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Finding your conda environments

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Conda stores each environment inside the folder where conda itself was installed, so the path depends on the installer you used. One command prints every environment's exact location, and you can then open, measure or remove it safely.

Where the environments are

Conda puts each environment in an envs folder inside the conda installation. Which installation folder you have depends on the installer:

~/miniconda3/envs/<environment-name>
~/anaconda3/envs/<environment-name>
/opt/miniconda3/envs/<environment-name>
/opt/anaconda3/envs/<environment-name>

Anaconda's install guides give ~/miniconda3 and ~/anaconda3 as the defaults for the Terminal (.sh) installers. The graphical .pkg installers put conda in /opt/miniconda3 or /opt/anaconda3 for all users of the Mac. The base environment is the installation folder itself, not a folder inside envs. Rather than guess, ask conda:

conda info --envs

conda env list is an alias for the same command, per the conda documentation. It prints every environment it knows about with its full path and marks the active one with an asterisk. In recent conda versions, conda env list --size adds the disk space each environment uses, counting only files conda installed.

To open one in Finder, copy its path from that list and run open followed by the path, or press ⇧⌘G in Finder (Go > Go to Folder) and paste it.

Other places conda can live

Some Macs end up with two installations, so it helps to know every default.

Install method	Installation folder
Miniconda or Anaconda, Terminal installer	~/miniconda3 or ~/anaconda3, unless you typed another path
Miniconda or Anaconda, graphical installer	/opt/miniconda3 or /opt/anaconda3
Miniforge installer	~/miniforge3
Homebrew miniconda or miniforge cask	Caskroom/miniconda/base or Caskroom/miniforge/base under the Homebrew prefix
Homebrew anaconda cask	anaconda3 directly under the Homebrew prefix

The Homebrew prefix is /opt/homebrew on Apple silicon and /usr/local on Intel Macs (or under Rosetta), so the Miniconda cask's environments sit in /opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniconda/base/envs on an Apple silicon Mac. To see which installations exist, without changing anything:

conda info --base
ls -d ~/miniconda3 ~/anaconda3 ~/miniforge3 /opt/miniconda3 /opt/anaconda3 /opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniconda/base /opt/homebrew/Caskroom/miniforge/base /opt/homebrew/anaconda3 /usr/local/Caskroom/miniconda/base 2>/dev/null

The first line prints the installation that answers to conda in your shell. The second lists every default folder that exists.

The hidden ~/.conda folder

Conda also keeps a hidden ~/.conda folder in your home. Its environments.txt file is conda's list of the environments you have created, wherever they are. Conda's own code searches two places for named environments: the installation's envs folder first, then ~/.conda/envs. When the installation folder is not writable by your account, which can happen with the /opt installs, the order flips and new environments land in ~/.conda/envs. That is the usual reason an environment turns up somewhere unexpected.

You can add your own folders with the envs_dirs setting in ~/.condarc (or the CONDA_ENVS_PATH variable). Print the list conda is using with:

conda config --show envs_dirs

What is inside an environment

Each environment folder looks like a small Unix tree.

Path	What it holds
bin/	Executables, including python and any command-line tools installed there
lib/pythonX.Y/site-packages/	The Python packages installed in that environment
conda-meta/	One small JSON file per installed package, plus a history file, which conda uses to track the environment
include/, share/	Headers and shared data for the installed packages

Conda recognises a folder as an environment by its conda-meta folder. Do not edit or delete files in it by hand.

The shared package cache

Conda downloads each package once into a pkgs folder in the installation (for example ~/miniconda3/pkgs, with ~/.conda/pkgs as the fallback) and links files from there into each environment. That is why a second environment with the same packages costs far less disk than the first. It is also why copying one environment folder to another place breaks it: the environment's own path is written into files inside it.

conda info prints a package cache line and an envs directories line, which together tell you every folder involved. To see how big an installation is, run du -sh on its folder, for example du -sh ~/miniconda3.

Freeing space the safe way

Deleting an environment folder in Finder leaves conda's records out of step. Use conda instead.

1. Run conda env list and decide which environment you no longer need.
2. Run conda remove --name <environment-name> --all.
3. Run conda clean --all to drop cached downloads and unused packages. Conda lists what it plans to remove and asks you to confirm.

Never delete the installation folder while you still use conda, and do not empty pkgs by hand: let conda clean decide which cached packages nothing uses. To remove conda entirely, Anaconda's uninstall guide says to run conda init --reverse --all first, so your shell profile stops loading it, then remove the installation folder and, optionally, ~/.condarc, ~/.conda and ~/.continuum. Recent installers also leave an uninstall.sh script in the installation folder. Export anything you want to keep before you start.

Moving or rebuilding an environment

Environments are not portable by copying. To recreate one on another Mac, export a description of it:

conda env export --name <environment-name> > environment.yml

On the new Mac, run conda env create -f environment.yml. Check the YAML file first: a full export includes platform-specific build strings, while conda env export --from-history lists only the packages you asked for by name, which travels better between an Apple silicon Mac and an Intel one.

For environments on an external drive, add a folder to envs_dirs or create one with conda create --prefix /Volumes/Drive/envs/myenv. An environment made with --prefix has no short name, so conda env list shows it by path and you activate it with the full path.

Why Finder search never shows them

Spotlight and Finder searches leave hidden dot-folders such as ~/.conda out of their results, and Finder does not show /opt at all unless you go to it directly. Inside an environment, the files have generic names that look the same in every environment. Press ⇧⌘. (Shift-Command-Period) in a Finder window to show hidden folders.

Finding them again later

Type conda-meta into Everywhere and each environment appears as one result, whether the installer put it in your home folder, in /opt or in a Homebrew Caskroom. Typing environment.yml finds the export files in your projects too, although projects kept in Documents or on the Desktop only show up once Everywhere has Full Disk Access. It matches file names, not the packages listed inside a YAML file.

Common questions

Where are conda environments stored on a Mac?

In the envs folder of the conda installation: ~/miniconda3/envs or ~/anaconda3/envs for the Terminal installers, /opt/miniconda3/envs or /opt/anaconda3/envs for the graphical ones. Run conda info --envs to print the exact paths on your Mac.

How do I list all conda environments?

Run conda env list or conda info --envs. Both print each environment's name and full path, with an asterisk on the active one.

How do I delete a conda environment?

Run conda remove --name <environment-name> --all. Deleting the folder in Finder leaves conda's records out of step, so use the command.

Why did my conda environment end up in ~/.conda/envs?

Conda falls back to ~/.conda/envs when the installation folder is not writable by your account, and it searches that folder as well. conda config --show envs_dirs shows the order it uses.