MacBook Pro 2025 web dev setup • walterra.dev

For the new year I got a new MacBook Pro. Here’s the obligatory setup log I used.

system updates & package manager

# Update macOS to the latest version through System Settings
# Install Xcode command line tools
xcode-select --install

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

brew update

apps

1Password (password manager)
Affinity Photo 2 (photoshop alternative)
Claude for Desktop (LLM)
CleanShot X (screenshot management)
Controller for HomeKit (homekit manager)
Final Cut Pro & Compressor (video editing & encoding)
Franz (messaging)
GoG (games)
Grand Perspective (file system analysis)
Kap (screencasts with GIF support)
Microsoft Office (don’t @ me)
Orion (kagi’s webkit browser)
Rectangle Pro (window management)
Reeder (rss reader)
Steam (more games!)
SourceTree (git ui)

terminal

brew install --cask iterm2

brew install \
  wget \
  git \
  nvm \
  yarn \
  pnpm \
  graphicsmagick \
  commitizen \
  cmatrix \
  vips

make iterm2 default terminal
preferences ->
- general -> window
  - unselect “native full screen windows”
  - select “close windows when closing an app”
- appearance ->
  - windows
    - select “hide scrollbars”
  - tabs
    - unselect “show tab bar in fullscreen”
  - dimming
    - unselect all dimming
- profiles ->
  - window
    - transparency: 20
    - style: full screen
    - screen: main screen
  - advanced
    - semantic history -> open with editor … -> VS Code
- natural text editing

# Install Oh My Zsh for better terminal experience
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

# Update everything (e.g. plugins) in Oh My Zsh to recent version:
omz update

# Important: If you change something in your Zsh configuration (.zshrc), force a reload:
source ~/.zshrc

# Oh My Zsh Theme + Fonts
brew install starship

# Make it the default theme for Oh My ZSH from the terminal
echo 'eval "$(starship init zsh)"' >> ~/.zshrc

# As font we will be using Hack Nerd Font in iTerm2 and VS Code. Install it via:
brew install font-hack-nerd-font

# Do this before the SourceTree CLI installation (stree)
sudo mkdir -p -m 775 /usr/local/bin

Use the new font in iTerm2: Preferences -> Profile -> Text -> Font: font-hack-nerd-font.

Oh My Zsh Plugins

https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions

# Clone the repository inside your oh-my-zsh repo
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-completions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-${ZSH:-~/.oh-my-zsh}/custom}/plugins/zsh-completions

Add it to FPATH in your .zshrc by adding the following line before source "$ZSH/oh-my-zsh.sh":

fpath+=${ZSH_CUSTOM:-${ZSH:-~/.oh-my-zsh}/custom}/plugins/zsh-completions/src

https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions

# Clone this repository into $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins (by default ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins)
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

Then add the plugin to the list of plugins for Oh My Zsh to load (inside ~/.zshrc):

plugins=(
    # other plugins...
    zsh-autosuggestions
)

https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting

# Install plugin
brew install zsh-syntax-highlighting

# To activate the syntax highlighting, add the following at the end of your .zshrc:
source /opt/homebrew/share/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh

git

# Install Git
brew install git

# Configure Git
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

# Set the default branch to main instead of master
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

# Generate SSH key for GitHub
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"

nodejs

# Install Node Version Manager (nvm)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash

# Install latest LTS version of Node.js
nvm install --lts

misc

brew install --cask visual-studio-code
brew install yarn
brew install --cask postman
brew install --cask docker
brew install --cask google-chrome
brew install --cask firefox
brew install htop
brew install ffmpeg

vs code extensions

Inspired by https://www.robinwieruch.de/mac-setup-web-development/

tmux reference

# install tmux
brew install tmux

# install tmux plugin manager
git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

# new session
tmux new-session -s dev_env

Horizontal Split: Prefix, then %.
Vertical Split: Prefix followed by “.
Detach: To detach from the tmux session without terminating it, press Prefix then d.
To reattach, use:

tmux attach-session -t dev_env

Config file ~/.tmux.conf:

unbind C-b  # Unbind the default Ctrl-b
set-option -g prefix C-a  # Set new prefix to Ctrl-a
bind C-a send-prefix  # Rebind C-a as the new prefix
set-option -g mouse on

# List of plugins
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tpm'

# tmux resurrect
set -g @plugin 'tmux-plugins/tmux-resurrect'

# Initialize TMUX plugin manager (keep this line at the very bottom of tmux.conf)
run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

dotfiles with chezmoi

https://www.chezmoi.io/quick-start/

# initialize first time
brew install chezmoi
chezmoi init
chezmoi add ~/.zshrc

# restore/sync on another machine
chezmoi init https://github.com/$GITHUB_USERNAME/dotfiles.git
chezmoi diff
chezmoi apply -v