Install Miniconda (not Anaconda)

~10 min · conda, installation, miniconda

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Two distributions ship conda: Anaconda (~3 GB, pre-loaded with hundreds of data-science packages) and Miniconda (~100 MB, just conda + Python). For 99% of users, install Miniconda. You'll add packages as needed; you don't need 3 GB of pre-installed stuff most of which you'll never use.

On Apple Silicon, download the arm64 installer. Don't install the Intel version — it'll work via Rosetta but you'll lose performance and run into native-binary mismatches.

After install, restart your terminal (or source ~/.zshrc). The installer adds a conda init block to your shell init — that's what enables conda activate. Verify with conda --version.

Set conda-forge as your default channel right after install. The 'defaults' channel (Anaconda Inc's official) has fewer packages and stricter licensing for commercial use; conda-forge is the community channel with 30,000+ packages and no licensing strings.

Code

Install Miniconda (Apple Silicon)·bash

# Download arm64 installer
curl -O https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-arm64.sh

# Run installer (interactive — accept defaults)
bash Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-arm64.sh

# Restart terminal (or 'source ~/.zshrc'), then verify
conda --version
# conda 24.x.x

Switch default channel to conda-forge·bash

# Set conda-forge as the highest-priority channel
conda config --add channels conda-forge
conda config --set channel_priority strict

# Verify
conda config --show channels
# channels:
#   - conda-forge
#   - defaults

External links

Exercise

Install Miniconda (or Miniforge), verify with 'conda --version', then 'conda config --show channels'. If the order is wrong (defaults above conda-forge), fix it. The day you install a niche scientific package and conda-forge has it but defaults doesn't, you'll be glad it's in the right order.