This repo contains info on all the apps / tools / settings I use on my Mac.
- What MacBook do I have?
- OS Settings
- Github
- Homebrew
- Quick Launching
- App Switching
- Menu Bar Utilities
- Web Browser
- Fonts I use
- Other Apps I Use Daily
- Other Command Line Tools I Use Daily
- Other APPS (Not available in homebrew)
- Terminal
- Node.js
I am using a 2021 16" MacBook Pro
The specs:
- Apple M1 Pro Max
- 64GB RAM
- 2TB SSD
Read more about my MacBook here.
These are my preferred settings for Desktop, Finder and the Dock.
I don't like the new Desktop, Stage Manager or Widget features in Sequoia, so I disable them.
- System Preferences
- Control Center
- Other Modules
- Battery
- Show in menu bar -> uncheck
- Show in control center -> uncheck
- Show percentage -> uncheck
- Battery
- Other Modules
- Desktop & Dock
- Desktop & Stage Manager
- Show Items
- On Desktop -> uncheck
- In Stage Manager -> uncheck
- Click wallpaper to reveal desktop -> Only in Stage Manager
- Stage Manager -> uncheck
- Widgets
- On Desktop -> uncheck
- In Stage Manager -> uncheck
- Windows
- Prefer tabs when opening document -> In Full Screen
- Ask to keep changes when closing documents -> uncheck
- Tile by dragging window to screen edges -> uncheck
- hold option key while dragging windows to tile -> uncheck
- tiled windows have margins -> uncheck
- Show Items
- Desktop & Stage Manager
- General
- AutoFill & Passwords
- AutoFill Passwords and Passkeys -> uncheck
- AutoFill & Passwords
- Trackpad
- Scroll & Zoom
- Natural Scrolling -> uncheck
- Menu Bar Only
- Clock
- Clock Options...
- Date
- Show date -> Never
- Show day of the week -> uncheck
- Time
- Style -> Analog
- Show AM/PM -> uncheck
- Flash the time separators -> uncheck
- Display the time with seconds -> uncheck
- Date
- Clock Options...
- Spotlight -> Don't show in Menu Bar
- Siri -> Don't show in Menu Bar
- TIme Machine -> Don't show in Menu Bar
- Clock
- Scroll & Zoom
- Control Center
- Finder -> Preferences
- General -> Show these on the desktop -> Select None
- I try to keep my desktop completely clean.
- General -> New Finder windows show -> Home Folder
- I prefer to see my home folder in each new finder window instead of recent documents
- Advanced -> Show all filename extensions -> Yes
- Advanced -> Show warning before changing an extension -> No
- Advanced -> When performing a search -> Search the current folder
- General -> Show these on the desktop -> Select None
- View
- Show Status Bar
- Show Path Bar
- Show Tab Bar
I don't use the Dock at all. It takes up screen space, and I can use RayCast to launch apps and AltTab to switch between apps. I make the dock as small as possible and auto hide it.
- System Preferences
- Desktop & Dock
- Size -> Small as possible
- Position on screen -> Bottom
- Automatically hide and show the Dock -> Yes
- Animate opening applications -> No
- Show suggested and recent apps in the Dock -> No
- Desktop & Dock
I like to setup github at this point so I can clone this repo to access .txt files for easy batch installs later in this guide.
- Follow this guide to setup an ssh key for github
- Follow this guide to add the ssh key to your github account
- Follow this guide to test the ssh connection
Homebrew allows us to install tools and apps from the command line.
To install it, open up the built in Terminal app and run this command:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"This will also install the xcode build tools which is needed by many other developer tools.
After Homebrew is done installing, we will use it (via RayCast) to install everything else we need.
The built in spotlight search is a bit slow for me and usually has web search results as the default instead of apps or folders on my machine.
I use RayCast.
brew install raycast- 1Password
- iMessage 2FA
- RayCast Homebrew Plugin so we can easily install formulae and casks directly from RayCast.
The built in App switcher only shows application icons, and only shows 1 icon per app regardless of how many windows you have open in that app.
I use an app switcher called AltTab. It shows full window previews, and has an option to show a preview for every open window in all applications (even minimized ones).
I replace the built-in CMD+TAB shortcut with AltTab.
Search for alt-tab in RayCast brew search or:
brew install alt-tabHidden Bar
If you have several apps running that have menu bar icons, Hidden Bar will let you choose which ones should be hidden after a timeout. This cleans things up if you have a ton of background apps running.
Search for hiddenbar in RayCast brew search or:
brew install hiddenbarSimple calendar app that show date and a dropdown with events
brew install itsycal
Simple stats app that I use to show memory usage, and customize the time and battery percentage displayed.
brew install stats- CPU
- GPU
- Disk
- Sensors
- Network
- Bluetooth
I use safari for my everyday browsing life.
I use Firefox for web development.
I use Firefox Developer Edition. To install this with brew you will need to install Firefox Developer Edition with brew:
brew install firefox@developer-editionI use the following extensions to stay productive:
- Tabliss - simple new tab page
- Dark Reader - turn any site into dark mode
I use the following extensions to protect my privacy while browsing the web:
- Adblocker - uBlock Origin
- Tracker Blocker - Privacy Badger
- Firefox now includes tracker blocking, but I leave Privacy Badger enabled.
- Decentraleyes
- Caches CDN links locally and intercepts requests to serve from the cache. Prevents CDNs from tracking you across websites.
One thing I love about homebrew is that I can use it to install fonts!
Place following in a .txt file and run brew install:
font-anonymous-pro
font-meslo-lg-nerd-font
xargs brew install < fonts.txt- discord - Messaging / Community
- figma - Image editor
- keepingyouawake - Prevents my Mac from going to sleep when I'm presenting / live streaming
- keka - Can extract 7z / rar and other types of archives
- visual-studio-code - Code Editor
You can install them in one go by placing them all into a text file and then running brew install:
1password-cli
capcut
cleanshot
discord
figma
iina
keepingyouawake
keka
marta
monitorcontrol
obs
obsidian
pika
postman
screen-studio
slack
visual-studio-code
zoom
xargs brew install < apps.txtYou can install them in one go by placing them all into a text file and then running brew install:
eza
fzf
pnpm
powerlevel10k
speedtest-cli
stow
tldr
zoxide
xargs brew install < formulae.txtYou can install the following from the MAC App Store
- 1Password for Safari
- Final Cut Pro
- Keynote
- Numbers
- Pixelmator Pro
- Speedtest
- Things
In a nutshell, beautifully. Setapp membership gives you access to curated apps for Mac, web and iOS for $9.99 / month. To install setapp:
brew install --cask setapp- AirBUddy
- CleanMyMac X
- Downie
- MindNode
- Bartender
There are multiple results when you search docker within brew. To install Docker desktop:
brew install --cask dockerI prefer Wezterm because:
- Simple lua configuration
Checkout their documentation for more info on what wezterm can do: https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/config/files.html
brew install wezterm
All my dotfiles are stored on github.
I clone this repo to my machine and copy the files into my home directory.
I use nvm to manage the installed versions of Node.js on my machine. This allows me to easily switch between Node.js versions depending on the project I'm working in.
See installation instructions here.
OR run this command (make sure v0.39.7 is still the latest)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bashNow that nvm is installed, you can install a specific version of node.js and use it:
nvm install 20
nvm use 20.10.0
node --versionThere are a few global node modules I use a lot:
npm install -g npm-check-updates