macOS: Setting up my Mac for Test Development

This guide is to help remember all those things you need to get a good test development environment set up aka automating the good things.

Getting Started

First thing is to update macOS to get the latest security patches and updates. Also check the App Store to update existing programs.

Prerequisites

1. macOS Big Sur or later
2. Make a ~/Development folder

Setup

Homebrew

Homebrew is a package manager for macOS. It can automate the installation of a lot of applications we need, all from a command line.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

brew update

Install programs:

brew install --cask \
    1password \
    alfred \
    brave-browser \
    gas-mask \
    google-chrome \
    docker \
    dropbox \
    iterm2 \
    notion \
    obs \
    postman \
    rectangle \
    slack \
    spotify \
    tableplus \
    visual-studio-code \
    vlc \
    zoom \
    xmind

Shell

Using iTerm, install Oh My Zsh because it's better:

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Configure iTerm:

1. Set theme to be minimal
2. Set transparency to 10 on Profile > Window
3. Replace .zshrc

Node.js

Install Node Version Manager (nvm)

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.37.2/install.sh | bash

nvm install node

Restart terminal and confirm:

nvm use node
node -v && npm -v #confirm the install worked

Git

Make and set git config. Copy settings from dot files.

touch ~/.gitconfig

Pull base repos

echo dotfiles testing-guides images-catalog | xargs -n1 | xargs -I{} git clone https://github.com/ckenst/{}

echo testingconferences.github.io web-scraper | xargs -n1 | xargs -I{} git clone https://github.com/TestingConferences/{}

SSH

Make and set SSH config. Then copy details from dot files.

mkdir ~/.ssh && touch ~/.ssh/config

macOS Settings

I like to customize macOS in a few different ways

Dock

• Position to the right
• Minimize windows into application icon
• Hotcorners, set lower left to put display to sleep

Trackpad

• Force Click with One Finger
• Secondary Click: Click or Tap with Two Fingers
• Tap to click
• Silent clicking

Visual Studio Code

• Code over settings from dotfiles

Install other apps

• Google Chrome Canary
• Kindle
• reMarkable
• Day One

Thanks

This sums up my settings for setting up a Mac. Inspired by (and taken with a lot of credit from) Tania Rascia. I’ve used her guide a few times before deciding to make my own version.