M1 MacBook Pro Dev Setup

I recently got a M1 MacBook Pro and wanted to share how I set it up for development.

Table of contents

• Inspiration
• Essentials
• Apps & Programs
• Terminal
• Useful packages
• System Configuration

Inspiration

Before setting my machin up and knowing what good apps are out there I checked out these tutorials. Make sure to check them out.

• macOS Setup by Thvu
• Setting up new M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14” by Andres Vidoza
• Setting up a Mac for Development by CodingGarden

Essentials

Before starting the actual setup please make sure your machine has the latest version and got all updates.

• Enable the firewall in the system settings! This is very important
• Install XCode

xcode-select --install

• Install the package manager Homebrew

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

• Install the essential environments and CLIs you need

brew install git node neovim

• I really recommend signing your git commits. Read here why and how to do it.
• Now its time to create a ~/code or ~/dev folder and clone all your project repos locally.

Apps & Programs

Install all apps and programs you need with brew. This is a list of all things I installed:

brew install --cask iterm2 visual-studio-code google-chrome notion spotify rectangle alt-tab devtoys postman stats 1password

• iTerm2 - Terminal emulator
• Visual Studio Code - Code editor
• Google Chrome - Browser for developing
• Notion - Tool for creating notes, docs and more
• Spotify - Music provider
• Rectangle - Window management tool for macOS
• Alt-Tab - Windows alt-tab on macOS
• Devtoys - Useful developer tools
• Postman - API building and testing platform
• Stats - System monitor in your menu bar
• Raycast - Better Spotlight
• 1Password - Password management

Terminal

This requires the zsh command line which is the default on MacBooks since 2019.

• Install Oh My Zsh

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

• Install the Powerlevel10k theme

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

• Install and set a nerd font of your choice
• Restart your terminal and configure Powerlevel10k

p10k configure

• Update your ~/.zshrc to your liking. I have an example of what you can do in my dotfiles repo.

Useful packages

Install all of these with brew.

• bat - view file contents in your terminal
• exa - better ls
• neovim - terminal code editor. I use the AstroNvim configuration
• tmux - Terminal multiplexer
• zoxide - autojumper

The configuration and use of all of these can be seen in my dotfiles repo.

npm packages

• ESLint
• npm-check-updates
• pnpm
• prettier
• serve
• typescript
• yarn
• case-police

System configuration

• Show file name extensions by default

defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true

• Show all file extensions

defaults write -g AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true

• Show path bar and status bar

defaults write com.apple.finder ShowPathbar -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true

• Dont write DS_Store

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool true
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteUSBStores -bool true

• Show all hidden files

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true

Conclusion

I hope you liked my setup. Let me know your feedback. ❤️