> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://anaconda.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Using your organization's channels

export const Comments = ({children}) => {
  return <div class="my-4 px-5 py-4 overflow-hidden rounded-2xl flex gap-3 border border-zinc-500/20 bg-zinc-50/50 dark:border-zinc-500/30 dark:bg-zinc-500/10" data-callout-type="comments">
      <div class="w-4">
        <svg width="14" height="14" viewBox="0 0 640 640" fill="currentColor" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="w-5 h-5" aria-label="Comments">
            <path d="M320 112C434.9 112 528 205.1 528 320C528 434.9 434.9 528 320 528C205.1 528 112 434.9 112 320C112 205.1 205.1 112 320 112zM320 576C461.4 576 576 461.4 576 320C576 178.6 461.4 64 320 64C178.6 64 64 178.6 64 320C64 461.4 178.6 576 320 576zM280 400C266.7 400 256 410.7 256 424C256 437.3 266.7 448 280 448L360 448C373.3 448 384 437.3 384 424C384 410.7 373.3 400 360 400L352 400L352 312C352 298.7 341.3 288 328 288L280 288C266.7 288 256 298.7 256 312C256 325.3 266.7 336 280 336L304 336L304 400L280 400zM320 256C337.7 256 352 241.7 352 224C352 206.3 337.7 192 320 192C302.3 192 288 206.3 288 224C288 241.7 302.3 256 320 256z" />
        </svg>
      </div>
      <div class="text-sm prose min-w-0 w-full">
        {children}
      </div>
    </div>;
};

Building <Tooltip tip="A self-contained, isolated space for installing and running software packages.">environments</Tooltip> with your organization's channels ensures that your project's software always complies with security standards.

## Anaconda channels

Anaconda hosts several channels that connect to our premium, curated <Tooltip tip="Any storage location from which software or software assets, like packages, can be retrieved and installed on a local computer.">repository</Tooltip> and provide you with thousands of the most popular data science platform software packages available on the open source market today.

* `main`: The default channel for Anaconda. It contains the most popular packages from the Anaconda repository.
* `main-x` <Badge color="blue">Beta</Badge>: A new authenticated Anaconda channel containing \~6,000 new conda packages built by Anaconda. It is meant to be used alongside `main`.
* `r` <Badge color="orange">Deprecated</Badge>: Provides packages built for the R programming language.
* `msys2`: Provides packages built for Windows.

## Adding a channel to your `.condarc` file

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. Select <Icon icon="network-wired" iconType="regular" /> **Channels** from the left-hand navigation.

2. Click <Icon icon="copy" iconType="regular" /> **Copy channel path**.

   <Frame>
     <img src="https://mintcdn.com/anaconda-29683c67/38V1XTpdo_dUNFXe/images/ap_copy_channel_path.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=38V1XTpdo_dUNFXe&q=85&s=9df3426c602908f7ab8cb5c2db4364bd" alt="Copy channel path button" width="1922" height="1082" data-path="images/ap_copy_channel_path.png" />
   </Frame>

3. Open Anaconda Prompt (Terminal on macOS/Linux) and run the following command:

   ```sh theme={null}
   conda config --prepend channels <CHANNEL_PATH>
   ```

   <Comments>
     Replace \<CHANNEL\_PATH> with the copied channel path.
   </Comments>

   This 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](/getting-started/working-with-conda/channels#managing-channels).

   ```yaml Example .condarc file highlight={5} theme={null}
   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
   default_channels:
     - https://repo.anaconda.cloud/repo/main
   ```

   <Note>
     If you want to use your organizations' channels exclusively, make sure that they are the *only* channels present in your `.condarc`'s `channels:` list.
   </Note>

## Removing a channel from your `.condarc` file

To remove a channel from your `channels:` list, open Anaconda Prompt (Terminal on macOS/Linux) and run the following command:

```sh theme={null}
conda config --remove channels <CHANNEL>
```

<Comments>
  Replace \<CHANNEL> with the URL listed in the channels: section of the `.condarc` file.
</Comments>

For example, if you don't want to pull <Tooltip tip="Software files and information about the software, such as its name, version, and description, bundled into a file that can be installed and managed by a package manager.">packages</Tooltip> from the default channels, you can run the following command:

```sh theme={null}
conda config --remove channels defaults
```

<Note>
  This will leave the channels listed under `default_channels:` in the `.condarc` file for later use, if needed, but won't look for packages in those locations.

  ***

  You can add the default channels to your `.condarc` file's `channels:` list at any time by running the command: `conda config --append channels defaults`
</Note>

## Viewing channel details

From the <Icon icon="network-wired" iconType="regular" /> **Channels** page, select any channel to view its details. You can also explore the channel's [packages](/anaconda-platform/cloud/user/packages) from this page.

The channel details page provides the following information about the channel:

* The channel's address (the URL you add to your `.condarc` file to access the channel's packages)
* General information about the channel
* Information about the policy that is applied to the channel

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/anaconda-29683c67/38V1XTpdo_dUNFXe/images/ap_channel_details.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=38V1XTpdo_dUNFXe&q=85&s=178dc3920c02b5274fb0becca5bbec01" alt="Channel details page" width="1922" height="1082" data-path="images/ap_channel_details.png" />
</Frame>