Installing the anaconda metapackage#

The anaconda metapackage is a collection of all the packages available in the Anaconda Distribution installer. Each version of the metapackage is a locked collection of the packages that were available with the installer at the specific point in time when the version was released.

To install the anaconda metapackage:

  1. Open Anaconda Prompt (Terminal on macOS/Linux).

  2. Create a new environment using the following command:

    # Replace <ENV_NAME> with the name of your environment
conda create -n <ENV_NAME>

    Caution

    Anaconda does not recommend installing the anaconda metapackage in your base environment. The anaconda metapackage was removed from Anaconda Distribution installers in February of 2023 and no longer appears in your base environment by default. Any dependency or solver errors are more easily dealt with if you are working in a separate environment from base.

  3. Install the latest version of the metapackage or specify a metapackage version by running one of the following commands:

    conda install anaconda

    # Replace <VERSION_NUMBER> with the specific version you want to install
conda install anaconda=<VERSION_NUMBER>

    To see metapackage versions available for installation, use the following command:

    conda search anaconda

    Note

    The “custom” version of the Anaconda metapackage has all the package dependencies, but none of them are constrained. The “custom” version is lower in version ordering than any actual release number.

    To install the custom version, use the following command:

    conda install anaconda=custom

The packages installed in your metapackage environment can be updated and removed like any other packages. The metapackage only enables you to install them all at once in a locked and specified group.

For more information on managing packages, see Managing packages in the conda documentation.