**Is it possible to use Miniconda for ARM and Intel processors on an ARM-based Mac? Yes, it is possible, and we will show you how!**

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As an ML Engineer or Data Scientist, you want to use both flavors (x86\_64 & Apple Silicon) of Miniconda or Anaconda if you are working on product development for both architectures. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Miniconda for both processor architectures on an ARM-based Mac. We've no time to waste. Let's start with the installation process! ## Prerequisites Before installing Miniconda, make sure your setup meets the following requirements: - Mac with ARM chip (M Series), We use a MacBook Pro 16-inch (2024) with an Apple M4 Max chip. - Installed [Homebrew](https://brew.sh){:target="_blank" rel="noopener"} Homebrew is a package manager for macOS and Linux. We use [Homebrew](/software-engineering/homebrew-package-manager/) for all apps that we install on our MacBook. The advantage is that we can update all apps with a single command. That saves us a lot of time and makes us much more productive. Next, you need to install the package wget. It is a free command line program for downloading files from the Internet. You can use the following command: ```bash brew install wget ``` Great! Now, we are ready to start with the conda installation. ## Installation of Miniconda for x86\_64 First, you have to open the terminal app. Then, you need to check whether your terminal is in rosetta mode. For this, you can use the following command in your terminal: ```bash uname -m # Desired Output: x86_64 ``` You can also check in the Finder whether the rosetta mode is activated. To do this, right-click on the terminal app and select "Get Info". Then, you can see whether the check mark is set for rosetta mode. If not, set the check mark.

Next, we download the Miniconda x86\_64 bash installer. You can use the following command: ```bash wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh ``` Then, you have to run the installer: ```bash sh ./Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh ``` Click enter until you can agree to the license with yes. Next, you have to enter the installation path (e.g., `/Users/[your user name]/miniconda3-x86_64`). The main idea is to preserve the default installation path for the Apple Silicon Miniconda installation. Then, enter no for conda init. We don't want to add the conda initializers to our terminal startup scripts. We create a custom startup script later. ## Installation of Miniconda for Apple Silicon First, you have to switch your terminal into silicon mode! For this, open the "Get info" menu of your terminal app and uncheck the box "Open using Rosetta". Next, you have to check whether your terminal is in silicon mode: ```bash uname -m # Desired Output: arm64 ``` Your terminal is in the right mode when you see the output `arm64`! Next, you need to download the Miniconda silicon bash installer. You can use the following command: ```bash wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-arm64.sh ``` Run the installer with the following command: ```bash sh ./Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-arm64.sh ``` Click enter until you can agree to the license with yes. Then, you have to install it at the default path `/Users/[your user name]/miniconda3/` . Enter no for conda init! We don't want to add the conda initializers to our terminal startup scripts. ## Configuration for both installations In this section, we create a custom startup script for the conda init process. The script activates based on the terminal mode (rosetta or Apple silicon) x86\_64 or the Apple silicon installation of Miniconda. You can configure this in four easy steps: 1\. Create a custom startup script for conda init: ```bash mkdir ~/.custrc/ && touch ~/.custrc/.condarc ``` 2\. Open and add the conda init functions to the script: ```bash # open the conda startup script nano ~/.custrc/.condarc ``` Paste the following [code](https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-install-miniconda-x86-64-apple-m1-side-by-side-on-mac-book-m1-a476936bfaf0){:target="_blank" rel="noopener"} in the startup script (change it to your user name). ```bash init_conda() { # >>> conda initialize >>> conda_path_silicon="/Users/[your user name]/miniconda3" __conda_setup="$('${conda_path_silicon}/bin/conda' 'shell.zsh' 'hook' 2> /dev/null)" if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then eval "$__conda_setup" else if [ -f "${conda_path_silicon}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" ]; then . "${conda_path_silicon}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" else export PATH="${conda_path_silicon}/bin:$PATH" fi fi unset __conda_setup # <<< conda initialize <<< } init_conda_x86_64() { # >>> conda initialize >>> conda_path_x86_64="/Users/[your user name]/miniconda3-x86_64" __conda_setup="$('${conda_path_x86_64}/bin/conda' 'shell.zsh' 'hook' 2> /dev/null)" if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then eval "$__conda_setup" else if [ -f "${conda_path_x86_64}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" ]; then . "${conda_path_x86_64}/etc/profile.d/conda.sh" else export PATH="${conda_path_x86_64}/bin:$PATH" fi fi unset __conda_setup # <<< conda initialize <<< } ``` 3\. Open the file .zshrc: ```bash nano ~/.zshrc ``` If the file does not exists, create the file (`touch ~/.zshrc`). Add the following code to the file: ```bash # init conda based on architecture source ~/.custrc/.condarc if [[ $(uname -m) == 'x86_64' ]]; then init_conda_x86_64 echo "conda x86_64 is activated" else init_conda echo "conda silicon is activated" fi ``` 4\. Finally, open your rosetta enabled terminal. You will get the output “conda x86\_64 is activated”. Then open the silicon enabled terminal (default terminal). You will get the output “conda silicon is activated”. Great! Now, you can use the x86_64 and ARM-based Miniconda side-by-side on your Mac. Happy coding!