diff --git a/environment.yml b/environment.yml
index 09ec1def63..0292fad67f 100644
--- a/environment.yml
+++ b/environment.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ dependencies:
   - fire
   - geopy
   - humanfriendly
+  - intake >=2.0.0
+  - intake-esm >=2025.2.3
   - iris >=3.11  # 3.11 first to support Numpy 2 and Python 3.13
   - iris-esmf-regrid >=0.11.0
   - iris-grib >=0.20.0  # github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValCore/issues/2535
diff --git a/esmvalcore/config/_intake.py b/esmvalcore/config/_intake.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e2305afd68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/esmvalcore/config/_intake.py
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+"""esgf-pyclient configuration.
+
+The configuration is read from the file ~/.esmvaltool/esgf-pyclient.yml.
+"""
+
+import logging
+import os
+import stat
+from functools import lru_cache
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
+
+import yaml
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+CONFIG_FILE = Path.home() / ".esmvaltool" / "data-intake.yml"
+
+
+def read_config_file() -> dict:
+    """Read the configuration from file."""
+    if CONFIG_FILE.exists():
+        logger.info("Loading Intake-ESM configuration from %s", CONFIG_FILE)
+        mode = os.stat(CONFIG_FILE).st_mode
+        if mode & stat.S_IRWXG or mode & stat.S_IRWXO:
+            logger.warning("Correcting unsafe permissions on %s", CONFIG_FILE)
+            os.chmod(CONFIG_FILE, stat.S_IRUSR | stat.S_IWUSR)
+        with CONFIG_FILE.open(encoding="utf-8") as file:
+            cfg = yaml.safe_load(file)
+    else:
+        logger.info(
+            "Using default Intake-ESM configuration, configuration "
+            "file %s not present.",
+            CONFIG_FILE,
+        )
+        cfg = {}
+
+    return cfg
+
+
+def load_intake_config():
+    """Load the intake-esm configuration."""
+    cfg = {
+        "CMIP6": {
+            "catalogs": {
+                "NCI": [
+                    {
+                        "file": "/g/data/fs38/catalog/v2/esm/catalog.json",
+                        "facets": {
+                            "activity": "activity_id",
+                            "dataset": "source_id",
+                            "ensemble": "member_id",
+                            "exp": "experiment_id",
+                            "grid": "grid_label",
+                            "institute": "institution_id",
+                            "mip": "table_id",
+                            "short_name": "variable_id",
+                            "version": "version",
+                            "frequency": "frequency",
+                        },
+                    },
+                    {
+                        "file": "/g/data/oi10/catalog/v2/esm/catalog.json",
+                        "facets": {
+                            "activity": "activity_id",
+                            "dataset": "source_id",
+                            "ensemble": "member_id",
+                            "exp": "experiment_id",
+                            "grid": "grid_label",
+                            "institute": "institution_id",
+                            "mip": "table_id",
+                            "short_name": "variable_id",
+                            "version": "version",
+                            "frequency": "frequency",
+                        },
+                    },
+                ]
+            }
+        },
+        "CMIP5": {
+            "catalogs": {
+                "NCI": [
+                    {
+                        "file": "/g/data/rr3/catalog/v2/esm/catalog.json",
+                        "facets": {
+                            "activity": "activity_id",
+                            "dataset": "source_id",
+                            "ensemble": "ensemble",
+                            "exp": "experiment",
+                            "grid": "grid_label",
+                            "institute": "institution_id",
+                            "mip": "table_id",
+                            "short_name": "variable",
+                            "version": "version",
+                        },
+                    },
+                    {
+                        "file": "/g/data/al33/catalog/v2/esm/catalog.json",
+                        "facets": {
+                            "activity": "activity_id",
+                            "dataset": "source_id",
+                            "ensemble": "ensemble",
+                            "exp": "experiment",
+                            "institute": "institute",
+                            "mip": "table",
+                            "short_name": "variable",
+                            "version": "version",
+                            "timerange": "time_range",
+                        },
+                    },
+                ]
+            }
+        },
+    }
+
+    file_cfg = read_config_file()
+    cfg.update(file_cfg)
+
+    return cfg
+
+
+@lru_cache()
+def get_intake_config():
+    """Get the esgf-pyclient configuration."""
