My Mac OS setup and the best applications I use as a Web Developer. This is a living document. I regularly update it with new tools and applications that I find useful. If you want to know more, I share more on my blog and my newsletter.
- Disclaimer
- Usage
- My Hardware
- Setup shell
- Command Line Apps
- Applications
- Mac preferences
- Web Applications
- Inspiration
- Icons and images
Important
Disclaimer: I have been always passionate about tools. I always loved experimenting until I can find the right tool for the right task. Being a Front-End Developer requires to know the tools that exist and choose the one that will perform the task faster and better. Based on hours of research and testing, I'm sharing all the applications I believe suits the best my work and daily workflow. It's a living MacOS configuration that, I hope, will also save you time for you to enjoy life more!This is a living document. I regularly update it with new tools and applications that I find useful.
- I tried to keep the right order you should also follow to install packages and applications on your Mac (particularly the setup shell part)
- Some tools are free and some are not. I'm lucky to have the ability to pay for licences and subscriptions. But if you are not in that situation, 1) You will find free alternatives in the "Alternatives" section of most of the tools, 2) you don't need a paid tool to do an amazing work. Just choose the best tool that suits you and your situation.
- Product Hunt - By far the best and well-know website where you can find almost everything you need. You will sometimes find a badge
that redirects to the Product Hunt page. Show some ❤️ to the makers!
- AlternativeTo - I regularly use AlternativeTo but find it limited and not always accurate. The "ups" are most of the time not relevant or doesn't reflect what people prefer the most. It's a great place to start if you are looking for a list of alternatives though.
- Slant and stackshare - Slant and Stackshare are kind of similar but Stackshare is more developer tools focused. It's a nice source of information to compare apps / web apps.
I regularly update all my hardware on a dedicated page on kit.co. Feel free to check it out!
- Xcode is required for some applications to run. So having Xcode updated just remove the issue of not being able to install some apps.
xcode-select --installHomebrew - The Missing Package Manager for macOS
$ ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"With Homebrew comes brew-cask which will allow to install applications with the command line.
brew update # Fetch latest version of homebrew and formula.
brew search {app name} # Searches all known Casks for a partial or exact match.
brew install {package name} # Install a package
brew info --cask {app name} # Displays information about a given Cask
brew install --cask {app name} # Install the given cask.
brew cleanupCakebrew (optional) - A GUI for Cask
brew install --cask cakebrewbrew install zshAdd this to my ~/.zshrc
export HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS="--appdir=/Applications"Oh My Zsh - Framework for managing your Zsh configuration
Verify that ZSH is correctly installed
zsh --versionAdditionally, Zsh should be set as the default shell.
Run echo $SHELL from a new terminal to confirm.
Expected result: /usr/bin/zsh or similar
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/master/tools/install.sh)"Check if Oh My Zsh was correctly installed.
GNU Coreutils - An essential package with basic tools such as ls, rm...
brew install coreutilsWget - To download data from the web and ftp, easier than curl
brew install wgetTree - To create beautiful indented listing of files
brew install tree
tree -L 1 # to output only the root directories and filesNmap - A powerful command line network discovery utility
brew install nmapThe Silver Searcher - Really fast code searching tool
brew install the_silver_searcherjq - Lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor
brew install jqYoutube-dl - A command line alternative to Airy
brew install youtube-dl
youtube-dl -f best 'link-of-your-own-youtube-video'FFMPEG - To convert videos in multiple formats
brew install tesseract-lang && brew install homebrew-ffmpeg/ffmpeg/ffmpeg --with-fdk-aac --with-librsvg --with-libsoxr --with-libssh --with-tesseract --with-libvidstab --with-opencore-amr --with-openh264 --with-openjpeg --with-openssl --with-rubberband --with-webp --with-zeromq --with-zimg --with-srt --with-libvmaf --with-libxml2 --with-game-music-emu --with-libbluray --with-libbs2b --with-libcaca --with-libgsm --with-libmodplug --with-openssl@1.1 --with-rtmpdump --with-speex --with-two-lame --with-wavpack --with-xvidMore details here
blueutil - CLI for bluetooth on OSX
brew install blueutilSpeedtest-cli - The command line version of Speedtest.net
brew install speedtest-cliImagemagick - You can do almost everything to edit/convert images and pdfs
brew install imagemagickDisplayPlacer - Programmatically reorganize your screens layout
brew tap jakehilborn/jakehilborn && brew install displayplacerbrew tap homebrew/cask-fonts
brew install --cask \
font-fira-code \
font-source-code-pro font-source-code-pro-for-powerline \
font-source-sans-proMAS - Install App Store apps from the command line
brew install mas
mas search {app name} # To search for an appRuby (rbenv) - To manage multiple versions of Ruby
brew install rbenv ruby-build rbenv-default-gems rbenv-gemset
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc # Apply changes
rbenv install {version}nvm - Easily manage your node versions
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.35.3/install.sh | bashAdd these lines in the $HOME/.zshrc file:
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && . "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvmAnd these lines to automatically switch your node version based on the nvmrc file.
# place this after nvm initialization!
autoload -U add-zsh-hook
load-nvmrc() {
local node_version="$(nvm version)"
local nvmrc_path="$(nvm_find_nvmrc)"
if [ -n "$nvmrc_path" ]; then
local nvmrc_node_version=$(nvm version "$(cat "${nvmrc_path}")")
if [ "$nvmrc_node_version" = "N/A" ]; then
nvm install
elif [ "$nvmrc_node_version" != "$node_version" ]; then
nvm use
fi
elif [ "$node_version" != "$(nvm version default)" ]; then
echo "Reverting to nvm default version"
nvm use default
fi
}
add-zsh-hook chpwd load-nvmrc
load-nvmrcTo default a specific node version: nvm alias default {version}
yarn - Fast, reliable, and secure dependency management.
brew install yarnAct - Run Github Actions Locally
brew install nektos/tap/actGit standup - Recall what you did on the last working day
brew install git-standupGithub CLI - Github on the command line
brew install github/gh/ghbrew install --cask \
qlcolorcode qlmarkdown qlprettypatch qlstephen \
qlimagesize \
quicklook-csv quicklook-json epubquicklookList all NPM package installed globally: npm list -g --depth 0
- Netlify CLI -
npm install netlify-cli -g - Gatsby CLI -
npm install -g gatsby-cli - NPM-check -
npm install -g npm-check - Yarn-check -
npm install -g yarn-check - AWS Amplify CLI -
npm install -g @aws-amplify/cli - Vercel CLI -
npm i -g vercel - Create React App -
npx create-react-app my-app - dotenv-cli -
npm install -g dotenv-cli - Gitmoji -
npm i -g gitmoji-cli - Release-it -
npm install --global release-it - Plop -
npm i -g plop
This is a complete list of all the applications I have on my personal and professional Mac (some apps are only on my personal computer).
🎁 Some applications can be bought individually or you can subscribe Setapp for a 7-day free trial to test multiple applications and decide the one you want to use!
This is the list of the most essentials apps I would install if I was limited in the number of apps to have.
Little Snitch - Control incoming/outgoing network traffic
