Personal macOS setup for software development.
- macOS
- Terminal
- Browsers
- Development
- Security
- Languages
- Productivity
- Miscellaneous
Finder > View > Show Path Bar
Finder > View > Show Status Bar
Finder > View > Show View Options > Sort By > Snap to Grid
System Preferences > Mission Control > ☐ Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use
Alfred is a very capable Spotlight replacement. It offers same features as Spotlight but also offers a wide range of additional features. It's a free app, but most nice features require a Powerpack which comes with a one time cost.
brew install alfredmacOS > System Preferences > Spotlight > Keyboard Shortcuts > Uncheck Show Spotlight Search
macOS > System Preferences > Spotlight > Keyboard Shortcuts > Uncheck Show Finder Search Window
Alfred Preferences > General > Change Hotkey to ⌘ + Space
Alfred Preferences > Appearance > Options > Show Alfred on "mouse screen"
Alfred Preferences > Features > Clipboard History > ☑️ Keep Plain Text
Add any sensitive apps to the ignored apps section.
Alfred Preferences > Appearance > Modern Avenir
To be added soon.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘ Space | Spotlight/Alfred |
| ^ ⌘ Space | Character Viewer |
| ⌥ ⌘ Space | Clipboard History |
| ⌥ ⌘ Esc | Force Quit App |
| ^ ⌘ Q | Lock Screen |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ^ ↑ | Show All Windows |
| ^ → | Next Window |
| ^ ← | Previous Window |
| ⌘ Tab | Rotate Windows |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⇧ ⌘ H | Go to Home Directory |
| ⇧ ⌘ D | Go to Desktop Directory |
| ⇧ ⌘ . | Show Hidden Files |
| ⌘ ↑ | Go to Parent Directory |
| ⌘ ] | Go to Next Directory |
| ⌘ [ | Go to Previous Directory |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⇧ ⌘ 3 | Take Screenshot of the Full Screen |
| ⇧ ⌘ 4 | Take Screenshot of a Part of the Screen |
Homebrew is a very useful macOS package manager which can be accessed from terminal.
To install it open terminal and run this command:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"- brew doctor: verify installation of Homebrew.
- brew search: search for available packages on Homebrew.
- brew install: installs command line tools.
- brew install --cask: installs macOS applications.
- brew list: lists installed command line tools.
- brew list --cask: lists installed macOS applications.
- brew update: updates local package registry.
- brew upgrade: upgrade all installed packages.
- brew cleanup: clean broken symlinks
Older versions can be installed by checking out the homebrew/core commit with that older version and installing it, this can be done by:
cd "$(brew --repo homebrew/core)"
git log Formula/<formula-name>.rb # Replace <formula-name> and choose the commit with the version needed
git checkout -b <formula-name>-<version> <commit-hash>
HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 brew install <formula-name>
brew pin <formula-name>
git checkout master
git branch -d <formula-name>-<version>
brew cleanupiTerm2 is arguably the best terminal replacement. It offers a wide range of very useful features.
To install iTerm2 open terminal and run this command:
brew install --cask iterm2| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘ , | Preferences |
| ⌘ Enter | Go Full Screen |
| ⌘ T | New Tab |
| ⌘ ← | Previous Tab |
| ⌘ → | Next Tab |
| ⎇ ⌘ ↑/↓ | Go to next Horizontal Pane |
| ⎇ ⌘ ←/→ | Go to next Vertical Pane |
| ⎇ ⌘ B | Instant Replay Mode |
Show and hide iTerm2 terminal using a hotkey. This can be done by following the below steps:
iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Window > Style - Full-Width Top of ScreeniTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Window > Screen - Screen with CursoriTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Window > Space - All SpacesiTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Keys > ☑️ A hotkey opens a dedicated window with this profile > Configure Hotkey Window > Add HotkeyiTerm2 > Preferences > Appearance > ☑️ Exclude from Dock and ⌘-Tab Application Switcher
Optionally set some default appearance settings by following the below:
iTerm2 > Preferences > Appearance > General > Theme > Dark
iTerm2 > Preferences > Appearance > General > Tab Bar Location > Left
iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Terminal > Scrollback Lines > ☑️ Unlimited Scrollback
You can set key bindings by going to iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Keys > Key Binding
Some useful key bindings can be viewed in the table below:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⎇ H | Split Panes Horizontally |
| ⎇ V | Split Panes Vertically |
| ⎇ ← | Send Escape Sequence Esc+b |
| ⎇ → | Send Escape Sequence Esc+f |
iTerm2 also supports adding a status bar with nice looking widgets for CPU, Memory, Battery, Clock, Search Bar and more. You can configure the status bar by:
iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Session > ☑️ Status Bar Enabled > Configure Status Bar
Shell integration offers better integration with Shell and enables features like:
- Access to frequently used directories.