+    return load_intake_config()
+
+
+def _read_facets(
+    cfg: dict,
+    fhandle: str | None,
+    project: str | None = None,
+) -> tuple[dict[str, Any], str]:
+    """
+    Extract facet mapping from ESMValCore configuration for a given catalog file handle.
+
+    Recursively traverses the ESMValCore configuration structure to find the
+    facet mapping that corresponds to the specified file handle.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    cfg : dict
+        The ESMValCore intake configuration dictionary.
+    fhandle : str
+        The file handle/path of the intake-esm catalog to match.
+    project : str, optional
+        The current project name in the configuration hierarchy.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    tuple
+        A tuple containing:
+        - dict: Facet mapping between ESMValCore facets and catalog columns
+        - str: The project name associated with the catalog file
+    """
+    if fhandle is None:
+        raise ValueError(
+            "Unable to ascertain facets without valid file handle."
+        )
+
+    for _project, val in cfg.items():
+        if not (isinstance(val, list)):
+            return _read_facets(val, fhandle, project or _project)
+        for facet_info in val:
+            file, facets = facet_info.get("file"), facet_info.get("facets")
+            if file == fhandle:
+                return facets, project  # type: ignore[return-value]
+    else:
+        raise ValueError(
+            f"No facets found for {fhandle} in the config file. "
+            "Please check the config file and ensure it is valid."
+        )
diff --git a/esmvalcore/data/__init__.py b/esmvalcore/data/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0001840cab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/esmvalcore/data/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+"""Find files using an intake-esm catalog and load them."""
+
+from .intake._intake_dataset import clear_catalog_cache, load_catalogs
+from .intake._interface import merge_intake_search_history
+
+__all__ = [
+    "load_catalogs",
+    "clear_catalog_cache",
+    "merge_intake_search_history",
+]
diff --git a/esmvalcore/data/intake/_intake_dataset.py b/esmvalcore/data/intake/_intake_dataset.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d046ed3bc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/esmvalcore/data/intake/_intake_dataset.py
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+"""Import datasets using Intake-ESM."""
+
+import logging
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any, Sequence
+
+import intake
+import intake_esm
+
+from esmvalcore.config._intake import get_intake_config
+from esmvalcore.local import LocalFile
+
+__all__ = ["load_catalogs", "clear_catalog_cache"]
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+_CACHE: dict[Path, intake_esm.core.esm_datastore] = {}
+
+
+def clear_catalog_cache() -> None:
+    """Clear the catalog cache."""
+    _CACHE.clear()
+
+
+def load_catalogs(
+    project: str, drs: dict[str, Any]
+) -> tuple[list[intake_esm.core.esm_datastore], list[dict[str, str]]]:
+    """Load all intake-esm catalogs for a project and their associated facet mappings.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    project : str
+        The project name, eg. 'CMIP6'.
+    drs : dict
+        The DRS configuration. Can be obtained from the global configuration drs
+        field, eg. CFG['drs'].
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    intake_esm.core.esm_datastore
+        The catalog.
+    dict
+        The facet mapping - a dictionary mapping ESMVlCore dataset facet names
+        to the fields in the intake-esm datastore.
