Where Does Pixi Store Environments and Cache?
Pixi keeps global environments in ~/.pixi and shared package caches in the OS cache directory.
Last updated
Pixi splits state three ways. Global installs and the global config.toml live in PIXI_HOME, which defaults to ~/.pixi (%USERPROFILE%\.pixi on Windows). Downloaded packages sit in a shared cache: ~/.cache/rattler on Linux, ~/Library/Caches/rattler on macOS, %LOCALAPPDATA%\rattler on Windows. Each project's own environments build under its .pixi folder.
The cache layering confuses people. PIXI_CACHE_DIR wins, then RATTLER_CACHE_DIR, then XDG_CACHE_HOME/pixi if present, then the platform default. Run pixi info or check the config reference when disk usage surprises you; per-project .pixi dirs are usually the bigger culprit.
Where Pixi stores this, by platform
~/.pixi
Global envs plus config.toml. Project envs live in each project's .pixi instead. Cache defaults to ~/.cache/rattler; PIXI_CACHE_DIR overrides.
~/.pixi
Same home layout. Cache defaults to ~/Library/Caches/rattler. Config search also checks XDG and /etc paths per the precedence table.
%USERPROFILE%\.pixi
Same layout under your profile. Cache defaults to %LOCALAPPDATA%\rattler. System config lives in C:\ProgramData\pixi.
Frequently asked questions
How do I clear the Pixi package cache?
Run pixi clean cache. For finer control, the config reference documents per-kind cache roots (conda packages, wheels, repodata) that you can redirect independently or wipe selectively.
Can I share Pixi global installs between users?
Set PIXI_HOME to the shared path before installing. Global environments and the global config.toml resolve against it, so every account on the machine shares the same tools.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.