Quickstart

Installation

conda-pypi is a conda plugin that is available in your base environment in conda versions 26.5 and newer.

Update your conda installation to get conda-pypi:

conda install --name base "conda>=26.5"

You can also install the plugin directly into your base environment:

conda install --name base conda-pypi

Once installed, the conda pypi subcommand becomes available across all your conda environments.

Set up the conda-pypi channel

Note

The conda-pypi channel is free to use for all users. This channel is not subject to the licensing requirements or payment obligations described in Section 1 of the Anaconda Terms of Service.

The conda-pypi channel is a public channel hosted by Anaconda that makes pure Python packages from PyPI available through conda install. When you add this channel, conda’s solver can find and install these packages alongside your regular conda packages in a single step.

To enable the conda-pypi channel, configure the Rattler solver, add the channel, and reset channel priority to its default (flexible):

conda config --set solver rattler
conda config --append channels conda-pypi
conda config --set channel_priority flexible

With this configuration, conda install can resolve dependencies across both regular conda packages and wheel packages in a single solve. When a wheel package is selected, conda downloads the artifact directly from PyPI and installs it into the environment while tracking it like any other conda package.

Note

During the beta, the conda-pypi channel might not appear in the Anaconda.org web UI and some commands such as conda search can fail because they request classic repodata.json metadata. This does not necessarily mean the channel is down. To test the channel, use conda install or conda create --dry-run with the Rattler solver enabled.

Beta

The conda-pypi channel is in public beta. It hosts metadata only, for pure Python wheels from PyPI. Compiled wheels are not supported at the moment. The security posture is the same as installing from public PyPI. For more details, see The conda-pypi channel.

Remove the conda-pypi channel

To disable access to the conda-pypi channel, run the following command:

conda config --remove channels conda-pypi

To view your current channels:

conda config --show channels

You can continue to use the Rattler solver without the conda-pypi channel, but to change your solver back to the default solver (libmama), run the following command:

conda config --set solver libmama

Basic usage

conda-pypi provides several Features. The most basic usage involves using the conda-pypi channel and using conda install to add packages.

Note

These instructions assume that you have done the following:

• Created and activated a conda environment

• Added the conda-pypi channel to your .condarc file

• Configured your solver to be the rattler solver

• Have a conda channel in your .condarc file

Use conda install to install a package (for example, django-modern-rest):

conda install django-modern-rest

This will download and unpack django-modern-rest from PyPI and install it as a native wheel (.whl) file. The dependencies of django-modern-rest will be installed from the conda channel when available. For example, django-modern-rest depends on django and typing_extensions. If both are available in your conda channel, those dependencies will be installed from conda rather than PyPI.

Advanced usage

You can also use the conda pypi command to install packages from PyPI without using the conda-pypi channel. This method downloads the package from PyPI and converts it to .conda format, then installs it.

Note

These instructions assume that you have done the following:

• Created and activated a conda environment

• Installed python and pip into that conda environment

conda pypi install build

This will download and convert the build package from PyPI to .conda format. Even though python-build exists on conda, the explicitly requested Even though python-build exists on conda, the explicitly requested package always comes from PyPI to ensure you get exactly what you asked for. However, its dependencies will preferentially come from conda channels when available.

conda pypi install some-package-with-many-deps

Here’s where the hybrid approach really shines: some-package-with-many-deps itself will be converted from PyPI, but conda-pypi will analyze its dependency tree and:

• Install dependencies like numpy, pandas, etc. from the conda channel (if available)

• Convert only the dependencies that aren’t available on conda channels from PyPI

conda pypi install --ignore-channels some-package

This command forces dependency resolution to use only PyPI, bypassing conda channel checks for dependencies. The requested package is always converted from PyPI regardless of this flag.

Converting packages without installing

You can also convert PyPI packages to .conda format without installing them:

# Convert to current directory
conda pypi convert niquests rope

# Convert to specific directory
conda pypi convert -d ./my_packages niquests rope

This is useful for creating conda packages from PyPI distributions or preparing packages for offline installation.

Development and editable installations

conda-pypi supports editable installations for development workflows:

# Install local project in editable mode
conda pypi install -e ./my-project/

# Preview what would be installed
conda pypi install --dry-run niquests pandas

Environment protection

conda-pypi ships a special file called EXTERNALLY-MANAGED that helps protect your conda environments from accidental pip usage that could break their integrity. This file is automatically installed in the base environment, all new environments, and existing environments that after running a conda pypi command on them.

More details about this protection mechanism can be found at Environment marker files.

Configuration settings

conda-pypi exposes conda configuration settings that can be managed with conda config.

conda_pypi_pip_warning

By default, conda-pypi displays a warning when pip is detected in a conda environment. This warning reminds you that future updates will protect environments from using pip via the EXTERNALLY-MANAGED file defined by PEP 668.

To disable this warning:

conda config --set plugins.conda_pypi_pip_warning false

To re-enable it:

conda config --set plugins.conda_pypi_pip_warning true

You can also set this in your .condarc file:

plugins:
  conda_pypi_pip_warning: false