What’s New

If you build with Python, ML, or AI, you’ve spent more hours than you would like setting up your environment instead of using it and figuring out which Python version your machine is actually using. Re-pointing channels every time you switch machines. The Anaconda Command Line Interface (CLI) is a single executable that doesn’t need Python preinstalled. One command installs it; from there it handles the toolchain setup that practitioners currently do by hand.

Anaconda CLI eliminates the setup overhead and connects you to Anaconda’s governed package infrastructure. Anaconda CLI configures conda with Anaconda’s secure defaults and configures pixi, too, if you already have it installed.

Let’s Dig Deeper

This week we are also launching main-x: Anaconda’s new authenticated channel with 6,000+ packages built from source by Anaconda with the same checks that users of our main channel expect, closing a package gap that has historically pushed developers to alternate, less secure sources.

Anaconda CLI gives you a path from local development to production. The same tool that configured your local environment ships your work to Outerbounds, a developer-friendly platform for ML and AI systems with managed compute, orchestration, and tracking. This capability arrives alongside Anaconda’s acquisition of Outerbounds, announced last month.

Why This Matters

The setup time that took hours is reduced to minutes. The toolchain you already use is configured for you, the channels you’d normally set up by hand are one command away, and the AI tools you’re already adopting work with your environment from day one.

Whether you use conda, pixi, or both, the tools in your stack keep working with Anaconda CLI. There’s no migration required. You can simply install Anaconda CLI and it points to the tools you already use at Anaconda’s governed channels.

That’s a real shift from how Anaconda’s command-line tooling worked before. The previous setup spread across several separate packages, each installed on its own and each assumed Python and conda were already there. Plenty of long-time conda users never even discovered some of them. Anaconda CLI is a single executable that configures your existing tools to use Anaconda’s governed channels.

If you work on Windows, you’ll see the largest improvement. Anaconda CLI installs in seconds with no prior Python installation, no manual path configuration, and no version mismatches. The time you used to spend stitching tools together can be dedicated to the work you actually want to do.

Try It Now

For Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://anaconda.sh/install.ps1 | iex"

For Mac and Linux:

curl -fsSL https://anaconda.sh/install.sh | bash

From there, ana login connects you to your Anaconda account. To turn on Anaconda’s curated channels and capabilities, ana feature enable main-x activates main-x, and ana feature enable outerbounds enables building and deploying to Outerbounds. No need for manual channel configuration and no drift across machines or team members.

A few more useful commands include:

  • ana tool list shows you what’s installed
  • ana whoami confirms which account you’re authenticated as
  • ana logout ends the session
  • ana self update keeps the CLI current
  • ana auth api-key displays your API key
  • ana api gives full access to the Anaconda APIs using your authenticated credentials.
  • For headless CI environments ana auth api --key <key> swaps the interactive login for a key
  • If you’re migrating from the legacy Anaconda CLI, ana bootstrap installs the legacy CLI alongside the next-gen CLI while you transition