My Mac Setup

This repo contains info on all the apps / tools / settings I use on my Mac.

• What Macbook do I have?
• !IMPORTANT
• Homebrew / Terminal / Shell
  • Homebrew
  • Terminal
  • Shell
    • Install the latest version of git
• OS Productivity
  • Window Management
  • App Switching
  • Quick Launching
  • System Stats Widgets
• Other Apps
• OS Settings
  • Finder
  • Dock
• Web Browser
  • Firefox
  • Global Modules

What Macbook do I have?

I am using the 2020 M1 13" Macbook Pro.

Specs:

• Apple M1 Pro
• 16GB RAM
• 256GB SSD

!IMPORTANT

Before doing anything, you have to install xcode tools

xcode-select --install

Homebrew / Terminal / Shell

Homebrew

Homebrew lets you install tools and apps from the command line.

Terminal

I prefer iTerm2

brew install iterm2

• Appearance
  • Theme
    • Minimal
• Profiles
  • Default
    • General -> Working Directory -> Reuse previous session's directory
    • Colors -> Basic Colors -> Foreground -> Lime Green
    • Text -> Font -> Anonymous Pro
      • You can download this font here
    • Text -> Font Size -> 36
    • Keys -> Key Mappings -> Presets -> Natural Text Editing

Shell

Mac uses zsh by default, that's what I use

Oh My Zsh to customize zsh

Install the latest version of git

You can use brew to install the latest version of git:

brew install git

Configure git with your name / email and preferred editor:

git config --global user.name "YOURUSERNAME"

git config --global user.email "YOUREMAIL"

OS Productivity

Window Management

I use rectangle to move and resize windows using keyboard shortcuts.

brew install rectangle

App Switching

AltTab

I replace the built-in CMD+TAB shortcut with AltTab.

brew install alt-tab

Quick Launching

Alfred

brew install alfred

System Stats Widgets

stats

Under "widget settings", choose "merge widgets into one".

brew install stats

Other Apps

• firefox-developer-edition - Web browser for development
• app-cleaner
• vlc
• keka - Can extract 7z / rar and other types of archives
• kap - Screen recorder / gif maker
• time-out - Break timer
• gimp
• inkscape
• visual-studio-code
• insomnia - HTTP / REST / GraphQL tester / requester
• notion
• figma

You can install them in one go by placing them all into a text file and then running brew install:

alfred
rectangle
alt-tab
stats
firefox-developer-edition
app-cleaner
vlc
keka
kap
time-out
gimp
inkscape
visual-studio-code
insomnia
notion
figma

xargs brew install < brew-casks.txt

OS Settings

These are my preferred settings for Finder and the Dock.

Finder

• 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 -> When performing a search -> Search the current folder
• View
  • Show Status Bar
  • Show Path Bar

Dock

• System Preferences
  • Dock & Menu Bar
    • Size -> Small as possible
    • Position on screen -> Right
    • Automatically hide and show the Dock -> Yes

Web Browser

Firefox

• uBlock Origin
• Privacy Badger
• Cookie Autodelete
• Decentraleyes
• Octotree
• Octolinker
• ColorZilla
• Cookie-Editor
• Smart-HTTPS

Global Modules

• lite-server
  • Auto refreshing static file server. Great for working on static apps with no build tools.
• license
  • Auto generate open source license files
• gitignore
  • Auto generate .gitignore files base on the current project type

npm install -g lite-server license gitignore