macOS: Setting up my Mac for Development

Posted on Published by Chris Kenst

Seems like I’m setting up a new MacBook Pro a couple of times a year (between work and personal). This guide is to help remember all those things you need to get a good development (test) environment set up! Automating the good things.

Getting Started

First things is to update macOS to get the latest security patches and updates.

Pre-requisities

  1. This is for macOS Big Sur
  2. Make a ~/Development folder
  3. Install Command Line Tools for Xcode

Homebrew

Install Homebrew package manager to install most apps from the command line.

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

Make sure everything is up to date

brew update

Install my programs (note: I’m constantly adding to this list)

# GUI programs

brew install --cask \
    alfred \
    brave-browser \
    google-chrome \
    docker \
    dropbox \
    firefox \
    iterm2 \
    lastpass \
    microsoft-edge \
    notion \
    postman \
    rectangle \
    slack \
    spotify \
    tableplus \
    visual-studio-code \
    vlc

Shell

Catalina comes with zsh as the default. Let’s install Oh My Zsh because it’s better. 

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

Node.js

Install Node Version Manager (nvm)

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

Restart terminal and install the latest version of Node

nvm install node

Run the final command to confirm node is installed

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

Git

Make and set git config

touch ~/.gitconfig

Copy from my dot files

Pull the following repos from GitHub:

  1. dotfiles
  2. testing-guides
  3. testingconferences
  4. images-catalog

SSH

Make and set ssh config

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

Copy from my dot files
Copy keys from my place

iTerm

  • Copy .zshrc from dotfiles repo
  • Set theme to be Minimal

macOS Settings

  • Enable Battery Percentage. Dock & Menu Bar > Battery
  • Enable Put Display to sleep using Hot Corners. Desktop & Screen Saver > Screen Saver > Hot Corners. Use the lower left to put display to sleep.

Visual Studio Code

  • Copy over settings from .vscode in dotfiles repo

Install Other Apps

  • EOS Webcam
  • Google Chrome Canary
  • MacPass
  • Spark Email
  • Xmind
  • Zoom
  • VirtualBox

Conclusion

This sums up nicely my settings for a MacBook Pro. Hopefully it helps speed you (and I) along on our journeys.

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.