Building Anaconda Navigator Applications¶
Who is this for?¶
This tutorial is for Windows, macOS, and Linux users who wish to generate an Anaconda Navigator app conda package from a PyPI package. Prior knowledge of conda-build or conda recipes is recommended.
Conda build summary¶
The conda build recipe for Rodeo will be generated by conda skeleton. Three modifications to the files in the build recipe are required to declare the package as an app. The package is built and uploaded to your Anaconda Cloud channel. Finally, after adding the channel in Anaconda Navigator the app will appear on the Home pane.
Before you start¶
Note: Applications to be built for Anaconda Navigator should have a graphical user interface. Not all conda packages have graphical interfaces.
You should already have installed Miniconda or Anaconda.
Install conda-build:
conda install conda-build
It is recommended that you use the latest versions of conda and conda-build. To upgrade both packages run:
conda upgrade conda
conda upgrade conda-build
You will also need an account on Anaconda Cloud. Your username will be referred to as your Anaconda Cloud channel.
Create skeleton recipe¶
First, in your user home directory, run the conda skeleton
command:
conda skeleton pypi rodeo
This creates a directory named rodeo and creates three skeleton files in that directory: meta.yaml, build.sh,
and bld.bat. Use the ls
command on macOS or Linux or the dir
command on Windows to verify that these files
have been created.
Modify Requirements¶
In a text editor change entries from ipython
to jupyter
in the requirements
section.
The full requirements
section will look like this.
requirements:
build:
- python
- setuptools
- jupyter
- flask >=0.10.1
- docopt
- pyzmq >=13
- mistune
run:
- python
- jupyter
- flask >=0.10.1
- docopt
- pyzmq >=13
- mistune
App entry in meta.yaml¶
To declare a conda package as an app the app
parameter must be added to the meta.yaml
file.
The app
section will contain four keys entry
, icon
, summary
and type
.
In the app
section the entry
tag defines how the package is to be launched by
Anaconda Navigator. For the Rodeo IDE separate entry
tags are required for Windows, macOS,
and Linux operating systems.
In your text editor open the meta.yaml
file and add the following lines.
On Windows and Linux the entry
tag is
app:
entry: rodeo . [win]
entry: rodeo . [linux]
For macOS a launch script must also be provided.
In a text editor create a new file in the conda build recipe directory called rodeo_mac.command
.
The contents of this file are
DIR=$(dirname $0)
$DIR/rodeo ${HOME}
To make sure that the file gets installed add these lines to the build.sh
script.
if [ `uname` == Darwin ]
then
cp $RECIPE_DIR/rodeo_mac.command $PREFIX/bin
fi
Then in meta.yaml
add this line to the app
section.
entry: open ${PREFIX}/bin/rodeo_mac.command [osx]
Finally, a logo PNG file is provided in the conda build recipe that will be displayed
in Anaconda Navigator. You can download the
app.png file directly
from the Github repository.
This file must be downloaded to the same directory as the meta.yaml
file.
The completed app
section should look like this.
app:
entry: rodeo . [win]
entry: rodeo . [linux]
entry: open ${PREFIX}/bin/rodeo_mac.command [osx]
icon: app.png
summary: Rodeo Data Science IDE
type: web
You can download full versions of the meta.yaml
and build.sh
files.
Build¶
Now that you have the conda build recipe ready, you can use the conda-build tool to create the package. You will have to build and upload the rodeo package separately on Windows, macOS, and Linux machines in order for the package to be available on all platforms.
conda build rodeo
When conda-build is finished, it displays the exact path and filename of the conda package. See the Troubleshooting section if the conda-build command fails.
Windows example file path:
C:\Users\jsmith\Miniconda\conda-bld\win-64\rodeo-0.4.4-py35_0.tar.bz2
macOS example file path:
/Users/jsmith/miniconda/conda-bld/osx-64/rodeo-0.4.4-py35_0.tar.bz2
Linux example file path:
/home/jsmith/miniconda/conda-bld/linux-64/rodeo-0.4.4-py35_0.tar.bz2
NOTE: Your path and filename will vary depending on your installation and operating system. Save the path and filename information for the next step.
Upload to Anaconda Cloud¶
Now you can upload the new local packages to Anaconda Cloud.
First login to Anaconda Cloud from your terminal application:
anaconda login
You will be asked for your Anaconda Cloud account name and password. If the login was successful you will see output like the following.
Using Anaconda Cloud api site https://api.anaconda.org
Username: defusco
defusco's Password:
login successful
Note: This step must be done in the root conda environment.
Now that you are logged into your channel you can upload the Rodeo conda package as follows.
Windows users:
anaconda upload C:\Users\jsmith\Miniconda\conda-bld\win-64\rodeo-0.4.4-py35_0.tar.bz2
Linux and macOS users:
anaconda upload /home/jsmith/miniconda/conda-bld/linux-64/rodeo-0.4.4-py35_0.tar.bz2
Note: Change your path and filename to the exact path and filename you saved in Step 2. Your path and filename will vary depending on your installation and operating system.
For more information about Anaconda Cloud, see the Anaconda Cloud documentation page.
Configure Anaconda Navigator¶
Now that the Rodeo package has been uploaded to your Anaconda Cloud channel you need to add the channel to Anaconda Navigator.
Launch the Anaconda Navigator app. In Windows and Linux it will be available from the Start Menu. On macOS you can find it either on the Desktop or through Spotlight.
Open the Environments pane on the far left:

To add your channel first click the Channel button, second click the Add button, third type in the URL to your Anaconda Cloud channel:
https://conda.anaconda.org/CHANNEL
Replace CHANNEL with your Anaconda Cloud username.
Finally, click the Update Channels button:

The last step is to close and restart Anaconda Navigator. The Rodeo app will be displayed on the Home pane.

Troubleshooting¶
A. Conda build fails¶
If the conda recipe fails to build consult the Troubleshooting page.
B. App does not appear on the home pane¶
Check that the conda package has been uploaded to your Anaconda Cloud channel.
Check that your channel has been added to the Channels list.
You may have to remove your .anaconda/navigator
directory and restart Navigator.
On Windows, macOS, and Linux this directory is in your Home directory.
C. App does not launch¶
If after installing the application it does not launch check that it works correctly on the command line with the following command.
conda run rodeo
If rodeo starts correctly then you may have to remove your .anaconda/navigator
directory and restart Navigator.
On Windows, macOS, and Linux this directory is in your Home directory.
Additional Information¶
See the conda skeleton pypi reference page for more options.
For more information about adding Start Menu entries in Windows see the menuinst documentation.