FAQ

How does conda-workspaces handle manifest format changes in pixi?

conda-workspaces tracks the pixi manifest format and maintains compatibility. The format is also being standardized through a Conda Enhancement Proposal (CEP); see the CEP tracker issue for progress.

The conda.toml specification is the normative prose reference, and schema/conda-toml-1.schema.json is the machine-readable schema. Any pixi-originated fields that conda-workspaces accepts but does not implement (like solve-group) are documented explicitly in the spec.

How does conda-workspaces differ from conda-project and anaconda-project?

See the Motivation page for a detailed comparison. The key differences:

1. conda-workspaces uses pixi’s TOML manifest format rather than inventing a new one, so projects can share manifests between tools.

2. It integrates as a conda plugin rather than a standalone CLI.

3. It includes conda workspace import commands to convert from both conda-project.yml and anaconda-project.yml.

What happens if I add keys to conda.toml that conda-workspaces doesn’t recognize?

Unknown keys are silently preserved and do not produce warnings. This is intentional: it allows other tools or future extensions to use the same file without causing noise. The [workspace] table already supports optional fields like description and version that not every workflow uses.