# Mambaforge – Package Management

One of the biggest features of Mambaforge is the ability to search and install packages from either a central or an exteral repository. Additionally, package management in Mambaforge is specifically designed to integrate with isolated environments. This page goes over the basics of searching and installing packages with the `mamba` command.

We also have `anaconda3` available as a module, but we have deliberately chosen Mambaforge for use within our documentation due to the ability to be a drop-in replacement for Anaconda and for the major improvements listed on the [mamba Github page](<https://github.com/mamba-org/mamba>), particularly the parallel downloads and faster dependency solving.

More information on conda/mamba package management can be found on the [Conda documentation page](<https://conda.io/projects/conda/en/latest/user-guide/tasks/manage-pkgs.html>). While the main command on that page uses the `conda` command, you can replace it with `mamba` and expect the same results.

## Prerequisites

In order to install `mamba` packages, you must first load the `mambaforge` module and activate a conda environment. Read our [Conda Environments](<https://rcdata.nau.edu/hpcpub/docs-test/software/conda-environments/conda-environments.html>) documentation page to learn how to do that.

*Note: If a user-created conda environment is not activated, the base conda environment located at `/packages/mambaforge/[latest_date]` will be used instead. This directory is not writable by regular users, so package installation will fail.*

## Searching for Packages

To see if a certain package is available, use the `mamba` search command:

```bash
mamba search [package_name]
```

For example, to search for the term `ninja`, a `mamba` search command would look like:

```bash
mamba search ninja
```

## Installing Packages

To install a specific package, use the `mamba install` command:

```bash
mamba install [package_name] [(optional) more_packages]
```

For example, to install the `ninja` package, a `mamba install` command would look like:

```bash
mamba install ninja
```

You can also specify a specific version of a package to install:

```bash
mamba install ninja=1.8.2
```

Additionally, you can also install multiple packages at once:

```bash
mamba install ninja=1.8.2 pandas
```

## Software Channels

*Channels* in `mamba` are the repositories that a given package is downloaded from. `mamba`has some channels configured by default, which you can see with the `conda config` command:

```bash
$ conda config --show channels
channels:
  - defaults
```

\*Note: The `conda config` command is not provided by `mamba`, so the `conda` command must be used. However, the `mambaforge` module provides the `conda` command, so no additional modules need to be loaded.

To install software from a channel not listed above, you can use the `-c` flag when using the `mamba install` command. For example, to install the `zstd` package, use the following command:

```bash
mamba install -c conda-forge zstd
```

## Updating Packages

To update a package, use the `mamba update` command:

```bash
mamba update [package_name] [(optional) more_packages]
```

For example, to update the `ninja` package, a `mamba update` command would look like:

```bash
mamba update ninja
```

You can also update multiple packages at once:

```bash
mamba update ninja pandas
```

## Removing Packages

To remove a specific package, use the `mamba remove` command:

```bash
mamba remove [package_name] [(optional) more_packages]
```

*Note: This will uninstall the specifed packages **in the currently active environment**.*

For example, to remove the ninja package, a `mamba remove` command would look like:

```bash
mamba remove ninja
```

You can also remove multiple packages at once

```bash
mamba remove ninja pandas
```

You can also remove a package from a specific conda environment:

```bash
mamba remove -n demo_environment ninja pandas
```