This quickstart guide is intended to help you create an Anaconda account, obtain conda software, and configure it to access your instance of Anaconda.

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Creating an account

Click here to create an Anaconda.com account
From here you have several options for account registration:
  • Sign up manually with an email and password
  • Authenticate with a GitHub, Gmail, or Microsoft account

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Signing up manually

  1. Click Sign Up with Email.
  2. Enter your name, email address, and password.
  3. Check your email for the verification email.
  4. Click the verification link in your email to complete account verification.
  5. (Optional) Complete the user survey. This survey helps Anaconda get to know you as a user and improve your experience in the future.

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Subscribing to Anaconda

For information and help with managing subscriptions, see Subscriptions.

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Installing Anaconda software

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Installing conda

You can obtain conda by installing either Anaconda Distribution or Miniconda. If you already have conda installed, skip ahead to Installing Anaconda Navigator. If you do not have conda installed, download either Anaconda Distribution or Miniconda and install it on your system before proceeding. If you’re unsure which to download, refer to our Getting Started with Anaconda topic for guidance.

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Installing Anaconda Navigator

Anaconda Navigator is a desktop graphical user interface (GUI) that uses conda to help you manage your environments. If you installed Anaconda Distribution, you already have Anaconda Navigator and can skip ahead to Installing conda-token. If you installed Miniconda, you can install Anaconda Navigator by opening Anaconda Prompt (Terminal on macOS/Linux) and running the following command: 
conda install anaconda-navigator
If you received a “conda: command not found” error, see this troubleshooting topic to resolve the issue.

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Installing anaconda-auth

The anaconda-auth package is used to authenticate (log you in) to your Anaconda.com organization. It can be used to issue and set an Anaconda.com organization access token and automatically configures your .condarc file to utilize Anaconda’s curated repository channels. For more information about the anaconda-auth package, see anaconda-auth reference.
  1. Open Anaconda Prompt (Terminal on macOS/Linux).
  2. Install anaconda-auth: 
    conda install --name base anaconda-auth --yes
If you already have anaconda-auth installed, it’s best practice to update to the latest version from time to time:
conda update --name base anaconda-auth

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Authenticating to Anaconda

In order to authenticate to Anaconda, you must issue and set a token for your organization.
You must be assigned a seat within your organization to issue yourself a token.If you do not have a seat assigned, speak with your organization administrator. Once you’ve been assigned a seat, you can issue a token for yourself at any time.
There are three methods for issuing and setting your organization access token:
This is the recommended method for issuing and setting your token.
If your organization uses a site token, set your token using the conda-token CLI method instead. If you’re unsure whether or not your organization uses a site token, speak with your organization administrator.
  1. Open Anaconda Prompt (Terminal on macOS/Linux).
  2. Verify that you have anaconda-auth installed by running the following command: 
    anaconda auth --version
    If you do not have anaconda-auth installed, see Installing anaconda-auth.
  3. Issue and set your token by running the following command: 
    anaconda token install
    This command initiates a sign-in workflow in a browser window. If you are already signed in, authentication is automatically completed. If you are not signed in, you are prompted to sign in with your Anaconda.com credentials.If your company has set up SSO, you are redirected to your company’s SSO login page.
    If you belong to more than one organization, use the arrow keys to select the organization you want to issue and set a token for.
    This command also configures your .condarc file to use Anaconda’s curated repository channels at repo.anaconda.cloud.
  4. Return to your terminal and follow the prompts to complete the workflow.
For information about where your token is stored on your system, see Token storage.

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Important information about the .condarc file

The .condarc file is a configuration file that tells conda where to look for packages. Here is an example of what your .condarc file might look like:
Example .condarc file
channel_settings:
  - channel: https://repo.anaconda.cloud/*
    auth: anaconda-auth
channels:
  - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/<ORG_ID>/<CHANNEL_NAME> # Business tier only
  - defaults
custom_channels:
  defaults: https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/main
channel_priority: strict
default_channels:
  - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/r
  - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/msys2
Conda searches for requested packages starting with the first entry in the channels: list in your .condarc file. If the requested package is not located in that channel, conda continues searching using the next entry in the channels: list. When conda reaches the defaults entry in the channels: list, it searches the channels listed under the default_channels: list, in the same descending order. This is called “channel priority”, and it determines which source conda uses first when resolving packages. In this example for Business tier, conda will look for a requested package in your organization’s channel first, then will look in the default channels in listed order, starting with https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/main, then https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/r, and finally, in https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/msys2. For Pro tier (legacy), conda will look in the default channels in listed order, starting with https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/main, then https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/r, and finally, in https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/msys2. For more information regarding the .condarc file, see the official conda documentation.

