Setting Up a New Mac

I recently setup a new MacBook as my primary machine and I made these notes in the hope they will streamline the process for me in the future.

Fix Trackpad Direction

System Preferences > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom (tab)

Uncheck Scroll Direction: Natural

Close System Preferences

Fix Clock

System Preferences > Date & Time > Clock (tab)

Date Options:

• Uncheck Show the day of the week
• Check Show date

Install 1Password

https://1password.com/downloads/mac/

Download and Install

Install Brew

The brew website includes this command you can run to install.

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

Install Programs via Brew

brew cask install google-chrome
brew cask install harvest
brew cask install alfred
brew cask install macvim
brew cask install private-internet-access
brew cask install transmit
brew cask install iterm2
brew cask install slack
brew cask install zoom
brew cask install dropbox
brew cask install docker
brew cask install spotify

brew install git
brew install tmux
brew install neovim
brew install vim
brew install gpg
brew install ripgrep

Setup My Zsh Configuration

git clone git@github.com:salcode/salcode-zsh.git ~/salcode-zsh.git
ln -sf ~/salcode-zsh/zshrc ~/.zshrc

from https://github.com/salcode/salcode-zsh

Disable Beep in Zsh

echo "unsetopt BEEP" >> ~/.zshrc

Custom Git Aliases

echo 'alias gl="git lg"
alias gs="git status"
alias go="git checkout"
alias gc="git commit"
alias gds="git diff --staged"
alias gca="git commit --amend"
alias gcnv="git commit --no-verify"
alias gcnva="git commit --amend"' >> ~/.zshrc

Chrome Extensions

• 1Password extension (desktop app required)
• uBlock origin
• Privacy Badger
• JSONView
• ModHeader
• Harvest Time Tracker

Alfred Setup

• System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Spotlight Uncheck Show Spotlight Search
• Alfred > Preferences > General > Alfred Hot Key (Command + Space)
• Alfred > Preferences > Features > File Search > Navigation > Check “Use ⏎ to open folders in Finder”
• Alfred > Preferences > Features > Actions > General > Selection Hotkey ⌥ ⌘ Space
• Alfred > Preferences > Features > Snippets
  • Auto Expansion Options > Sounds > Uncheck both:
    • Play sound when expanding Snippet
    • Play sound when expanding Workflow Snippet Trigger
• Alfred > Preferences > Features > System > Uncheck all but
  • Empty Trash
  • Lock

Alfred Snippets

• salcode-emoji-1.1.0.alfredsnippets

Alfred Workflows

• Alfred Jira Workflow

Change Default App Files Open with

.txt open with MacVim

See https://osxdaily.com/2011/02/01/change-default-app-file-opens-with-mac/

Vim Configuration

mkdir ~/.config
mkdir ~/.config/nvim
touch ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

Put the following in ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after
let &packpath=&runtimepath
source ~/.vimrc

Run the following on the command line to install my Vim configuration

bash <(curl "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/salcode/ironcode-vim/master/install-ironcode-vim.sh")

SSH Keys

Add SSH Keys

Add SSH Keys to ~/.ssh/
– salcode-id-rsa.pub
– salcode-id-rsa

Configure SSH

Create ~/.ssh/config and add the following:

Host *
    UseKeychain yes
    StrictHostKeyChecking no
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/salcode-id-rsa

Configure Git

Set Git to use main as default branch

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Install Git Enhancements

See Ironcode Git Enhancements

Install Composer

Install Composer Locally

Get the commands to run from https://getcomposer.org/download/

This is the command that needed to be run at the time this was originally written but it is likely it has since been updated, get the latest from the URL.

e.g.

php -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"
php -r "if (hash_file('sha384', 'composer-setup.php') === '572cb359b56ad9ae52f9c23d29d4b19a040af10d6635642e646a7caa7b96de717ce683bd797a92ce99e5929cc51e7d5f') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"
php composer-setup.php
php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"

Move Composer to be Run Globally

mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Copy auth.json from old machine

Get ~/.composer/auth.json on old machine and copy to new machine.

Configure Tmux

Follow the instructions at https://github.com/salcode/ironcode-tmux, i.e.

git clone git@github.com:salcode/ironcode-tmux.git ~/ironcode-tmux
ln -sf ~/ironcode-tmux/tmux.conf ~/.tmux.conf
git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm
tmux source ~/.tmux.conf

Run tmux and then from within tmux hit

Ctrl + b, I

Install NVM

See https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm#install–update-script

e.g. At the time of this writing, the instructions say

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.35.3/install.sh | bash
nvm install stable
nvm use stable

then set global default versions with

nvm alias default node

Add Source Code Pro Font

• Download Source Code Pro
• Unzip the download file
• Double-click SourceCodePro-Regular.ttf (this will open the font in Font Book)
• Click the Install Font button
• Quiz iTerm2 if it is running
• Restart iTerm2

iTerm2 Settings

iTerm allow CLI Access to Clipboard

Preferences > General > Selection

Check “Applications in terminal may access clipboard”

Font

Preferences > Profiles > Text

Set the Font to:

• Source Code Pro
• Size 18

Bell

Preferences > Profiles > Terminal

Under Notifications

• check Silence bell
• check Flash visual bell

Finder Modifications

• Add my home folder to favorites sidebar

Screenshots

• How To Remove the Mac OS X Screenshot Delay
• Mac Change Screenshot Location
• Add screenshot directory to Favorites sidebar

Setup Quick Action to Convert Image to JPG

Follow Converting HEIC to JPG on a Mac

Sal Ferrarello (@salcode)

Sal is a PHP developer with a focus on the WordPress platform. He is a conference speaker with a background including Piano Player, Radio DJ, Magician/Juggler, Beach Photographer, and High School Math Teacher. Sal can be found professionally at WebDevStudios, where he works as a senior backend engineer.