Configuration

Manifest

The manifest at ~/.cg/global.toml is the source of truth for all globally installed tools. It is written by conda-global commands and can also be edited by hand.

Format

Each tool environment is defined under [envs.<name>]:

[envs.gh]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
dependencies = { gh = "*" }
exposed = { gh = "gh" }

[envs.ruff]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
dependencies = { ruff = ">=0.4" }
exposed = { ruff = "ruff" }
pinned = true

[envs.py314]
channels = ["conda-forge"]
dependencies = { python = "*", pip = "*" }
exposed = { "python3.14" = "python3.14", pip = "pip3.14" }

Fields

channels

List of conda channels to search when solving the environment. Order matters — earlier channels have higher priority.

dependencies

Map of package names to version specs. Use "*" for any version, or a conda match spec like ">=0.4", ">=1.0,<2".

exposed

Map of exposed names to binary names. The key is the name that appears on PATH; the value is the binary inside the environment’s bin/ (or Scripts/ on Windows).

pinned

Optional boolean. If true, the tool is skipped during conda global update (unless targeted explicitly with -e). Defaults to false.

Filesystem layout

~/.cg/
├── bin/                         ← exposed trampolines (on PATH)
│   ├── ruff                       hardlink → trampoline/_cg_trampoline
│   ├── gh                         hardlink → trampoline/_cg_trampoline
│   └── trampoline/
│       ├── _cg_trampoline         master binary (compiled Rust)
│       ├── ruff.json              config for ruff trampoline
│       └── gh.json                config for gh trampoline
├── envs/                        ← isolated tool environments
│   ├── ruff/
│   │   ├── bin/ruff               real binary
│   │   └── conda-meta/           conda metadata (marks valid env)
│   └── gh/
│       ├── bin/gh
│       └── conda-meta/
└── global.toml                  ← manifest

On Windows, ~/.cg is %USERPROFILE%\.cg and bin/ uses platform-appropriate extensions (.exe).

Paths

Path	Purpose
~/.cg/bin/	Trampoline directory, added to PATH
~/.cg/bin/trampoline/	Master binary and JSON configs
~/.cg/envs/	Tool environments (one prefix per tool)
~/.cg/global.toml	Manifest

Trampoline config files

Each exposed binary has a JSON config at ~/.cg/bin/trampoline/<name>.json:

{
  "exe": "/home/user/.cg/envs/gh/bin/gh",
  "path_diff": "/home/user/.cg/envs/gh/bin",
  "env": {}
}

exe

Absolute path to the real binary inside the tool environment.

path_diff

Directory to prepend to PATH before launching.

env

Additional environment variables to set. Empty by default.

These files are managed automatically. Editing them is only useful for debugging.

Environment variables

CONDA_GLOBAL_HOME

Override the base directory for all conda-global paths (manifest, environments, trampolines). Defaults to ~/.cg. Supports ~ expansion and relative paths.

EDITOR / VISUAL

Used by conda global edit to open the manifest. VISUAL takes precedence.