Features

Plugin-aware completion

conda-completion introspects conda’s full argparse tree after all plugins have loaded. Every plugin that registers subcommands via conda_subcommands is included when the manifest is generated. No conda-completion-specific configuration is required.

Installed plugin commands use the same manifest format as built-in commands: subcommands, flags, flag values, and help descriptions.

Contextual completions

The completer reads your project files to provide context-aware candidates:

environment.yml is the established conda environment file. conda.toml support follows the emerging workspace manifest used by conda-workspaces; it is not a formal conda standard.

What’s completed	Source files
Environment names	conda.toml, pixi.toml, pyproject.toml, environment.yml, conda.lock, pixi.lock, anaconda-project.yml, conda-project.yml, ~/.conda/environments.txt
Task names	conda.toml, pixi.toml, pyproject.toml, anaconda-project.yml, conda-project.yml
Channel names	conda.toml, pixi.toml, pyproject.toml, conda-lock.yml, conda.lock, pixi.lock, .condarc

Descriptions alongside candidates

In shells that support it (zsh, fish, PowerShell), each candidate is shown with its help text:

$ conda install --<TAB>
--channel     -- Additional channel to search for packages
--dry-run     -- Only display what would have been done
--name        -- Name of environment
--prefix      -- Full path to environment location

Package name completion

conda install nump<TAB> completes package names extracted from configured channels during conda completion generate.

Version completion

When = or == is detected in the current word, the completer loads version data and lists available versions:

$ conda install numpy=<TAB>
numpy=1.26.4  numpy=2.0.0  numpy=2.1.0  ...

Version data is stored in an indexed versions.index and versions.store pair that is only loaded when needed, keeping the common TAB press fast.

Fuzzy matching

Misspelled a package name? The completer falls back to fuzzy matching using normalized Damerau-Levenshtein similarity. Typos like numpie, nupmy, or scikitlearn still find the right package.

The matching uses a three-stage strategy:

1. Prefix match – the common case, essentially free

2. Substring match – catches partial input anywhere in the name

3. Similarity match – handles typos (transpositions, insertions, deletions, substitutions) with a 0.6 threshold, capped at 10 results

No Python on TAB press

A Rust binary handles every TAB press. No Python process starts on the hot path. A stat-based file cache avoids re-parsing project files that have not changed since the last keypress.

Automatic manifest regeneration

After conda install, conda remove, or conda update, a post-command hook checks whether the set of registered conda plugin entry point names has changed. If it has, the completion manifest is regenerated automatically. Manual regeneration is needed for plugins installed outside conda’s package manager, and after plugin updates that change command metadata without changing entry point names.

Repodata controls

Package metadata is reused for 24 hours by default. Run conda completion refresh when you want conda-completion to rebuild its package list now, or conda completion generate --no-repodata when you only need command, flag, plugin, and contextual completions.

Shell support

Shell	Notes
bash	Supported and covered by automated tests
zsh	Supported and covered by automated tests
PowerShell	Supported and covered by automated tests
fish	Supported and covered by automated tests

Install and uninstall commands

conda completion install and conda completion uninstall manage a delimited block in your shell’s RC file. The install command is idempotent (running it twice does not duplicate the block) and supports --dry-run to preview changes without writing.