- Automatic profile switching based on host names or user profiles.
You can enable shell integration by running:
curl -L https://iterm2.com/shell_integration/zsh -o ~/.iterm2_shell_integration.zsh
source ~/.iterm2_shell_integration.zshTriggers are custom user defined actions that gets triggered based on a regular expression match in the command history. They can be used, among other uses, to:
- Stop scrolling on a specific line matching a regular expression. (e.g. stop on test failures).
- Color highlight custom text (e.g. URLs).
- Automatically respond to prompts.
- Send notification when a specific output is returned.
You can set triggers by going to iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Advanced > Triggers > Edit
In addition to the above features, iTerm2 has a wide range of features that might be of interest.
Popular tool used for version control.
Homebrew will require installation of XCode CommandLine Tools, and that normally installs git. But if you need to install it using brew:
brew install gitConfigure Git by editing ~/.gitconfig file:
[user]
name = Hisham Elbaz
email = [email protected]
[alias]
graph = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)%n'' %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)' --allZSH is an advanced shell built on top of Bash that offers a wide range of useful features including:
- Tab Completion: Press
Tabto autocomplete commands. - Glob: Use wildcards to list all possible options, for example
ls file_*
It comes as the default shell with Catalina, but for earlier versions you can install it by running:
brew install zsh
sudo sh -c 'echo /usr/local/bin/zsh >> /etc/shells'
chsh -s /usr/local/bin/zshOh My ZSH is a framework that manages ZSH shell configurations. It offers an easy and very useful way to add plugins and themes among other features.
To install:
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"This will update ZSH preferences by overwriting ~/.zshrc. Below are some customization that can be applied to that file to support different features.
To update theme you have to set ZSH_THEME to the theme name. You can find an extensive list of themes here
Color Themes:
-
git clone https://github.com/dracula/iterm.git
iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Colors > Import Dracula.itermcolors
iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Select Profile > Colors > Select Dracula
Themes:
-
brew install romkatv/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k echo "source /usr/local/opt/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme" >> ~/.zshrc p10k configure
-
git clone https://github.com/denysdovhan/spaceship-prompt.git "$ZSH_CUSTOM/themes/spaceship-prompt" ln -s "$ZSH_CUSTOM/themes/spaceship-prompt/spaceship.zsh-theme" "$ZSH_CUSTOM/themes/spaceship.zsh-theme"
Then set
ZSH_THEME="spaceship"in your~/.zshrc
- alias-finder: finds an alias for a given command.
- common-aliases: adds a wide list of common aliases.
- copydir: copies current directory path to clipboard.
- copyfile: copies content of a file to clipboard.
- docker: adds autocompletion for docker commands.
- dotenv: loads environment variables from .env file in a directory.
- extract: tool to support extracting all types of compressed files.
- git: adds useful aliases for git commands.
- z: provide quick access to most recently accessed directories.
-
zsh-auto-suggestions: suggests commands as you type based on history and completions.
brew install zsh-autosuggestions echo "source $(brew --prefix)/share/zsh-autosuggestions/zsh-autosuggestions.zsh" >> ~/.zshrc
-
zsh-syntax-highlighting: highlights commands in ZSH terminal.
brew install zsh-syntax-highlighting echo "source $(brew --prefix)/share/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh" >> ~/.zshrc
-
zsh-history-substring-search: auto completes commands from history based on substrings.
brew install zsh-history-substring-search echo "source $(brew --prefix)/share/zsh-history-substring-search/zsh-history-substring-search.zsh" >> ~/.zshrc
To be able to use, a key must be bound to the feature, it's recommended to use up arrow as below:
echo "bindkey '^[OA' history-substring-search-up" >> ~/.zshrc echo "bindkey '^[OB' history-substring-search-down" >> ~/.zshrc
Simplified and community driven man-pages.
