1, "node2": node2})
+
+    data = xr.DataTree(dataset)
+
+    data.attrs = {"description": "Test DataTree", "info": {"nested": "value"}}
+    return data
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def sample_hierarchy_datatree() -> xr.DataTree:
+    """Sample hierarchy datatree taken from xarray document.ation.
+
+    https://docs.xarray.dev/en/latest/user-guide/hierarchical-data.html
+
+    """
+    bart = xr.DataTree(name="Bart")
+    lisa = xr.DataTree(name="Lisa")
+    homer = xr.DataTree(name="Homer", children={"Bart": bart, "Lisa": lisa})
+    maggie = xr.DataTree(name="Maggie")
+    homer.children = {"Bart": bart, "Lisa": lisa, "Maggie": maggie}
+    abe = xr.DataTree(name="Abe")
+    abe.children = {"Homer": homer}
+    herbert = xr.DataTree(name="Herb")
+    return abe.assign({"Herbert": herbert})
+
+
+def test_save_load_dataarray(sample_dataarray: xr.DataArray, tmp_path: Path):
+    """Test saving and loading a DataArray with JSON-encoded attrs."""
+    file_path = tmp_path / "dataarray.nc"
+
+    # Save the DataArray
+    save_custom_netcdf(sample_dataarray, file_path)
+
+    # Load the DataArray
+    loaded = load_custom_netcdf(file_path)
+
+    assert isinstance(loaded, xr.DataArray)
+    assert loaded.attrs["description"] == "Test DataArray"
+    assert json.loads(loaded.attrs["info"]) == {"nested": "value"}
+
+
+def test_save_load_dataset(sample_dataset: xr.Dataset, tmp_path: Path):
+    """Test saving and loading a Dataset with JSON-encoded attrs."""
+    file_path = tmp_path / "dataset.nc"
+
+    # Save the Dataset
+    save_custom_netcdf(sample_dataset, file_path)
+
+    # Load the Dataset
+    loaded = load_custom_netcdf(file_path)
+
+    assert isinstance(loaded, xr.Dataset)
+    assert loaded.attrs["description"] == "Test Dataset"
+    assert json.loads(loaded.attrs["info"]) == {"nested": "value"}
+
+
+def test_save_load_datatree(sample_datatree: xr.DataTree, tmp_path: Path):
+    """Test saving and loading a DataTree with JSON-encoded attrs."""
+    file_path = tmp_path / "datatree.nc"
+
+    # Save the DataTree
+    save_custom_netcdf(sample_datatree, file_path)
+
+    # Load the DataTree
+    loaded = load_custom_netcdf(file_path)
+
+    assert isinstance(loaded, xr.DataTree)
+    assert loaded.attrs["description"] == "Test DataTree"
+    assert json.loads(loaded.attrs["info"]) == {"nested": "value"}
+
+
+def test_save_load_with_kwargs(sample_dataarray: xr.DataArray, tmp_path: Path):
+    """Test saving and loading with additional kwargs passed to `to_netcdf`."""
+    file_path = tmp_path / "dataarray_with_kwargs.nc"
+
+    # Save with engine kwargs
+    save_custom_netcdf(sample_dataarray, file_path, engine="h5netcdf")
+
+    # Load the DataArray
+    loaded = load_custom_netcdf(file_path)
+
+    assert isinstance(loaded, xr.DataArray)
+    assert loaded.attrs["description"] == "Test DataArray"
+    assert json.loads(loaded.attrs["info"]) == {"nested": "value"}