Quick start

This guide walks you through protecting your base environment and managing plugins with conda-self.

Prerequisites

• conda 26.1.1 or later

• conda-self installed in base (conda install -n base conda-self)

Protect your base environment

Using conda doctor, check whether base is currently protected:

conda doctor base-protection

If it is not, enable protection:

conda doctor base-protection --fix

This does three things:

1. Clones your current base environment to a new default environment

2. Resets base to conda, its plugins, their dependencies, and any installer-provided packages

3. Freezes base so regular conda install cannot modify it

Tip

You only need to run this once. After protection, use conda self commands to manage plugins in base.

Install a plugin

conda self install conda-index

conda-self installs the package via subprocess, validates that it registers as a conda plugin (via entry points), and rolls back if it does not.

Update plugins

conda self update

This updates conda itself and all installed plugins to their latest compatible versions.

Remove a plugin

conda self remove conda-index

Essential packages (conda itself, its core dependencies) cannot be removed.

Reset base

If something goes wrong, reset base to essentials:

conda self reset

Next steps

• Protecting your base environment – A deeper walkthrough of base protection and what happens under the hood

• Managing plugins – Install, update, and remove plugins with confidence

• Features – How base protection, snapshots, and plugin validation work

• CLI reference – Every command and flag