Psst! Watch Phototropism, my new experiment.


Mac software: 2022+

·

I update this post when I set up new machines.

In May I’ve set up three different Macs (don’t ask) starting from a clean latest macOS installation. Here’s what I do and install, and in what order, to feel at home:

  1. update the OS
  2. if this is a laptop, enable “tap to click” in trackpad settings
  3. if this is a laptop, enable Touch ID
  4. if this is a personal Mac, sign in with Apple ID
  5. Things
    • configure desktop widgets
  6. Spotify
  7. SteerMouse
  8. tweak macOS settings
  9. Fira Code
  10. MacVim
  11. iTerm
  12. copy files from another Mac:
    • ~/.zsh_history
    • Quake 3 sounds (used in git aliases)
  13. generate a new SSH key
    • go through “configure SSO” for this key on GitHub
  14. Homebrew
  15. dotfiles
    • m + : ln -s ~/dotfiles/home .
    • configure iTerm
    • close iTerm
    • open Terminal (not iTerm)
    • h : g rh
  16. Hammerspoon
  17. Visual Studio Code
    • ⇧⌘P sync settings using GitHub
  18. CleanShot X
  19. Bun
  20. VLC
  21. Xcode
    • general
    • text editing
    • install One Dark theme
    • increase the font size to 20
    • change the background color to be the same as in MacVim and VS Code
    • remove the “Print…” key binding
    • remap “Open Quickly…” to ⌘P
    • remove “Move Paragraph Backward/Forward”
    • remap “Move Line Up/Down (Source Code)” to ⌥↑, ⌥↓
    • remove “Duplicate”
    • remap “Show Debug Area” to ⌘D
    • enable Vim mode: help › search › “vim”
    • disable minimap: help › search › “minimap”

This is not a complete list of everything I use or tweak, but it’s a solid starting point that gets me 80–90% of the way there.


Setup series