A Minimal Mac Setup Guide

I just upgraded my personal laptop from a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro to an M4 MacBook Pro. Like all my new devices, instead of restoring from a backup, I try to Marie Kondo my digital life and start from a clean slate. This also lets me reexamine my existing tools and explore new options. Here’s my minimal Mac setup guide if you want to follow along.

MacOS settings

Apple ID: Sign in
MacOS update: Settings -> General -> Software Update
Keyboard: Switch to Dvorak, key repeat = fast, delay until repeat = short
Trackpad: Max tracking speed, tap to click, click = light, natural scroll = off
Displays: Switch to Apple Display (p3-600) for slightly better battery life
Finder: Show Library, show hidden files, show path to dir

# show Library folder
chflags nohidden ~/Library

# show hidden files
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

# add pathbar to title
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true

# restart finder
killall Finder;

Screenshots (to clipboard): CMD + SHIFT + F5 and change setting in “Option” menu. This lets me screenshot and paste into docs, chats, social media, etc directly (without saving a separate file). If I need to save it, open Preview and CMD + N.
Dock: Hide and show dock, reduce size, remove most default apps

Homebrew (might take a while as it also installs Xcode)

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

# add brew to default shell path
echo >> /Users/eugeneyan/.zprofile
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/eugeneyan/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

# check for updates
brew update

Terminal: Trying Warp instead of my usual iTerm. (If you use my referral code I can get some swag—thank you!)

brew install --cask warp
brew install --cask font-inconsolata-for-powerline
# Update warp font: Settings -> Appearance -> Terminal font

Shell: Trying Fish instead of my usual Oh My Zsh

brew install fish

# make fish default shell
echo $(which fish) | sudo tee -a /etc/shells
chsh -s $(which fish)

# add brew to fish path
echo >> /Users/eugeneyan/.config/fish/config.fish
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/eugeneyan/.config/fish/config.fish
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
touch ~/.ssh/config
open ~/.ssh/config

# add to config
Host github.com
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  UseKeychain yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Also see the Github docs to generate a new ssh key and add to ssh agent, and add a new ssh key to Github account.

brew install git
git config --global core.editor "nano"
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
git config --global user.name "eugeneyan"
git config --global user.email [email protected]

Research, writing, development

Obsidian: All my notes, writing, CRM, etc. live here

brew install --cask obsidian

# clone obsidian vault (i use obsidian-git for syncing)
git clone [email protected]:<github-username>/<obsidian-vault>.git

Zotero: Papers and annotations. Zotero has a nice PDF reader and markup tools, and also has an iPad app that syncs seamlessly. (Previously Google Drive)

brew install --cask zotero
# enable zotero plugin in safari

Cursor: Daily driver for prototyping and building. (Previously vscode)

brew install --cask cursor
# old machine: cmd+shift+p > export profile
# new machine: cmd+shift+p > import profile

Sublime: Simple code and text edits

brew install --cask sublime-text

Chrome: For web development

brew install --cask google-chrome

Postgres: To prototype web apps that need persistent storage

brew install postgresql@14

# very fast python package manager
brew install uv

# install the latest python
uv python install 3.12

brew install node
brew install nvm

# still deciding between pnpm and bun
brew install pnpm
brew install oven-sh/bun/bun

brew install chruby-fish ruby-install ruby-build
brew install rbenv

# workaround for fish shell
set --universal fish_user_paths $fish_user_paths ~/.rbenv/shims
rbenv global 3.3.5
rbenv rehash

brew install --cask docker

Ollama + openweb-ui: Running local models via a nice interface

brew install ollama
ollama serve

# in another terminal, pull some models to try
ollama pull llama3.2 nemotron  # 3B and 70B respectively

uv tool install open-webui
uv tool run open-webui serve

Productivity and quality of life

Raycast: A better spotlight

brew install --cask raycast

Rectangle: Window management.

brew install --cask rectangle

While Raycast already has window management, Rectangle lets you hit the hotkey again (e.g., CTRL + CMD + LEFT) to resize windows from 1/3 to 1/2 to 2/3. Great for widescreens.

Rectangle settings for resizing windows

Wispr Flow: Download and set output language = English. Speech-to-text. Returns accurate transcripts with decent punctuation and formatting. (If you use my referral link you earn good karma and I get $15 in credits! )
Google Drive: Syncing documents, files, media, etc.

brew install --cask google-drive

Stats + Ice: Adding system stats to menu bar and customizing the menu bar

brew install stats
brew install jordanbaird-ice

Entertainment and communications

brew install --cask vlc
brew install --cask spotify

brew install --cask telegram
brew install --cask discord
brew install --cask slack

References

If you found this useful, please cite this write-up as:

Yan, Ziyou. (Nov 2024). A Minimal Mac Setup Guide. eugeneyan.com.
https://eugeneyan.com/writing/mac-setup/.

@article{yan2024default,
  title   = {A Minimal Mac Setup Guide},
  author  = {Yan, Ziyou},
  journal = {eugeneyan.com},
  year    = {2024},
  month   = {Nov},
  url     = {https://eugeneyan.com/writing/mac-setup/}
}

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