+    """
+    catalog_info: dict[str, Any] = (
+        get_intake_config().get(project, {}).get("catalogs", {})
+    )
+
+    site = drs.get(project, "default")
+    if site not in catalog_info:
+        return [None], [{}]
+
+    catalog_urls = [
+        Path(catalog.get("file")).expanduser()
+        for catalog in catalog_info[site]
+    ]
+    facet_list = [catalog.get("facets") for catalog in catalog_info[site]]
+
+    for catalog_url in catalog_urls:
+        if catalog_url not in _CACHE:
+            logger.info(
+                "Loading intake-esm catalog (this may take some time): %s",
+                catalog_url,
+            )
+            _CACHE[catalog_url] = intake.open_esm_datastore(catalog_url)
+            logger.info("Successfully loaded catalog %s", catalog_url)
+
+    return ([_CACHE[cat_url] for cat_url in catalog_urls], facet_list)
+
+
+def find_files(
+    *, project: str, drs: dict, facets: dict
+) -> Sequence[LocalFile]:
+    """Find files for variable in all intake-esm catalogs associated with a project.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    facet_map : dict
+        A dict mapping the variable names used to initialise the IntakeDataset
+        object to their ESMValCore facet names. For example,
+        ```
+        ACCESS_ESM1_5 = IntakeDataset(
+            short_name='tos',
+            project='CMIP6',
+        )
+        ```
+        would result in a variable dict of {'short_name': 'tos', 'project': 'CMIP6'}.
+    drs : dict
+        The DRS configuration. Can be obtained from the global configuration drs
+        field, eg. CFG['drs'].
+    """
+    catalogs, facet_maps = load_catalogs(project, drs)
+
+    if not catalogs:
+        return []
+
+    files = []
+
+    for catalog, facet_map in zip(catalogs, facet_maps, strict=False):
+        query = {facet_map.get(key): val for key, val in facets.items()}
+        query.pop(None, None)
+
+        _unused_facets = {
+            key: val for key, val in facets.items() if key not in facet_map
+        }
+
+        logger.info(
+            "Unable to refine datastore search on catalog %s with the following facets %s",
+            catalog.esmcat.catalog_file,
+            _unused_facets,
+        )
+
+        selection = catalog.search(**query)
+
+        if not selection:
+            continue
+
+        # Select latest version
+        if "version" in facet_map and "version" not in facets:
+            latest_version = max(
+                selection.unique().version
+            )  # These are strings - need to double check the sorting here.
+            query = {
+                **query,
+                facet_map["version"]: latest_version,
+            }
+            selection = selection.search(**query)
+
+            files += [LocalFile(f) for f in selection.unique().path]
+
+    return files
diff --git a/esmvalcore/data/intake/_interface.py b/esmvalcore/data/intake/_interface.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b257d4773
--- /dev/null
+++ b/esmvalcore/data/intake/_interface.py
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+import typing
+
+
+def merge_intake_search_history(
+    search_history: list[dict[str, list[typing.Any]]],
+) -> dict[str, typing.Any]:
+    """Create a facet mapping from an intake-esm search history.
+
+    This takes an intake-esm search history, which typically looks something like
+    ```python
+    [
+        {'variable_id': ['tos']},
+        {'table_id': ['Omon']},
+        {'experiment_id': ['historical']},
+        {'member_id': ['r1i1p1f1']},
+        {'source_id': ['ACCESS-ESM1-5']},
+        {'grid_label': ['gn']},
+        {'version': ['v.*']},
+    ]
+    ```
+    and turns it into something like
+    ```python
+    {
+        'variable_id': 'tos',
+        'table_id': 'Omon',
+        'experiment_id': 'historical',
+        'member_id': 'r1i1p1f1',
+        'source_id': 'ACCESS-ESM1-5',
+        'grid_label': 'gn',
+        'version': 'v.*',
+    }
+    ```
+
+    Notes
+    -----
+    This function is really quite ugly & could probably be improved.
+    """
+    merged: dict[str, typing.Any] = {}
+
+    for entry in search_history:
+        for key, value in entry.items():
+            if key in merged:
+                if isinstance(merged[key], list):
+                    merged[key].extend(value)
+                else:
+                    merged[key] = [merged[key]] + value
+            else:
+                merged[key] = value
+
+    for key, val in merged.items():
+        if isinstance(val, list) and len(val) == 1:
+            merged[key] = val[0]
+
+    return merged
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fab2e3be2c..3a995affd4 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ dependencies = [
     "fire",
     "geopy",
     "humanfriendly",
+    "intake>=2.0.0",
+    "intake-esm>=2025.2.3",
     "iris-grib>=0.20.0",  # github.com/ESMValGroup/ESMValCore/issues/2535
     "isodate>=0.7.0",
     "jinja2",