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Viewing your .condarc file

You can view and edit your .condarc file in either Navigator or the CLI:

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Adding an organization channel to your .condarc file

Business tier only.
In order to access packages from your organization’s channels, you must configure your .condarc file to tell conda where the channel is located. Complete the following steps to add one of your organizations’ channels to your .condarc file:
  1. Navigate to your Organizations page.
  2. Select your organization.
  3. Select Channels from the left-hand navigation.
  4. Select Copy channel path.
  5. Open your terminal and run the following command: 
    # Replace <CHANNEL_PATH> with the copied channel path
conda config --prepend channels <CHANNEL_PATH>
    This command adds the specified channel to the top of your channels: list, giving it top priority when conda is searching for packages. For more information about channel priority and additional conda config command arguments, see Channels.
Example .condarc file
    channel_settings:
      - channel: https://repo.anaconda.cloud/*
        auth: anaconda-auth
    channels:
      - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/<ORG_ID>/<CHANNEL_NAME>
      - defaults
    add_anaconda_token: true
    restore_free_channel: false
    default_channels:
      - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/main
      - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/r
      - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/msys2
If you want to use your organizations’ channels exclusively, make sure that they are the only channels present in your .condarc’s channels: list.

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Enabling community channels

Community channels must be enabled by an organization administrator before they can be used. To enable community channels:
  1. Navigate to your Organizations page.
  2. Select your organization.
  3. Select Channels from the left-hand navigation.
  4. Select the Community packages tab.
  5. Click Enable Channel beside the channel.
  6. Click Confirm to accept the Terms of Service (ToS) and enable the channel.
Access to community channels can also be managed by an administrator from the Organization Settings page.

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Using Anaconda behind a firewall or proxy (Optional)

Some companies have security policies that prevent communications on their network with external servers like Anaconda. Under these circumstances, you’ll need to connect to your company’s firewall/proxy server in order to download packages successfully. To connect to a firewall/proxy server, you’ll need to include a proxy_servers: section in the .condarc file that contains the URL to the proxy server. This entry must also contain a username and password for logging in to the proxy server. Speak with your IT Administrator if you do not have this information. There are no commands to include this portion of the .condarc file, so you need to manually include the following lines:
If your password contains special characters, you’ll need to escape them using percent encoding as described here.
# Replace <USERNAME> with the username for your proxy server
# Replace <PASSWORD> with the password for your proxy server
# Replace <URL> with the URL to your proxy server
proxy_servers:
  http: http://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@<URL>:8080
  https: https://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@<URL>:8443
You’ll also need to work with your IT team to allowlist connections to the main package repositories once you’ve configured your connection to the firewall/proxy server. The main package repositories are: 
https://anaconda.org
https://repo.anaconda.com
https://repo.anaconda.cloud
In some situations, it is necessary to export the HTTP_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY environment variables to utilize the proxy server. To export your environment variables, open a terminal and run the following commands: 
# Replace <USERNAME> with the username for your proxy server
# Replace <PASSWORD> with the password for your proxy server
# Replace <URL> with the URL to your proxy server
export HTTP_PROXY=http://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@<URL>:8080
export HTTPS_PROXY=https://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@<URL>:8443
For more information about using conda behind a proxy server, see Configure conda for use behind a proxy server.

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Enabling environment management

Administrators can enhance organizational security by requiring members to log their local conda environments with the organization. Environments that are logged with an organization can be monitored, scanned, and blocked from use if a vulnerability is discovered. For more information about logging, scanning, and managing environments, see Environments.
Implementing environment logging requires coordination at the organizational level.

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Prerequisites

Environment logging and scanning requires the following:
  • An Anaconda.com account
  • Python 3.10 or later in your (base) environment

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Installing required plugins

Environment logging and scanning requires the installation of a few plugins in your (base) environment that expand the functionality of conda. Obtain the necessary plugins by installing the anaconda-env-manager “metapackage” (which contains all of the plugins listed below). To install anaconda-env-manager, run the following command: 
conda install --name base anaconda-cloud::anaconda-env-manager

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Registering your organization

To ensure your environments are properly logged to your organization on Anaconda.com, you must log in via the CLI and register your organization with conda. To register your organization:
  1. Open Anaconda Prompt (Terminal on macOS/Linux).
  2. Authenticate to Anaconda by running the following command: 
    anaconda login --at anaconda.com
    When prompted for your username and password, enter your Anaconda.com credentials and complete the login process in the browser window that opens.
  3. After successfully logging in, return to the command line and register your organization by running the following command: 
    # Replace <ORG_ID> with your ORG_ID — found in your organization's URL —
# https://anaconda.com/app/organizations/<ORG_ID>
conda env-log register --organization-name <ORG_ID>
With the organization registered (and anaconda-env-log installed in the (base) environment), newly created environments are logged to the registered organization.

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Verifying your configurations

Test your configurations and verify that conda downloads packages from the desired channel in either Navigator or the CLI: