conda-deactivate

Deactivate a conda environment

$ conda deactivate

conda deactivate

The conda deactivate command exits the currently active Conda environment, restoring the shell's PATH and environment variables to their previous state. Conda environments isolate package dependencies, and activation prepends the environment's bin directory to PATH. Deactivation reverses this, switching back to the base environment or prior stacked environment.

This command is crucial for developers managing multiple projects with conflicting dependencies. Unlike older source deactivate, modern conda deactivate works cross-shell without sourcing scripts. It handles environment stacking: if environments are nested (e.g., base → env1 → env2), repeated calls peel them off one by one until base.

No arguments are needed; it targets the innermost active environment. If no environment is active, it typically does nothing silently. Requires conda shell initialization via conda init. Available in Anaconda/Miniconda distributions for Linux, macOS, Windows.

No effect if no environment active; repeat for stacked envs. Requires conda init in shell. Not for permanent PATH changes.

Run conda init <shell> (e.g., bash) to enable; restarts shell after.

Check with conda info --envs (* marks active) or echo $CONDA_DEFAULT_ENV.

Replaced source deactivate in conda 4.6 (2018) for cross-platform, subcommand consistency. Evolved with environment stacking in 4.7+.

conda(1), mamba(1)