Micromamba Installation

Micromamba Installation#

micromamba is a fully statically-linked, self-contained, executable. This means that the base environment is completely empty. The configuration for micromamba is slightly different, namely all environments and cache will be created by default under the MAMBA_ROOT_PREFIX environment variable. There is also no pre-configured .condarc/.mambarc shipped with micromamba (they are however still read if present).

Operating System package managers#

Homebrew#

On macOS, you can install micromamba from Homebrew:

brew install micromamba

Mamba-org releases#

Automatic install#

Hint

This is the recommended way to install micromamba.

If you are using macOS, Linux, or Git Bash on Windows there is a simple way of installing micromamba. Simply execute the installation script in your preferred shell.

For Linux, macOS, or Git Bash on Windows install with:

"${SHELL}" <(curl -L micro.mamba.pm/install.sh)

For NuShell users, run sh -c (curl -L micro.mamba.pm/install.sh).

On Windows Powershell, use

Invoke-Expression ((Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://micro.mamba.pm/install.ps1 -UseBasicParsing).Content)

A specific micromamba release can be installed by setting the VERSION environment variable. The release versions contain a build number in addition to the micromamba version.

Micromamba releases can be found on Github: mamba-org/micromamba-releases

Self updates#

Once installed, micromamba can be updated with

micromamba self-update

A explicit version can be specified with

micromamba self-update --version 1.4.6

Manual installation#

Warning

This is for advanced users.

Linux and macOS#

Download and unzip the executable (from the official conda-forge package):

Ensure that basic utilities are installed. We need curl and tar with support for bzip2. Also you need a glibc based system like Ubuntu, Fedora or Centos (Alpine Linux does not work natively).

The following magic URL always returns the latest available version of micromamba, and the bin/micromamba part is automatically extracted using tar.

# Linux Intel (x86_64):
curl -Ls https://micro.mamba.pm/api/micromamba/linux-64/latest | tar -xvj bin/micromamba
# Linux ARM64:
curl -Ls https://micro.mamba.pm/api/micromamba/linux-aarch64/latest | tar -xvj bin/micromamba
# Linux Power:
curl -Ls https://micro.mamba.pm/api/micromamba/linux-ppc64le/latest | tar -xvj bin/micromamba
# macOS Intel (x86_64):
curl -Ls https://micro.mamba.pm/api/micromamba/osx-64/latest | tar -xvj bin/micromamba
# macOS Silicon/M1 (ARM64):
curl -Ls https://micro.mamba.pm/api/micromamba/osx-arm64/latest | tar -xvj bin/micromamba

After extraction is completed, we can use the micromamba binary.

If you want to quickly use micromamba in an ad-hoc usecase, you can run

export MAMBA_ROOT_PREFIX=/some/prefix  # optional, defaults to ~/micromamba
eval "$(./bin/micromamba shell hook -s posix)"

This shell hook modifies your shell variables to include the micromamba command.

If you want to persist these changes, you can automatically write them to your .bashrc (or .zshrc) by running ./bin/micromamba shell init .... This also allows you to choose a custom MAMBA_ROOT_ENVIRONMENT, which is where the packages and repodata cache will live.

# Linux/bash:
./bin/micromamba shell init -s bash -r ~/micromamba  # this writes to your .bashrc file
# sourcing the bashrc file incorporates the changes into the running session.
# better yet, restart your terminal!
source ~/.bashrc

# macOS/zsh:
./micromamba shell init -s zsh -r ~/micromamba
source ~/.zshrc

Now you can activate the base environment and install new packages, or create other environments.

micromamba activate  # this activates the base environment
micromamba install python=3.6 jupyter -c conda-forge
# or
micromamba create -n env_name xtensor -c conda-forge
micromamba activate env_name

An exclusive conda-forge setup can be configured with:

micromamba config append channels conda-forge
micromamba config set channel_priority strict

Windows#

micromamba also has Windows support! For Windows, we recommend powershell.
Below are the commands to get micromamba installed in PowerShell.
Invoke-Webrequest -URI https://micro.mamba.pm/api/micromamba/win-64/latest -OutFile micromamba.tar.bz2
tar xf micromamba.tar.bz2

MOVE -Force Library\bin\micromamba.exe micromamba.exe
.\micromamba.exe --help

# You can use e.g. $HOME\micromambaenv as your base prefix
$Env:MAMBA_ROOT_PREFIX="C:\Your\Root\Prefix"

# Invoke the hook
.\micromamba.exe shell hook -s powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

# ... or initialize the shell
.\micromamba.exe shell init -s powershell -r C:\Your\Root\Prefix
# and use micromamba directly
micromamba create -f ./test/env_win.yaml -y
micromamba activate yourenv

Nightly builds#

You can download fully statically linked builds for each commit to main on GitHub (scroll to the bottom of the “Summary” page): mamba-org/mamba

Docker images#

The mambaorg/micromamba docker image can be used to run micromamba without installing it:

docker run -it --rm mambaorg/micromamba:latest micromamba info

Build from source#

Note

These instructions do not work currently on Windows, which requires a more complex hybrid build. For up-to-date instructions on Windows and Unix, consult the scripts in the micromamba-feedstock.

