---
id: conda-package-handling
version: "2.5.0"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# conda-package-handling — Create and extract conda packages of various formats.

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 108.2K/mo

## What it is and what it does

conda-package-handling is a library and CLI tool for working with conda package archives. It abstracts the details of different conda package formats, allowing you to create new packages, extract existing ones, and convert between formats without needing to understand the underlying compression and archive structures. The package is used internally by conda and conda-build to handle package operations.

The library exposes a Python API in conda_package_handling.api for programmatic use, and provides a cph command-line tool for interactive or scripted package manipulation. It depends on conda-package-streaming for efficient reading, requests for network operations, and zstandard for compression support.

Use it for:

- Extract conda packages for inspection or modification of their contents
- Create new conda packages from a directory structure in various formats
- Convert conda packages between .conda and .tar.bz2 formats
- Automate package building workflows that need to handle multiple package formats
- Integrate conda package operations into Python build or deployment scripts

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Create, extract, and convert conda packages in various formats (.conda, .tar.bz2, and others) via a Python API or command-line tool.

Yes, if you work with conda packages programmatically or need command-line package manipulation beyond conda's built-in tools. The package is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries a permissive license, and is used by conda itself. Install it if you're building conda packages, automating package workflows, or need format conversion capabilities.

## Install

pip install conda-package-handling
uv add conda-package-handling
poetry add conda-package-handling

## Installing conda-package-handling

Before you install: Low friction install with three straightforward runtime dependencies. Repository is actively maintained with recent commits and no archived status.

License in practice: Permissive BSD license means you can use, modify, and distribute this package with minimal legal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install conda-package-handling

from conda_package_handling.api import extract, create

extract('package.conda', 'output_dir')
create('output_dir', 'new_package.conda')

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package handles all historical conda package formats or only a subset
- Performance characteristics when working with large or many packages
- Whether the cph command-line tool is feature-complete relative to conda's native tooling

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 108.2K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

conda package creation and extraction, conda package format conversion, build conda packages, extract conda archives, conda package management tool, conda, packaging, build-tools

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