conda channels

what is conda channels ?

Conda channels are the locations where packages are stored. They serve as the base for hosting and managing packages. Conda packages are downloaded from remote channels, which are URLs to directories containing conda packages

set up channels

The conda-forge channel contains many general-purpose packages not already found in the defaults channel. The conda-forge is highest priority.
use following commands to add channels :

$ conda config --add channels defaults
$ conda config --add channels bioconda
$ conda config --add channels conda-forge
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --show channels
channels:
  - conda-forge
  - bioconda
  - defaults
#order matters, use following cmd to make sure `conda-forge` highest priority, then `bioconda` next
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --add channels bioconda
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --add channels conda-forge
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --show channels
channels:
  - conda-forge
  - bioconda
  - defaults
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --prepend channels bioconda
Warning: 'bioconda' already in 'channels' list, moving to the top
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --show channels
channels:
  - bioconda
  - conda-forge
  - defaults
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --prepend channels conda-forge
Warning: 'conda-forge' already in 'channels' list, moving to the top
(base) [biocodee@localhost ~]$ conda config --show channels
channels:
  - conda-forge
  - bioconda
  - defaults

reference :

[1] Conda channels. website