Setting up a new MacBook for development

XCode

• Start by installing xcode-select

• Afterwards you can install XCode Command Line Tools with xcode-select --install

Package Manager

• Install the Homebrew package manager:

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

• Update .zprofile to add brew to your PATH

eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

• Open a new terminal and verify with brew --version or which brew

Download Terminal Emulator

• Right now I’m enjoying ghostty

brew install ghostty

• Other fine choices are iterm2, kitty, wezterm and alacritty to name a few

Password Manager

• Install 1Password utility

brew install 1password

• And install the browser extension too

Configure SSH Agent

• Start by adding a new SSH key on GitHub with the help of 1Password:
  • Go to SSH keys settings page on GitHub
  • Select New SSH Key
  • Use 1Password prompt to generate an SSH key; it will automatically be saved into your 1Password vault

• Make sure 1Password SSH agent is enabled, under 1Password > Settings > Developer
• Finish configuration by updating .ssh/config to use 1Password as an IdentityAgent

Host *
  IdentityAgent "~/Library/Group Containers/2BUA8C4S2C.com.1password/t/agent.sock"

• Now, whenever an application attempts to read your private SSH keys, you will be prompted by the 1Password app to authorize the action
• Read more about the 1Password SSH agent

Configure Dev Environment

Dotfiles

• I’m using dotbot as a dotfiles manager
• It works by symlinking files from my /dotfiles repository to the locations required by my system

git clone git@github.com:Amar-Gill/dotfiles.git; cd dotfiles; ./install

Command Prompt

• I’m using p10k.zsh, a tried and true zsh theme

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git "${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k"

• Look into Starship as another good choice

curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh

Command Line Utilities

• The following can be installed with brew
  • fzf fuzzy finder utility
  • ripgrep an oxidized alternative for BSD/GNU grep
  • fd an oxidized alternative for BSD/GNU find
  • tealdear an oxidized alternative for tldr
  • thefuck correct mistyped console commands

brew install fzf ripgrep fd tealdeer thefuck

Languages and Runtimes

• Install Node Version Manager (nvm) to manage NodeJS installations

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.2/install.sh | bash

• Install pnpm; A more performant alternative of npm that leverages a local cache for packages

• Golang programming language and toolchain

brew install go

• Rust programming language and toolchain

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

• pyenv; A Python version manager

brew install pyenv

• rbenv; A Ruby version manager

brew install rbenv

Neovim

• Install Neovim with brew

brew install neovim

• Thanks to the lazy.nvim plugin manager, my plugins will auto install when first starting up
• The mason-lspconfig.nvim plugin will auto install the language servers as well
• Treesitter syntaxes will auto-install thanks to the nvim-treesitter plugin
• Do a :healthcheck to see if anything else is missing in your Neovim environment

Docker

• For working with Docker containers I like OrbStack over Docker Desktop

brew install orbstack

Keyboard Remaps

Karabiner Elements

• Use Karabiner Elements to remap keys on the Apple Internal Keyboard of your MacBook

brew install karabiner-elements

• I don’t make many modifications, only the following:
  • remap caps_lock to left_control
  • remap right_option to right_control
• Useful when editing with Neovim where the control key is often used

Vial

• Use Vial to program your external keyboard if it supports QMK firmware

brew install vial

Instantly Show Dock

• Out of the box, the MacOS dock has a brief delay before it unhides itself when you move your mouse to the edge of the screen
• There is also an animation which takes up more time as well
• I like to make the dock reveal itself instantly, which can be done using the following commands in your terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0;\
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 0;\
killall Dock;

• To restore the default settings run the following in a terminal:

defaults delete com.apple.Dock autohide-delay; killall Dock

Window Manager

• Currently giving OneMenu a try as my window manager
• Rectangle is another solid choice

Note Taking

• Obsidian is my go to note taking app
• Some reasons why:
  • Local first
  • Markdown syntax
  • Native vim bindings

brew install obsidian