Setting up macOS for development

Update : As of the 20/04/2022, I’m no longer installing most my development environment in the same way, I’ve made this post explaining my transition to development containers.

With each release of macOS, I clean install everything on my MacBook just to be extra safe and avoid long debugging hours if there is an incompatibility. Thus this guide is about setting up your machine quickly and in a predictable way.

I’m primarily doing ML but I also set up various environnements, so feel free to be selective while reading this guide. I removed a lot of very specific things to make a good balance between development and general macOS usage.

Initial formatting steps

When everything you care about is backed up you can proceed with pressing CMD⌘+R on startup. Then go to Disk Utility, format your drive with APFS and install macOS.

Complete the initial set up with your Apple ID and choose your privacy preferences, you should now be on the desktop.

Homebrew, Zsh & Other Mac settings

Homebrew is the most popular macOS package manager, we will use it to install all our apps (except mas ones because it doesn’t work anymore)

In your terminal let’s copy & paste to install Homebrew:

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

Then let’s make sure everything is up to date:

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brew update && brew upgrade

You can now install your apps, or search for it on the Homebrew website:

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# Note: you can install multiple apps in just one line, but this is a better visualization
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# Below the "--cask" refers to graphical applications instead of formulae.
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# Browsers
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brew install --cask firefox
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brew install --cask firefox-developer-edition
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brew install --cask google-chrome
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brew install --cask homebrew/cask-versions/google-chrome-dev
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# Media players
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brew install --cask iina
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brew install --cask vlc
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# File downloads and disk analyze
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brew install --cask transmission
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brew install --cask grandperspective
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# Media transcode
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brew install --cask handbrake
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# Flash images (to USB for example)
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brew install --cask balenaetcher
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# Development
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brew install --cask visual-studio-code
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brew install --cask docker
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brew install --cask local
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brew install --cask cyberduck
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brew install --cask tower
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# App cleaner
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brew install --cask appcleaner
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# Remote communication
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brew install --cask zoom
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brew install --cask discord
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# Vpn
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brew install --cask private-internet-access
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# Keyboard based window management
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brew install --cask rectangle
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# Markdown writer
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brew install --cask obsidian

Here are some formulae, make sure to understand each software that you install before trusting a random internet guide:

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# Logitech Options software
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brew install homebrew/cask-drivers/logitech-options
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# Development
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brew install docker-compose
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brew install node
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brew install htop
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brew install git
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brew install tree
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# Python
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brew install pyenv
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# Shell
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brew install romkatv/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k
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brew install zsh-autosuggestions
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brew install zsh-syntax-highlighting
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brew install zsh-history-substring-search

We can now configure Python:

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pyenv install 3.9.7
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pyenv global 3.9.7
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echo -e 'if command -v pyenv 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then\n  eval "$(pyenv init -)"\nfi' >> ~/.zshrc

To finish the powerlevel10k and zsh setup we need the following:

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# Plugins
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echo "source $(brew --prefix)/opt/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme" >>~/.zshrc
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echo "source /usr/local/share/zsh-autosuggestions/zsh-autosuggestions.zsh" >>~/.zshrc
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echo "source /usr/local/share/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh" >>~/.zshrc
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echo "source /usr/local/share/zsh-history-substring-search/zsh-history-substring-search.zsh" >>~/.zshrc
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# Zsh tweaks
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echo -e "autoload -Uz compinit" >>~/.zshrc
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echo -e "compinit" >>~/.zshrc
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echo -e "zstyle ':completion:*' menu select" >>~/.zshrc
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# Key bindings for history searching, the order is important
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echo -e "bindkey '^[[A' history-substring-search-up" >>~/.zshrc
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echo -e "bindkey '^[[B' history-substring-search-down" >>~/.zshrc
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# Note: lines below are my personal aliases, this might disturb your workflow
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echo -e "alias c='clear'" >>~/.zshrc
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echo -e "alias rmm='rm -rf'" >>~/.zshrc
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echo -e "alias lss='ls -lah'" >>~/.zshrc
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echo -e "alias edit='code ~/.zshrc'" >>~/.zshrc
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echo -e "alias reload='source ~/.zshrc'" >>~/.zshrc

We also need to configure git basics properly :

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git config --global user.email "YOUR_EMAIL"
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git config --global user.name "YOUR_NAME"

macOS is better with some tweaks:

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# Note: There are a lot of settings that you could change, this is just a few of them that I use
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# Always show file extensions
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defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true
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# Show status bar in Finder
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defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true
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# Allow text selection in Quick Look
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defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableTextSelection -bool true
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# Disable TimeMachine prompt
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defaults write com.apple.TimeMachine DoNotOfferNewDisksForBackup -bool true
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# This is needed to apply our changes
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killAll Finder

Finally before closing the terminal I setup powerlevel10k:

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# Note: This has already been installed in the fomulae section above, this is just the install
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source ~/.zshrc

Everthing else

Once this is done I usually login into my password manager, retreive software licences, ssh keys and proceed to login to some applications like Google Chrome, Discord, etc.

Here is everything I changed in the System Preferences app

General > Enable Dark Mode
Desktop > Live wallpaper selection
Desktop > Screensaver > Hot Corners > Bottom Left > CMD⌘ + Display sleep
Dock > Enable Automatically hide
Siri > Disable show Siri in menu bar
Notifications > Disable everything or remove sounds
Screen Time > Enable & share across devices
Security > General > Require password > Immediately
Trackpad > More Gestures > Enable everything
Sharing > Setup the computer name
iCloud > iCloud Drive > Enable Desktop & Document
Keyboard > Text > Disable spelling and capitalization

Some Mac App Store apps that I use

1Password (Password Manager)
Xcode (Code apps)
Amphetamine (Keep Mac awake)
Adguard (Safari ad disable)
The Unarchiver (Almost unrar for Mac)
Parcel (Track packages)

Conclusion

This was a quick look at how I install macOS, I hope this helped you in your next fresh install.

If you enjoyed this guide you can also check the previous ones about iCloud custom domains or Cloudflare argo & access on a RaspberryPi.