My 2021 New Mac Setup

I set up a new Mac for work today. Here's everything I use on a Mac for fullstack web development.

Unlike Mina Markham, I choose not to automate my setup because I only do it about once a year and I want the ability to make conscious changes each time.

I previously tracked my new mac setup in an old version of this page from 2018-2020.

1hr Video Walkthrough

OS/Browser Settings

Browser: Download Chrome, set to default.

Log in to: (this helps with logins for the other services below)

Twitter
Github (more setup instructions below)
Gmail

System Settings:

Disable Spotlight search for all miscellaneous crap except apps and system preferences
- including stupid Developer option (make sure to add Xcode.app to /Applications not /user/swyx/Applications)
Disable Ask Siri
Set to Big cursor for accessibility during presentation
- some reports of memory leaks when doing this
Fix trackpad direction: Trackpad -> Scroll & Zoom - Natural off
Disable dictionary lookup: Trackpad -> Point & Click -> Look up & data detectors off
(if using windows keyboard) remap alt and cmd keys for ergonomics

Finder settings:

Preferences → show filename extensions
Enable showing dotfiles (just hold Cmd + Shift + . (dot) in a Finder window)
Show path bar in footer for easier navigation
Prune the excessive sidebar bookmarks
- create "Work" folder and pin it

Keyboard:

remap command+Q to literally anything else - to prevent accidental close-all
Shortcuts: copy picture of selected area to clipboard -> Cmd+E

MacOS Dock:

Remove everything from the Dock except: Finder, System Preferences and Trash
Turn Dock Auto Hiding on
- turn this on for MacOS Menu bar as well

Chrome extensions: (tied to Chrome account)

Paywall blocker https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/
See Tweets about any page https://github.com/sw-yx/Twitter-Links-beta (my blogpost here)
Morpheon Dark theme
Lastpass
Display Anchors
React Devtools
Refined Github
Code Copy
Video Speed Controller ← VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Palettab
Privacy Badger
RescueTime
uBlock Origin
Octolinker
async render toolbox (i made this)

Setup Terminal

Copy my dotfiles (vimrc, zshrc, .gitignore_global): https://gist.github.com/sw-yx/7fa1009e460ecb818d5e6d9ca4616a05

Install ZSH (first usage of git will prompt you to install git - takes 15 minutes)

git config --global init.defaultBranch main
git config --global user.name "swyx"
git config --global user.email [email protected]
- Font - Inconsolata for Powerline
- autosuggestions
- syntax highlighting
  - may need to chmod stuff or warnings show at start of every session
```
$ sudo chmod -R 755 /usr/local/share/zsh
$ sudo chown -R root:staff /usr/local/share/zsh
```

Hyper Terminal

settings: shell: '/bin/zsh'
settings: fontFamily: '"Inconsolata for Powerline", Menlo, "DejaVu Sans Mono", Consolas, "Lucida Console", monospace',
Fig - context-aware autocomplete for terminal. Waitlisted now, but you can skip the waitlist here (i get nothing from this)
- More CLI tools recommended by Brendan Faik (founder of Fig) - bat, exa, ripgrep, and other Rust CLI alternatives. Also zsh abbreviations
- More CLI tools from Earthly - HN here
  - broot - a better tree
  - funky - simple shell functions
  - fzf - fuzzy finder
  - mcfly - guesses commands based on your history
  - zoxide - a better cd
  - gitupdate - use file names to create a more meaningful commit message

Set up apps/environments

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

i have a bunch more stuff in brew list but i'm not sure what i use actively. You can mass install these: brew install $(cat packages.txt)

bat             gdbm            libuv           [email protected]
brotli          gh              libyaml         readline
c-ares          go              mpdecimal       ruby
deno            gradle          nghttp2         sqlite
diff-so-fancy   icu4c           node            xz
fnm             jemalloc        openjdk         yarn
fzf             libev           [email protected]     z

brew update on m1's have turned out to be super annoying. this helped me: arch -x86_64 brew install YOUR_PACKAGE

brew install bat

Github CLI: brew install github/gh/gh

you need to login to git - if you have 2fa enabled, you cant use your normal github password. try pushing to a repo and enter in a Personal Access Token for password.
then run gh auth login
add GitHub SSH key (not optional)

brew install fzf - fuzzy finder - usage example is here

brew install node

Node.js/NPM
npm login
npm config set loglevel
sudo npm install netlify-cli -g
npm i -g sign-bunny fortune-node parrotsay
npm install -g undollar for removing $
sudo npm install -g trash-cli

