Installer reference#

Tip

On macOS and Linux, Homebrew is the recommended installation method. The shell scripts below are an alternative for environments without Homebrew (CI, containers, Windows).

cx provides standalone installer scripts for macOS, Linux, and Windows. These scripts automate downloading the correct binary, verifying its checksum, setting up your PATH, and optionally running cx info to trigger automatic bootstrap.

Usage#

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | sh

or with wget:

wget -qO- https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.ps1 | iex"

Tip

You can inspect the scripts before running them:

curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | less

irm https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.ps1 | more

What the installer does#

  1. Detects your platform — operating system and CPU architecture

  2. Downloads the binary from GitHub Releases

  3. Verifies the SHA256 checksum against the published .sha256 file

  4. Installs the binary to the install directory

  5. Updates your shell profile / PATH so the installed cx binary is found in new shells

  6. Warns about early-release state if ~/.cx still exists

  7. Runs cx info to bootstrap the conda environment and print conda information

If the installer finds ~/.cx, it leaves that directory alone. Current releases bootstrap into ~/.conda/express; see Upgrade From Early cx Versions before removing old early-release environments.

For manual downloads or mirrored installer inputs, see Verify Release Artifacts for checksum, attestation, and metadata checks.

GitHub Actions#

For task-oriented examples, see Use cx in GitHub Actions. Use the setup action when a workflow needs cx on PATH:

steps:
  - uses: jezdez/conda-express/.github/actions/setup-cx@<release-tag>
  - run: cx info

Pin the action to a conda-express release tag for reproducible CI. When version is omitted and the action ref is a release tag, the action installs that same version. If the action ref is not a release tag, it resolves and installs the latest release.

The action downloads the platform-specific cx asset, checks the published .sha256 file, optionally verifies GitHub Artifact Attestations from .github/workflows/release.yml, optionally bootstraps the managed conda prefix by running a conda command, and adds the install directory to PATH.

Useful inputs:

Input

Default

Description

version

action ref when it is a release tag, otherwise latest

conda-express release version to install

github-token

empty

GitHub token used for latest-release lookup and Artifact Attestation verification

install-dir

runner temp directory

Directory to place the cx binary

bootstrap

true

Run cx info after installation to trigger automatic bootstrap

add-to-path

true

Add the install directory to GITHUB_PATH

verify-attestation

false

Verify the downloaded binary with GitHub Artifact Attestations

Set bootstrap: false for workflows that only need the downloaded binary or want to defer prefix creation until a later cx command.

Enable provenance verification for stricter CI:

permissions:
  contents: read
  attestations: read

steps:
  - uses: jezdez/conda-express/.github/actions/setup-cx@<release-tag>
    with:
      verify-attestation: true
      github-token: ${{ github.token }}

Options#

All options are set via environment variables and work on both platforms.

Variable

Default

Description

CX_INSTALL_DIR

~/.local/bin (Unix) or %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin (Windows)

Directory to place the cx binary

CX_VERSION

latest

Version to install (without v prefix, e.g. 26.5.2.post6)

CX_NO_PATH_UPDATE

(unset)

Set to any value to skip shell profile / PATH modification

CX_NO_BOOTSTRAP

(unset)

Set to any value to skip the installer’s eager bootstrap command

CX_SKIP_VERIFY

(unset)

Set to any value to skip checksum verification

CX_PREFIX

~/.conda/express

Managed prefix used by runtime invocations while the variable is set

CX_BUNDLE

(unset)

Bundle directory containing .conda/.tar.bz2 archives used during automatic bootstrap

CX_OFFLINE

(unset)

Set to any truthy value to disable network during bootstrap

CX_PREFIX, CX_BUNDLE, and CX_OFFLINE are runtime bootstrap controls that the installer passes to cx info. The installer does not persist CX_PREFIX. Set it again for later commands that should use a non-default prefix.

CX_VERSION selects a conda-express release. Release versions follow the conda runtime version in the lock; 26.5.2.post6 bootstraps conda 26.5.2, while 26.5.2.post1 would be a conda-express-only rebuild with the same conda runtime package.

Tip

For disconnected deployments, consider using cxz instead of cx with CX_BUNDLE / CX_OFFLINE. The cxz binary embeds the locked package archives and requires no separate bundle directory. See Offline and Air-Gapped Installs for details.

Examples#

Install a specific version:

curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | env CX_VERSION=26.5.2.post6 sh

Install to a custom directory without eagerly bootstrapping the prefix:

curl -fsSL https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.sh | env CX_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/bin CX_NO_BOOTSTRAP=1 sh

PowerShell with options:

$Env:CX_VERSION = "26.5.2.post6"; irm https://jezdez.github.io/conda-express/get-cx.ps1 | iex

The PowerShell script also accepts named parameters when invoked directly:

.\get-cx.ps1 -Version 26.5.2.post6 -InstallDir C:\tools -NoBootstrap

For an offline automatic bootstrap with a bundle directory:

.\get-cx.ps1 -Bundle C:\mirror\cx-packages -Offline

Platform detection#

The shell script uses uname -s and uname -m to detect the platform. The PowerShell script uses .NET’s RuntimeInformation.OSArchitecture.

Detected

Target

Binary

Linux x86_64

x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

cx-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

Linux ARM64

aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

cx-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu

macOS x86_64

x86_64-apple-darwin

cx-x86_64-apple-darwin

macOS ARM64

aarch64-apple-darwin

cx-aarch64-apple-darwin

Windows x86_64

x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

cx-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.exe

Windows ARM64 is not published for conda-express yet. conda-ship has Windows ARM64 builder assets, but full runtime bootstrap support still depends on the conda package ecosystem. The PowerShell installer reports that architecture as unsupported instead of downloading an incompatible binary.

Shell profile updates#

The shell script appends a PATH export to your shell configuration file:

Shell

File

bash

~/.bashrc

zsh

~/.zshrc

fish

~/.config/fish/config.fish

The PowerShell script updates the user PATH in the Windows registry (HKCU:\Environment) and broadcasts a WM_SETTINGCHANGE message so running applications pick up the change.

Set CX_NO_PATH_UPDATE to skip this step if you prefer to manage your PATH manually.

Uninstalling#

Remove the binary through the method that installed it:

brew uninstall cx

For a PyPI installation:

python -m pip uninstall conda-express

For a standalone script installation, delete the installed cx binary and remove the PATH line that the script added to your shell profile. On Windows, remove the install directory from the user PATH.

These methods do not remove ~/.conda/express or its named environments. Export anything you need before removing that prefix manually. There is no runtime-owned uninstall command until conda-self provides a conda-express adapter.

Manual uninstall#

If the cx command is unavailable, you can remove everything manually:

  1. Delete the binary:

    rm ~/.local/bin/cx

  2. Remove the conda prefix:

    rm -rf ~/.conda/express

  3. Remove the PATH line from your shell profile if the installer added one.