My MacOS Setup

Posted on: 2019-06-28

As a contract front end developer I find myself setting up MacOS laptops quite often, here's my setup of everything on my home and work Macbooks (constantly updated)

Browsers

Safari (dev)

* Ublock Origin * 1password * vimari * Reddit enhancement suite

Chrome (dev)

* Ublock Origin * 1password * Disconnect * Vimium * HTTPS Everywhere * Imagus * Reddit Enhancement Suite * The Great Suspender

Firefox (main)

* 1password * CanvasBlocker * Cookie AutoDelete * Dark Reader * hooktubify * https everywhere * qbserve * redux detools * uBlock Origin * Vimium

Internet Explorer (test)

10, 11, Edge Win VMs _ Virtualbox _ IEVms _ Run curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/amichaelparker/ievms/master/ievms.sh | env IEVMS_VERSIONS="10 11 EDGE" bash _ It will fail wanting you to accept license terms _ VBoxManage extpack install /Users/csilk/.ievms/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack- (tab to auto complete then enter) then accept licence terms _ Run 1 again
Edge Preview (chromium)

iOS Simulator (test)

Comes with Xcode, used for mobile safari testing (usually emulated in Chrome is fine but sometimes is needed)

Productivity

Alfred with Powerpack

The nerve center for my setup, allows me to automate / get quick access to a ton of stuff

Settings

CMD+Space hotkey (needs to be turned off in Keyboard Shortcuts > Spotlight)
Disable bad web searches
Add custom searches _ Stackoverflow _ URL - http://stackoverflow.com/?q={query} _ Keyword - so _ Icon https://cdn.sstatic.net/Sites/stackoverflow/company/img/logos/so/so-icon.png?v=c78bd457575a
Setup fallback results for search engine to be _ Duck Duck Go _ Stackoverflow * Amazon UK

Workflows

Dash workflow for quick documentation lookup (built into dash)
Lorem - https://github.com/tillkruss/alfred-lorem-ipsum/releases
Fakerum (generate fake data) - https://github.com/deanishe/alfred-fakeum/releases
Process killer - https://github.com/ngreenstein/alfred-process-killer
Encode and Decode - https://github.com/willfarrell/alfred-encode-decode-workflow

Marta file manager

(to replace finder)

https://marta.yanex.org

My Config - https://gist.github.com/csi-lk/8505fb12052151ef27a16df4a3e40d3b

Then kill Finder as I rarely need it - https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/274745/why-is-the-finder-app-always-open#274748

defaults write com.apple.finder QuitMenuItem -bool YES

killall Finder

Things 3 (todo list)

Mac App store - Things 3

Love the UI and the way it syncs with my other iDevices

Qbserv

https://qotoqot.com/qbserve/

Automated time tracker that focuses on Productivity rather than time

FS Notes

Fsnotes

Currently migrating away from Notion

My new favourite note taking app that stores in plaintext on iCloud drive

Syncs with iOS app

SnippetsLab

Renfei SnippetsLab

Where I store code snippets

Choose SnippetsLab > Install Alfred Workflow from the menubar

GifFox

Giffox

Free software to create gifs easily that are sharable on Slack or imgur

Development

This is my default coding environment for mainly Front End development

Dash

Quick dev docs lookup that hooks direclty into Alfred

iTerm 2

Setup with Monokai Soda Colors

VSCode

Visual Studio Code

Note: i'm going to try going back to Sublime Text, as VSCode is too slow for me at the moment

Use sync-settings with this gist

Javascript Env

NodeJS _ NPM _ Yarn * Use npm-merge-driver for auto merging conflicts in yarn.lock npx npm-merge-driver install \ --driver-name yarn-merge-driver \ --driver "npx npm-merge-driver merge %A %O %B %P -c yarn" \ --files yarn.lock

Sublime Text

Themes _ https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Monokai _ Spacegray _ https://packagecontrol.io/packages/Material Theme _ Add subl to path with * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16199581/open-sublime-text-from-terminal-in-macos

CLI tools

brew because of course
Git Goodies forked to add my own commands and speed up git workflow
thefuck brew install thefuck autocorrects your last failed input

Utilities

Spectacle

Spectacle App

Setup hotkeys for window Management

MenuMeters

https://member.ipmu.jp/yuji.tachikawa/MenuMetersElCapitan/

Shows quick CPU, Network and RAM information in the MenuBar

Hazel

Noodlesoft - Hazel

Automated file operations, stored in iCloud drive that sync across devices

Bartender

Mac Bartender

To hide all the menubar icons that I don't need quick acess to

Dockey

http://dockey.publicspace.co/

Change dock preferences to always hide quick as possible show

Amphetamine

Amphetamine (Mac Store)

Much like the older caffine but way better, keeps your mac from sleeping

DaisyDisk

Note: I didn't know this at the time but you can use GrandPerspectiv for a free alternative

ImageOptim

ImageOptim

Design

Figma

Great sketch replacement

Pixelmator

For photoshop esque things that need to be done, I have a lifetime version given away in an old 'maclife' magazine that i've been using for years

Communication

Slack

Darkify with Slack Dark Mode (works after 4.0+ update)

Found on mac app store

Media

IINA

Plays everything but looks good, prefer it to VLC on mac then associate it with all movie formats

Spotify

Can't dev without music

Fonts

Fontbase

Missing font manager that lets you quick preview etc.

Web Font Load

Web-Font-Load

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/qrpike/Web-Font-Load/master/install.sh | sh

Installs all google fonts locally for design

Entertainment / Fun

Battle.net

Because I play a lot of Hearthstone

Plex

I have a plex server on a mac mini at home that I use often

Open Emu

Because I love playing banjo kazooie over and over again

Paprika

Paprika (App Store)

Where I keep all my recipies, have been using this for years, well worth the sticker price