My Mac Setup

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

• What MacBook do I have?
• OS Settings
  • Desktop & Dock
  • Finder
• Github
  • Github SSH Setup
• Homebrew
• Quick Launching
  • RayCast
    • RayCast Plugins
• App Switching
• Menu Bar Utilities
  • Bartender
• Web Browsers
  • Safari
  • Google Chrome
• Fonts I use
• Other Apps I Use Daily
• Other Command Line Tools I Use Daily
• Other APPS (Not available in homebrew)
  • Docker
• Terminal
  • Shell
    • Load dotfiles
• Node.js
  • Global Modules

What MacBook do I have?

I am using a 2021 16" MacBook Pro

The specs:

• Apple M1 Pro Max
• 64GB RAM
• 2TB SSD

Read more about my MacBook here.

OS Settings

These are my preferred settings for Desktop, the Dock and Finder.

Desktop & Dock

I don't like the new Desktop, Stage Manager or Widget features in Tahoe, so I disable them.

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
    • Dock
    • Desktop & Stage Manager
    • Widgets & Windows
  • General
    • AutoFill & Passwords
      • AutoFill Passwords and Passkeys -> uncheck
  • Trackpad
    • Scroll & Zoom
      • Natural Scrolling -> uncheck
    • Menu Bar Only
      • Clock
        • Clock Options...
          • Date
            • Show date -> Always
            • Show day of the week -> toggle off
          • Time
            • Style -> Digital
            • Flash the time separators -> toggle off
            • Display the time with seconds -> toggle on
      • Spotlight -> Don't show in Menu Bar
      • Siri -> Don't show in Menu Bar

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 -> Show warning before changing an extension -> No
  • Advanced -> When performing a search -> Search the current folder
• View
  • Show Status Bar
  • Show Path Bar
  • Show Tab Bar

Github

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.

Github SSH Setup

• 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

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.

Quick Launching

RayCast

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

RayCast Plugins

• 1Password
• iMessage 2FA
• RayCast Homebrew Plugin so we can easily install formulae and casks directly from RayCast.

App Switching

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-tab

Menu Bar Utilities

Bartender

If you have several apps running that have menu bar icons, Bartender 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 bartender in RayCast brew search or:

brew install bartender

Web Browsers

Safari

I use safari for my everyday browsing life.

Google Chrome

I use Google Chrome for my work and local development previews.

Fonts I use

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

Other Apps I Use Daily

• discord - Messaging / Community
• figma - Image editor
• keepingyouawake - Prevents my Mac from going to sleep when I'm presenting / live streaming
• 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:

cleanshot
discord
figma
keepingyouawake
obs
obsidian
pearcleaner
pika
postman
screen-studio
slack
visual-studio-code
zoom

xargs brew install < apps.txt

Other Command Line Tools I Use Daily

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

eza
lazygit
pnpm
powerlevel10k
stow
thefuck
tldr
wezterm
zoxide
zsh-autosuggestions
zsh-syntax-highlighting

xargs brew install < formulae.txt

Other APPS (Not available in homebrew)

You can install the following from the MAC App Store

• 1Password for Safari
• Final Cut Pro
• Keynote
• Numbers
• Pixelmator Pro
• Speedtest

Docker

There are multiple results when you search docker within brew. To install Docker desktop:

brew install --cask docker

Terminal

I prefer Wezterm

brew install wezterm

Shell

Load dotfiles

All my dotfiles are stored on github.

I clone this repo to my machine and copy the files into my home directory.

Node.js

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/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash

Now 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 --version

Global Modules

There are a few global node modules I use a lot:

• npm-check-updates

npm install -g npm-check-updates