All the stuff I do on a fresh macOS Installation

Fresh macOS Setup.md

App Store apps

• OmniFocus 4
• iA Writer
• Slack
• Hudlum

Direct apps

• Transmit

• Shottr

• Antinote

• Claude

• Claude Code

  • CLAUDE.md

• Adobe Creative Cloud

• VSCode

• Xcode

• Sketch

• Sync

• Ghostty

• config.ghostty:

  font-family = Fira Code
  theme = Dracula
  
  window-width = 120
  window-height = 30
  
  # Fix for Claude not scrolling with mouse
  mouse-reporting = false
  
  scrollback-limit = 0
  

• Spotify

• GitHub Mac Credential Helper

Command Line Setup

• oh-my-zsh

  .zshrc:

  plugins=(z git macos xcode yarn mise)
  
  # Auto-install updates every 30 days
  DISABLE_UPDATE_PROMPT=true
  UPDATE_ZSH_DAYS=30
  
  source $ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh
  
  # Calm zsh down when it can't find file matches
  unsetopt nomatch
  
  alias mac_mini_port_forward="ssh -L 5922:localhost:5900 lil-mac.local"
  alias ugh="git commit --amend --no-edit"
  
  # Homebrew
  export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
  

• Homebrew

  brew analytics off
  brew install diff-so-fancy
  brew install mise

• Firacode:

  • brew install --cask font-fira-code

Other Customizations

• Dock on bottom, auto-hide on, modest magnification
• Keyboard settings
  • Enable "Keyboard navigation"
  • Edit "Text Input" and disable "Add period with double-space"
• Accessibility Settings
  • Turn on zoom (ctrl key + scroll)
  • "Reduce Transparency"
  • "Show window title icons"
• git config --global core.pager "diff-so-fancy | less --tabs=4 -RFX"
• git config --global pull.rebase true
• git config --global rebase.autoStash true
• git config --global push.default simple
• git config --global user.name "Ash Furrow"
• git config --global user.email ash@ashfurrow.com
• git config --global alias.pushf "push --force-with-lease"
• Set a good highlight colour (Apple obtusely makes you buy an iMac for this): defaults write -g NSColorSimulateHardwareAccent -bool YES && defaults write -g NSColorSimulatedHardwareEnclosureNumber -int 7
• Fix Tahoe menu icons: defaults write -g NSMenuEnableActionImages -bool NO
• Stop Photos from opening when attaching a digital camera: defaults -currentHost write com.apple.ImageCapture disableHotPlug -bool YES
• Always expand save file dialogue box: defaults write -g NSNavPanelExpandedStateForSaveMode -boolean true
• Hide Desktop icons: defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop false

Hey Ash, I was perusing your nicely curated Mac setup :) I'm an old mac hack myself (used to be called a MacHead).

Here's one you might consider adding to your .bash_profile (or the equivalent zsh)..

alias show='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1 && killall Finder'
alias hide='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 0 && killall Finder'

Useful if I want to see all those invisible files in the finder.

Cheers!

Thanks @cjazz! That's a good one.

@cjazz There's also a shortcut for that: shift command . which is a toggle. It even works in open/save dialog boxes.

@OliverTaylor this is good stuff but its like a toggle which later(restart of computer) goes off...

@ashfurrow seems GIF Brewery has disappeared from the app store! It's my daily tool