Getting Started with EasyData Environments

Let's say that you want to use EasyData to manage your environments reproducibly. Here's a tutorial outlining how you can get up and running managing your environments this way. Here's what we'll cover.

The best time to use an EasyData template is when you first create your project/repo.

We recommend using Step 1 to create every project you work with so that there is at least a 1:1 ratio between your conda environments and your projects. There are many issues with having more than one repo using the same conda environment, so whatever you do please don't use a monolithic environment to rule them all. For more on this idea see Tip #2 of Kjell's talk on building reproducible workflows.

1. Create your repo (also called a project) based on an EasyData project template
   • Create a project using an EasyData cookie cutter template
   • Initialize your project as a git repo
2. Explore the default settings
   • Explore the default conda environment
   • Explore the default paths
3. Customize your conda environment
   • Updating the environment
   • Checking your updates back into the project repo
   • Deleting and recreating the environment
4. Customize your local settings (things you shouldn't check in to a repo)
   • Customize your local paths configuration
   • Customize your environment variables
   • Customizing your local config to include credentials