brew install tldrA recursive directory listing command that produces a depth indented listing of files.
brew install tree
An advanced top command that allows scrolling.
brew install htopA fuzzy search command line tool that allows interactive searching in any kinds of lists.
brew install fzfls | fzffind . -type f | fzf
A recursive grep command that runs on a directory of files.
brew install ripgrepA log analysis tool that merges log files, detect their formats and allow advanced searching on them.
brew install lnavFirefox is one of the best browsers out there. Some of the very useful features are:
- Add-ons: very rich store of add-ons that can be added to the browser.
- Firefox Monitor: monitors breaches for user email accounts to promptly notify the user to act quickly.
brew install --cask firefox- LastPass: password manager extension to fill in forms.
- JSONView: viewer for JSON objects.
macOS > System Preferences > General > Default web browser
brew install --cask dockerIDE that has the largest community support, with support to all mainstream languages and frameworks.
brew install --cask visual-studio-code- Atom One Dark Theme: a dark but vibrant theme.
- vscode-icons: custom icons for most supported extensions.
- Java Extension Pack: Java linting, intellisense, formatting and Gradle/Maven support.
- Lombok Annotations Support: support for lombok generators in Java.
- npm: supports running npm scripts in VSCode.
- npm intellisense: autocompletion for npm modules.
- Jest: support for Jest testing framework.
- ESLint: integrates linting for JavaScript.
- Markdown All in One: adds very useful Markdown features like; Table of Contents, Key Shortcuts and Formatting.
- markdownlint: adds support for linting in Markdown.
- Prettier: code formatter that uses Prettier framework.
- Bracket Pair Colorizer: colors corresponding pair for better readability.
- Better Comments: human friendly comments in the code by adding hinting, colors and visibility.
- Gitlens: great extension for improving git and source control capabilities.
- Partial Diff: enables running diff on clipboard, partial code and files.
- Path Intellisense: adds autocompletion for paths.
- Code Spell Checker: hints for spelling mistakes.
- Docker: support for Docker files and images.
LastPass is a password manager that can safely store and sync your passwords. AppStore Link
Install latest LTS JDK, currently 11.
brew tap AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk
brew install --cask adoptopenjdk11macOS Catalina comes by default with Python2.7 support, installing XCode command line tools gives support to Python3 as well.
Alternatively you can install python using Homebrew:
brew install pythonAnaconda is a very powerful package and environment manager for Python, and is widely used for science projects on Python.
brew install --cask anaconda
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/anaconda3/bin" >> ~/.zshrc
conda init zsh- conda activate: activate default python environment.
- conda activate [environment]: activate given python environment.
- conda deactivate: deactivates the environment.
- conda create --name [environment]: creates a new environment.
- conda install [package]: installs the given package.
- conda remove [package]: removes the given package.
- conda update [package]: updates the given package.
- conda list: lists all installed packages in the activated environment.
The recommended way to install Node is through Node Version Manager (nvm) which allows installation of multiple Node versions and changing them easily.
brew install nvm
mkdir ~/.nvmThen add the following to ~/.zshrc:
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "/usr/local/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" ] && . "/usr/local/opt/nvm/nvm.sh"
[ -s "/usr/local/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm" ] && . "/usr/local/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm"- nvm ls: list installed node versions.
- nvm install [node-version]: install provided node version.
- nvm use [node-version]: use provided node version.
Spark is a very powerful email client, that in addition to looking good provides lots of nice features. AppStore Link
Spark > Preferences > Notifications > Badges > Enable Dock Icon Badge - New Messages Only
Award winning task manager for organising tasks and projects. AppStore Link
Things > Preferences > Things Cloud
Notion is a very powerful note taking app that supports integration with many tools. Download Link
Bear is a minimalistic inline markdown editor, it's a great tool for note taking. AppStore Link
Trello is a simplistic but powerful board to organize tasks and plans for projects. AppStore Link
An application that rotates wallpapers from UnSplash wallpapers feed. AppStore Link
A free application to completely remove applications and all its data.
brew install --cask appcleaner