brew install yarn --ignore-dependencies - yarn note

you may need to work around Mac OS Sierra

brew install z - REALLY GOOD TRY IT

Misc

pip3 install --user powerline-status
go to a neutral folder and git clone <https://github.com/powerline/fonts> && cd fonts && ./install.sh
fnm faster alternative to nvm: curl -fsSL <https://fnm.vercel.app/install> | bash or brew install fnm
Anaconda Python distro - be careful they tend to [modify your bash prompt without asking](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1026383/why-does-base-appear-in-front-of-my-terminal-prompt\)
Docker Desktop
brew install ffmpeg and then
https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes
download Audacity - and install ffmpeg
brew install java - you could download Java Development Kit from Oracle but fuck them for putting it behind signup wall
brew install go you may need to export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
brew install diff-so-fancy - then set git config --global core.pager "diff-so-fancy | less --tabs=4 -RFX" - makes for much nicer git diff
- You can also diff with this bash function dif() { git diff --color --no-index "$1" "$2" | diff-so-fancy; } or with VSCode code --diff file1.js file2.js.
- You can also try https://github.com/dandavison/delta

Setup Apps

Emojis: https://matthewpalmer.net/rocket/

Password Manager: I use 1password for company and lastpass for personal

Window Manager: https://www.spectacleapp.com/ launch at login

Clipboard Manager: https://clipy-app.com/ or https://yippy.mattdavo.com/ (untested)

Loom: https://www.loom.com/desktop

Zoom: https://zoom.us/download

Screenshots: https://cleanshot.com/ (previously used https://zapier.com/zappy). Browser extension - Lightshot

Caffeine (Keep Mac awake for talks): https://intelliscapesolutions.com/apps/caffeine

used to be http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/
maintained version: Amphetamine (thanks Matt Mischuk!)

NoTunes - disable itunes/apple music

Video capture: https://getkap.co/

Dual Screen: https://www.duetdisplay.com/

Gifs: Licecap

Slack or Discord

OBS: https://obsproject.com/

Transcribing: https://www.descript.com/download/mac

SkyFonts: https://www.fonts.com/web-fonts/google

Microsoft Todo: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1274495053?mt=8

Stretchly: https://hovancik.net/stretchly/

Disk Space: Disk Inventory X - you can clean node modules with this bash command or as a cronjob

Replay: download - https://www.notion.so/Replay-Docs-56758667f53a4d51b7c6fc7a641adb02

SimpleNote: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplenote/id692867256?ls=1&mt=12

Superhuman for Mac and https://mail.superhuman.com

Notion: https://www.notion.so/desktop

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/notion-web-clipper/knheggckgoiihginacbkhaalnibhilkk?hl=en

App Search/Utils: https://www.alfredapp.com/

Editor: Download VS Code (I used to use Insiders but the popups are super annoying). use Settings Sync to sync across machines

have to set up powerline fonts "Meslo LG M for Powerline" (download)
auto-close-tag v0.5.6
auto-rename-tag v0.0.15
Bookmarks v9.1.0
code-settings-sync v3.1.2
debugger-for-chrome v4.10.2
es7-react-js-snippets v1.8.7
graphql-for-vscode v1.12.1
mdx v0.1.0
prettier-vscode v1.6.1
python v2018.9.2
python v0.2.3
rainbow-brackets v0.0.6 - this is now deprecated, use the native "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true
shades-of-purple v3.17.0
vscode-graphql v0.1.5
vscode-import-cost v2.9.0
vscode-styled-components v0.0.23
vscode-wakatime v1.2.3
TabNine AI completions
GitHub Copilot
to try: File Utils - recommended by Stolinski
Here's the full list you can run from command line

code --install-extension 2gua.rainbow-brackets
code --install-extension ahmadawais.shades-of-purple
code --install-extension austenc.tailwind-docs
code --install-extension bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss
code --install-extension cpylua.language-postcss
code --install-extension dbaeumer.vscode-eslint
code --install-extension dsznajder.es7-react-js-snippets
code --install-extension esbenp.prettier-vscode
code --install-extension formulahendry.auto-close-tag
code --install-extension formulahendry.auto-rename-tag
code --install-extension GabrielNordeborn.vscode-graphiql-explorer
code --install-extension GitHub.copilot
code --install-extension golang.go
code --install-extension heybourn.headwind
code --install-extension jpoissonnier.vscode-styled-components
code --install-extension kgscott.retreon
code --install-extension kumar-harsh.graphql-for-vscode
code --install-extension luyizhi.vscode-graphql
code --install-extension ms-python.python
code --install-extension ms-python.vscode-pylance
code --install-extension ms-toolsai.jupyter
code --install-extension msjsdiag.debugger-for-chrome
code --install-extension NickScialli.svelte-dark
code --install-extension octref.vetur
code --install-extension oderwat.indent-rainbow
code --install-extension sdras.night-owl
code --install-extension silvenon.mdx
code --install-extension svelte.svelte-vscode
code --install-extension TabNine.tabnine-vscode
code --install-extension ThreadHeap.serverless-ide-vscode
code --install-extension tht13.python
code --install-extension WakaTime.vscode-wakatime
code --install-extension Wattenberger.footsteps
code --install-extension wix.vscode-import-cost