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:
- update the OS
- if this is a laptop, enable “tap to click” in trackpad settings
- if this is a laptop, enable Touch ID
- if this is a personal Mac, sign in with Apple ID
- Things
- configure desktop widgets
- Spotify
- SteerMouse
- configure buttons
- configure sensitivity
- enter license
- tweak macOS settings
- enable night shift
- download wallpaper from the pixel sorting post
- remove everything from the dock
- configure dock and menu bar
- configure hot corners
- configure spaces
- disable “click wallpaper to reveal desktop”
- disable autocorrection
- add Stage Manager shortcut in keyboard shortcuts
- configure Finder
- configure Safari:
- open a video call, click on the camera button in the menu bar, and disable reactions
- Fira Code
- MacVim
- iTerm
- copy files from another Mac:
~/.zsh_history- Quake 3 sounds (used in git aliases)
- generate a new SSH key
- go through “configure SSO” for this key on GitHub
- Homebrew
- dotfiles
m + : ln -s ~/dotfiles/home .- configure iTerm
- close iTerm
- open Terminal (not iTerm)
h : g rh
- Hammerspoon
- Visual Studio Code
- ⇧⌘P sync settings using GitHub
- CleanShot X
- Bun
- VLC
- 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.