My Minimal MacBook Pro 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 Basic developer tools Research, writing, development Productivity and quality of life Entertainment and communications 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 Basic developer tools 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 "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)" Htop: A better top brew install htop New SSH keys ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com" eval "$(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. Git brew install git git config --global init.defaultBranch main git config --global user.name "eugeneyan" git config --global user.email hi@eugeneyan.com 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 git@github.com:<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@16 Python, JS, and Ruby # 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 Docker brew install --cask docker Ollama + Open WebUI: 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 Update: Turns out Raycast has this too (h/t @mwheatfill), and also has presets for Rectangle hotkeys. I’ve since moved to Raycast window management. 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 Logi Options+ Download and sign in to load saved settings for my MX Ergo. Entertainment and communications Media brew install --cask vlc brew install --cask spotify Chat brew install --cask telegram brew install --cask discord brew install --cask slack References Tweet thread with lots of great suggestions Swyx’s Mac setup Sourabh Bajaj’s Mac Setup Robin Wieruch’s Mac Setup Tania Rascia’s Mac Setup Thorsten Ball’s Mac Setup Mimansa Jaiswal’s Mac Setup If you found this useful, please cite this write-up as: Yan, Ziyou. (Nov 2024). My Minimal MacBook Pro Setup Guide. eugeneyan.com. https://eugeneyan.com/writing/mac-setup/. or @article{yan2024macsetup, title = {My Minimal MacBook Pro Setup Guide}, author = {Yan, Ziyou}, journal = {eugeneyan.com}, year = {2024}, month = {Nov}, url = {https://eugeneyan.com/writing/mac-setup/} } Share on: Join 11,800+ readers getting updates on machine learning, RecSys, LLMs, and engineering.