Install a pre-release version of Python on M1 Mac using conda

I would like to install python 3.13.0rc1 with conda on an M1 Mac.

However, conda create fails with error message "python 3.13.0rc1** is not installable because it requires _python_rc, which does not exist (perhaps a missing channel)":

% conda search python
...      
python                        3.12.4      h99e199e_1  pkgs/main           
python                        3.12.5 h30c5eda_0_cpython  conda-forge         
python                     3.13.0rc1 h17d3ab0_0_cp313t  conda-forge         
python                     3.13.0rc1 h17d3ab0_1_cp313t  conda-forge         
python                     3.13.0rc1 h17d3ab0_2_cp313t  conda-forge         
python                     3.13.0rc1 h8754ccd_100_cp313  conda-forge         
python                     3.13.0rc1 h8754ccd_101_cp313  conda-forge         
python                     3.13.0rc1 h8754ccd_102_cp313  conda-forge

% conda create --name py python=3.13.0rc1 --channel conda-forge --override-channels
Channels:
 - conda-forge
Platform: osx-arm64
Collecting package metadata (repodata.json): done
Solving environment: failed

LibMambaUnsatisfiableError: Encountered problems while solving:
  - nothing provides _python_rc needed by python-3.13.0rc1-h17d3ab0_0_cp313t

Could not solve for environment specs
The following package could not be installed
ââ python 3.13.0rc1**  is not installable because it requires
   ââ _python_rc, which does not exist (perhaps a missing channel).

Note that installing the latest python without specifying the version (conda create --name py python) installs python 3.12.5.

See also:

Solution

python_rc is under the python_rc label, seehere, you can specify it directly in your command line like this:

conda create --name py python=3.13.0rc1 conda-forge/label/python_rc::_python_rc --channel conda-forge --override-channels