Quick start#

This guide gets you from zero to running your first globally installed tool in under a minute.

Prerequisites#

  • conda 25.1 or later

  • A shell (bash, zsh, fish, or PowerShell)

Install conda-global#

conda install -c conda-forge conda-global

Set up your PATH#

Run the ensurepath command to add the conda-global bin directory to your shell configuration:

conda global ensurepath

Then restart your shell (or source the appropriate rc file).

Tip

You only need to run conda global ensurepath once. It adds the bin directory to your shell’s PATH configuration.

Install your first tool#

Quick start demo: install, use, list, tree, uninstall

$ conda global install gh
  Installing tool gh...
  Installed tool gh
  Commands now available:
    gh    → ~/.cg/bin/gh

That’s it. The gh command is now available from anywhere:

$ gh --version
gh version 2.74.0 (2025-05-05)

What just happened?#

  1. conda-global created an isolated environment in its data directory

  2. It installed the gh package from conda-forge into that environment

  3. It deployed a Rust trampoline binary to the bin directory

  4. It recorded the tool in the manifest (global.toml)

The trampoline is a tiny native binary that reads a JSON config and launches the real gh binary with the correct environment — no shell activation needed.

Try more commands#

# List everything installed
$ conda global list
Tool   Dependencies   Channel       Exposed   Pinned
gh     gh             conda-forge   gh

# Install another tool
$ conda global install ruff

# Run a tool without installing it permanently
$ conda global run bat -- README.md

# Update all tools
$ conda global update

# Remove a tool
$ conda global uninstall -e gh

The cg shorthand#

The standalone cg binary is available as a shorter alias for conda global. The two are interchangeable:

cg install ruff        # same as: conda global install ruff
cg list                # same as: conda global list

Next steps#

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