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March 2026 Releases

· 6 min read
Ken Odegard
Ken Odegard
Conda Maintainer
Banner image for March 2026 Releases blog post

The March 2026 releases included updates to conda, conda-build, conda-libmamba-solver, conda-content-trust, conda-rattler-solver, conda-standalone, constructor, and conda-pypi! 🎉 All of these have been released to both defaults and conda-forge channels.

Changes in conda 26.3.0/26.3.1​

To update conda to the latest version, run:

conda install --name base conda=26.3.1

Notable Changes:

  • conda create --file and conda install --file accept environment.yaml as well as requirements.txt and explicit exports; with --name / --prefix omitted, the name or prefix is inferred from the file. -f is a recognized alias for --file (and is no longer an alias for --force).
  • Richer solver metadata: PackageRecord.requested_specs and unmerged match specs through the solver and pre-solve plugins.
  • Environment plugins support aliases, wildcard default_filenames, and new description / environment_format metadata.
  • Faster conda run (inline activators), optimized S3 downloads, and improved Windows activation for paths containing ^.
  • Clearer errors with PackagesNotFoundInChannelsError vs PackagesNotFoundInPrefixError; conda list --size shows non-zero sizes for metapackages; conda search --envs errors if the package is not found anywhere.
  • Trust / signature verification moved out of core: the conda.trust module and built-in signature post-solve plugin are removed; use the conda-content-trust plugin when you need verification with extra_safety_checks.
  • 26.3.1: plugin metadata records where each plugin was registered; diagnostics and conda info can surface that. Conda no longer discovers subcommands by scanning conda-* executables on PATH when building the CLI (prefer the plugin system).

Many long-deprecated APIs and legacy behaviors were removed in 26.3.0; see the release notes before upgrading automation that imports conda internals.

Full changelogs: 26.3.0, 26.3.1

Changes in conda-build 26.3.0​

conda install --name base conda-build=26.3.0

Notable changes:

  • Build v1 recipes using the rattler-build CLI.
  • Tar extraction sets an explicit filter for Python 3.14 compatibility.
  • Dropped unused pytz dependency; recipe requires conda >=25.11.0 and conda-libmamba-solver >=25.11.0.

Full changelog: 26.3.0

Changes in conda-libmamba-solver 26.3.0​

conda install --name base conda-libmamba-solver=26.3.0

Notable changes:

  • CEP 16 sharded repodata is marked ready for wider use (building on 25.11’s preliminary support).
  • Offline mode can use cached shards (with sensible fallbacks); improved shard fetch fallbacks, channel ordering, sqlite cache recovery, and S3 URL joining; .tar.bz2 duplicates are dropped when .conda exists and use_only_tar_bz2 is off.

Full changelog: 26.3.0

Changes in conda-content-trust 0.3.0/0.3.1​

conda install conda-content-trust=0.3.1

Notable changes:

  • CondaPostSolve hook for signature verification (migrated from conda’s former conda.trust implementation), aligned with conda 26.3’s plugin-based trust story.
  • Supports Python 3.13 and 3.14; drops 3.8 and 3.9.

Full changelogs: 0.3.0, 0.3.1

Changes in conda-rattler-solver 0.0.6​

conda install conda-rattler-solver=0.0.6

Notable changes:

  • Bumps py-rattler to 0.23.

Full changelog: 0.0.6

Changes in conda-standalone 26.1.1​

Notable changes:

  • Updated embedded conda, libmambapy 2.5.0, and Python 3.13.12.
  • Data files only for the native platform; PATH ordering fixed for classic (--classic) init; constructor extract legacy argument handling fixed.

Full changelog: 26.1.1

Changes in constructor 3.15.0 / 3.15.1​

conda install constructor=3.15.1

Notable changes (3.15.0):

  • Support for installing protected (frozen) environments (CEP 22).
  • INSTALLER_PATH (and INSTALLER_PLUGINSDIR for EXE) exposed to pre/post install scripts.
  • Architecture checks on macOS .sh and .pkg installers; EXE pre-install script respects the UI checkbox; Mach-O signing under _internal for notarization.

3.15.1: EXE uninstaller fix for INSTDIR vs PATH; canary CI uses the latest conda-standalone onedir build.

Full changelogs: 3.15.0, 3.15.1

Changes in conda-pypi 0.5.0 / 0.6.0​

conda install conda-pypi=0.6.0

Notable changes (0.5.0):

  • Test injection for conda pypi convert; --name-mapping for custom PyPI→conda name maps; fixes for headers wheels, hex wheel hashes (conda-rattler-solver compatibility), and data / scripts schemes.

0.6.0: repodata v3.whl test fixtures (extra_depends, normalized when); PEP 508 marker conversion for [when=…] entries; dependency fix for conda-package-streaming.

Full changelogs: 0.5.0, 0.6.0

We ❤️ our community​

Altogether, we had 8 new contributors this release cycle; thank you to all of our open source community members for helping make these improvements possible.