A mechanism is provided in a data processing system to implement a feature extraction tool for graphical user interface based feature extraction. The feature extraction tool receives selection by a user of a dataset from which features are to be extracted. The feature extraction tool loads a plurality of feature definitions. The feature extraction tool generates a graphical user interface that allows the user to add features from the plurality of features to a feature file. The feature extraction tool presents the graphical user interface to the user and receives user selection of at least one feature to be added to the feature file. The feature extraction tool generates the feature file based on the user selection of the at least one feature.