diff --git a/src/fdb5/tools/fdb-patch.cc b/src/fdb5/tools/fdb-patch.cc
index 7232d06ab..407b8a6b2 100644
--- a/src/fdb5/tools/fdb-patch.cc
+++ b/src/fdb5/tools/fdb-patch.cc
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include "fdb5/tools/FDBVisitTool.h"
 
 #include "metkit/codes/CodesContent.h"
+#include "metkit/codes/api/CodesAPI.h"
 
 using namespace eckit;
 using namespace eckit::option;
@@ -50,21 +51,13 @@ class PatchArchiver : public MessageArchiver {
 
 eckit::message::Message PatchArchiver::patch(const eckit::message::Message& msg) {
 
-    codes_handle* h = codes_handle_new_from_message(nullptr, msg.data(), msg.length());
-    ASSERT(h);
+    auto h = metkit::codes::codesHandleFromMessage({reinterpret_cast<const uint8_t*>(msg.data()), msg.length()});
 
-    try {
-        for (Key::const_iterator j = key_.begin(); j != key_.end(); ++j) {
-            size_t len = j->second.size();
-            ASSERT(grib_set_string(h, j->first.c_str(), j->second.c_str(), &len) == 0);
-        }
-
-        return eckit::message::Message(new metkit::codes::CodesContent(h, true));
-    }
-    catch (...) {
-        grib_handle_delete(h);
-        throw;
+    for (const auto& [key, value] : key_) {
+        h->set(key, value);
     }
+
+    return eckit::message::Message(new metkit::codes::CodesContent(std::move(h)));
 }
 
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------