To build from source, install the development dependencies, using a Conda compatible installer (conda/mamba/micromamba/rattler/pixi).

micromamba create -n mamba --file dev/environment-micromamba-static.yml
micromamba activate mamba

Use CMake from this environment to drive the build:

cmake -B build/ \
    -G Ninja \
    ${CMAKE_ARGS} \
    -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="${CONDA_PREFIX}" \
    -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="Release" \
    -D BUILD_LIBMAMBA=ON \
    -D BUILD_LIBMAMBA_SPDLOG=ON \
    -D BUILD_STATIC=ON \
    -D BUILD_MICROMAMBA=ON
cmake --build build/ --parallel

You will find the executable under “build/micromamba/micromamba”. The executable can be striped to remove its size:

strip "build/micromamba/micromamba"

Uninstalling Micromamba#

To completely remove micromamba from your system, follow these steps:

Note

Before uninstalling, you can check your specific installation paths by running:

micromamba info

This will show you important information such as:

  • envs directories: where your environments are stored

  • package cache: where downloaded packages are cached

  • user config files: location of your .mambarc file

  • populated config files: location of your .condarc file

  • root prefix: the base directory for micromamba (usually shown as the first envs directory’s parent)

Use these paths to adapt the commands below to your specific installation.

  1. If you initialized your shell with micromamba shell init, you need to remove the initialization code from your shell configuration files. Run the following command for each shell you initialized:

    micromamba shell deinit -s bash    # for bash
micromamba shell deinit -s zsh     # for zsh
micromamba shell deinit -s fish    # for fish
micromamba shell deinit -s xonsh   # for xonsh
micromamba shell deinit -s csh     # for csh/tcsh
micromamba shell deinit -s nu      # for nushell

    On Windows PowerShell:

    micromamba shell deinit -s powershell

    This will remove the mamba initialization block from your shell configuration files (.bashrc, .zshrc, config.fish, etc.).

  2. The location of the micromamba executable depends on your installation method:

    Automatic installation script: The executable is typically installed to ~/.local/bin/micromamba (Linux/macOS) or %LOCALAPPDATA%\micromamba\micromamba.exe (Windows).

    Homebrew (macOS): .. code-block:: bash

    brew uninstall micromamba

    Manual installation: Remove the directory where you extracted or installed the micromamba executable.

  3. micromamba stores all environments, packages, and cache in specific directories. Check micromamba info to find the exact locations for your installation:

    • The root prefix is typically the parent directory of the first envs directories path shown

    • The package cache location is shown under package cache

    By default, the root prefix is ~/micromamba (Linux/macOS) or %USERPROFILE%\micromamba (Windows). If you specified a custom location with -r during initialization, use that location instead.

    # Linux/macOS - remove the default root prefix
rm -rf ~/micromamba

# Or if you used a custom location (check with 'micromamba info'):
rm -rf /path/to/your/custom/root/prefix

# Also remove the package cache if it's in a separate location
# (check the 'package cache' path from 'micromamba info')
rm -rf ~/.cache/conda/pkgs  # or your specific cache location

    On Windows PowerShell:

    Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $env:USERPROFILE\micromamba
# Also remove package cache if separate (check 'micromamba info' for exact path)

    Warning

    This will delete all environments, installed packages, and cached data. Make sure you have backed up any important environments or data before removing this directory.

  4. Check micromamba info for the exact paths to your configuration files:

    • user config files shows the location of .mambarc

    • populated config files shows the location of .condarc

    If you want to remove these configuration files:

    # Use the paths from 'micromamba info', or default locations:
rm ~/.mambarc        # if it exists
rm ~/.condarc        # if it exists and was only used for micromamba

    On Windows:

    # Use the paths from 'micromamba info', or default locations:
Remove-Item $env:USERPROFILE\.mambarc -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item $env:USERPROFILE\.condarc -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    Note

    If you also use conda or mamba (from Miniforge), be careful not to delete shared configuration files that are still needed.

After completing these steps, micromamba will be completely removed from your system.

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