macOS post-installation checklist of a software engineer

I find having a clean install of any operating system a lot nicer to work with. It helps remove the software you were not using, solve issues which you were having, reclaim disk space and ingrains the configuration changes you made from the last install or first time you bought the computer.

Web browsers: Chrome, Firefox Developer Edition

Password Manager: 1Password

Terminal: iTerm2 + Oh My Zsh + Homebrew

IDEs: VSCode (add to path) and IntelliJ IDEA (Using JetBrains Toolbox)

Golang/NodeJS/Python/Other languages: Install using asdf - it slows the terminal less than nvm/pyenv, and a single program for managing multiple languages

Rust: Install using Rustup

Version control: SourceTree, Sublime Merge

Note taking: Obsidian / Notion

Others:

Amphetamine - prevents your Mac from sleeping

Magnet - makes it easier to organise your windows

Docker for Mac - running containers

FreeFileSync - storage backup

Last updated: 2022/07/25