Mamba Installation

Fresh install (recommended)

We recommend that you start with the Miniforge distribution >= Miniforge3-23.3.1-0. If you need an older version of Mamba, please use the Mambaforge distribution. Miniforge comes with the popular conda-forge channel preconfigured, but you can modify the configuration to use any channel you like.

After successful installation, you can use the mamba commands as described in mamba user guide.

Note

1. After installation, please make sure that you do not have the Anaconda default channels configured.

2. Do not install anything into the base environment as this might break your installation. See here for details.

Docker images

In addition to the Miniforge standalone distribution (see above), there are also the condaforge/miniforge3 docker images:

docker run -it --rm condaforge/miniforge3:latest mamba info

Conda libmamba solver

For a totally conda-compatible experience with the fast Mamba solver, conda-libmamba-solver now ships by default with Conda. Just use an up to date version of Conda to enjoy the speed improvememts.

Uninstalling Mamba

Since mamba is typically installed as part of the Miniforge distribution, uninstalling mamba involves removing the entire Miniforge installation.

Note

Before uninstalling, you can check your specific installation paths by running:

mamba info

This will show you important information such as:

• envs directories: where your environments are stored

• package cache: where downloaded packages are cached

• user config files: location of your .mambarc file

• populated config files: location of your .condarc file

• base environment: the base Miniforge installation directory (parent of the base env)

Use these paths to adapt the commands below to your specific installation.

1. If you initialized your shell with mamba shell init, you need to remove the initialization code from your shell configuration files. Run the following command for each shell you initialized:

   mamba shell deinit -s bash    # for bash
   mamba shell deinit -s zsh     # for zsh
   mamba shell deinit -s fish    # for fish
   mamba shell deinit -s xonsh   # for xonsh
   mamba shell deinit -s csh     # for csh/tcsh
   mamba shell deinit -s nu      # for nushell
   

   On Windows PowerShell:

   mamba shell deinit -s powershell
   

   This will remove the mamba initialization block from your shell configuration files (.bashrc, .zshrc, config.fish, etc.).

2. The Miniforge installation directory contains mamba, conda, and all installed packages and environments. Check mamba info to find the exact location:

   • The base environment path shows the Miniforge installation directory (it’s the parent of the base env)

   • The package cache location is shown under package cache

   Default locations depend on your operating system:

   • Linux/macOS: Usually ~/miniforge3 or ~/mambaforge

   • Windows: Usually C:\Users\<username>\miniforge3 or C:\Users\<username>\mambaforge

   # Linux/macOS - remove the installation directory
   # Use the base environment path from 'mamba info' to find the exact location
   rm -rf ~/miniforge3
   # or
   rm -rf ~/mambaforge
   
   # Also remove the package cache if it's in a separate location
   # (check the 'package cache' path from 'mamba info')
   rm -rf ~/.cache/conda/pkgs  # or your specific cache location
   

   On Windows PowerShell:

   # Use the base environment path from 'mamba info' to find the exact location
   Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $env:USERPROFILE\miniforge3
   # or
   Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $env:USERPROFILE\mambaforge
   # Also remove package cache if separate (check 'mamba info' for exact path)
   

   Warning

   This will delete the entire Miniforge installation, including all environments, installed packages, and cached data. Make sure you have backed up any important environments or data before removing this directory.

3. Check mamba info for the exact paths to your configuration files:

   • user config files shows the location of .mambarc

   • populated config files shows the location of .condarc

   If you want to remove these configuration files:

   # Use the paths from 'mamba info', or default locations:
   rm ~/.mambarc        # if it exists
   rm ~/.condarc        # if it exists and was only used for mamba/miniforge
   

   On Windows:

   # Use the paths from 'mamba info', or default locations:
   Remove-Item $env:USERPROFILE\.mambarc -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
   Remove-Item $env:USERPROFILE\.condarc -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
   

   Note

   If you also use conda from another distribution (like Anaconda), be careful not to delete shared configuration files that are still needed.

4. If you manually added Miniforge to your PATH, remove those entries from your shell configuration files (.bashrc, .zshrc, .profile, etc.).

After completing these steps, mamba and the Miniforge distribution will be completely removed from your system.