Conda Backend experimental

You may install packages directly from conda-forge and other Anaconda channels without needing conda or mamba installed.

This backend fetches pre-built packages from the anaconda.org API and extracts them directly, making it a lightweight way to install conda packages as standalone CLI tools.

The code for this is inside the mise repository at ./src/backend/conda.rs.

Dependencies

None. Unlike other conda tools, this backend does not require conda, mamba, or micromamba to be installed. It downloads and extracts packages directly from anaconda.org.

Usage

The following installs the latest version of ruff and sets it as the active version on PATH:

$ mise use -g conda:ruff
$ ruff --version
ruff 0.8.0

The version will be set in ~/.config/mise/config.toml with the following format:

[tools]
"conda:ruff" = "latest"

Specifying a Version

mise use -g conda:ruff@0.7.0

Using a Different Channel

By default, packages are installed from conda-forge. You can specify a different channel:

mise use -g "conda:ruff[channel=bioconda]"

Or in mise.toml:

[tools]
"conda:ruff" = { version = "latest", channel = "bioconda" }

Platform Support

The conda backend automatically selects the appropriate package for your platform:

Platform	Conda Subdir
Linux x64	linux-64
Linux ARM64	linux-aarch64
macOS x64	osx-64
macOS ARM64	osx-arm64
Windows x64	win-64

If a platform-specific package is not available, the backend will fall back to noarch packages.

Settings

Set these with mise settings set [VARIABLE] [VALUE] or by setting the environment variable listed.

conda.channel

• Type: string
• Env: MISE_CONDA_CHANNEL
• Default: conda-forge

Default conda channel when installing packages with the conda backend. Override per-package with conda:package[channel=bioconda].

The most common channels are:

• conda-forge - Community-maintained packages (default)
• bioconda - Bioinformatics packages
• nvidia - NVIDIA CUDA packages

Tool Options

The following tool-options are available for the conda backend—these go in [tools] in mise.toml.

channel

Override the conda channel for a specific package:

[tools]
"conda:bioconductor-deseq2" = { version = "latest", channel = "bioconda" }

Common Channels

• conda-forge - Community-maintained packages (default)
• bioconda - Bioinformatics packages
• nvidia - NVIDIA CUDA packages

Limitations

• Only installs single packages, not full conda environments with dependencies
• Best suited for standalone CLI tools that don't require complex dependency trees
• Does not manage Python environments or package dependencies like full conda/mamba