My Comprehensive macOS Development Setup

Recently, I bought a new M1 MacBook Pro after using Intel MacBooks for the last 10 years. Within the first few days of using it, I was immediately hooked. It is, by far, the best computer I’ve owned in my professional and personal life. I wanted to set this up completely from scratch, without using the migration assistant or importing from a backup. This felt like a good time to codify some of the settings and applications I use and recommend to other folks. So, here’s a look at my comprehensive macOS development setup.

During setup, I sign in with my iCloud account to sync contacts, messages, and calendar events. I enable touch ID and disable Siri.

First Steps

Immediately, I copy a few key files from my previous computer.

• .zshrc, .zprofile, .zshenv, .history
• ~/.aws/
• ~/.vimrc
• ~/.gitconfig

Note: It’s nice to skip all of the git config --global setup here, but otherwise you may need to specify things like user.name, user.email, pull.ff, and alias (among others).

• ~/.ssh/ (I shouldn’t do this, but it’s easier than updating my SSH keys everywhere. I cycle these after I’ve finished setting up, but this is one less step during this process.)
• ~/bin/ (a collection of scripts I’ve written, also included in my $PATH)

Next, I download a few key applications from the internet:

• iTerm2
• Visual Studio Code
• Orion Browser
• Firefox Developer Edition
• 1Password
• Docker
• BetterTouchTool (Note: window keybindings inspired by Rectangle)
• Slack
• Homebrew
• oh-my-zsh
• Powerline Fonts
• XCode Developer Tools: xcode-select --install

Some of the above may be available in Homebrew Cask, but I don’t mind downloading them by hand.

Homebrew

brew install \
  wget \
  exa \
  nodenv \
  direnv \
  fasd \
  fzf \
  shellcheck \
  tldr \
  jq \
  fd \
  neovim \
  ripgrep \
  tmux \
  up \
  yarn \
  telnet \
  git-extras

Note: Some of these have prompts at the end for additional installation instructions. One in particular is fzf:

• add set rtp+=/opt/homebrew/opt/fzf to .vimrc
• run /opt/homebrew/opt/fzf/install to install keybindings, autocomplete, and history search

macOS settings

Keyboard

• Set to fastest “Key Repeat”
• Set to shortest “Delay Until Repeat”
• Use Modified Keys -> Remap “Caps Lock” to “Control”
• Add new Colemak input source, can switch between with Control + Option + Space
• Disable Use smart quotes and dashes
• Disable curly quotes, use " and '
• Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys
• Disable Capitalize word automatically
• Disable Add period with double-space

Trackpad

• Tap to click

Accessibility

• Zoom > Enable Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom
• Pointer Control > Trackpad Options > Enable Dragging > Three Finger Drag

Dock

• Turn hiding on
• Set size to ~20%

System settings

(thank you @mathiasbynens!)

# Finder: allow quitting via ⌘ + Q; doing so will also hide desktop icons
defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool true

# Finder: show hidden files by default
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

# Finder: show all filename extensions
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true

# Finder: show status bar
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true

# Finder: show path bar
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowPathbar -bool true

# Disable the warning when changing a file extension
defaults write com.apple.finder FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning -bool false

# Avoid creating .DS_Store files on network or USB volumes
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteUSBStores -bool true

# Show the ~/Library folder
chflags nohidden ~/Library && xattr -d com.apple.FinderInfo ~/Library

# Show the /Volumes folder
sudo chflags nohidden /Volumes

# Disable press-and-hold for keys in favor of key repeat
defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

killall Finder;

Additional Application Setup

VS Code

I recommend checking in configuration settings to your project repository. This reduces global setup needed. Some recommended extensions:

• Vim
• GitHub Copilot
• Prettier
• ESLint
• Live Share
• GraphQL
• Prisma
• DotENV
• GitLens
• ShellCheck
• Todo Tree
• Bookmarks
• change-case
• Markdown All in One

Settings

• Text Editor > Files > Auto Save -> onWindowChange
• Text Editor > Tab Size -> 2
• Text Editor > Bracket Pair Colorization: Independent Color Pool Per Bracket Type -> enable
• Text Editor > Default Formatter -> Prettier
• Text Editor > Guides: Bracket Pairs -> true
• Goto Location: Multiple Definitions -> goto
• Text Editor > Formatting > Format On Save -> Enable
• JavaScript > Preferences: Import Module Specifier -> non-relative
• TypeScript > Preferences: Import Module Specifier -> non-relative

iTerm2

Profiles

• General > Reuse previous sessions’s directory
• Colors > Solarized Dark
• Text > Font -> Source Code Pro for Powerline
• Terminal > Scrollback lines -> Unlimited scrollback
• Keys > Left Option key -> Esc+
• Keys > Right Option key -> Esc+

Window > Save Window Arragement

• Note: I arrange my windows and tabs for my main project and CD into the appropriate directories before saving.

Appearance

• Dimming > Dimming amount -> 20

Wrapping Up macOS Development Setup

Ultimately, I really enjoy starting fresh with new computers rather than importing from backups. I tend to go through this process every year or two when I upgrade macOS versions since I typically perform fresh installs. However, I often forget to import certain settings, and I hope this can be a reference for others in the future.