macOS developer
Tags: tutorial, productivity, macos, developer
Published: 2022-01-28 16:18:01

Hello **developers** 🧑‍💻, **thanks** for reading my post 🙏.

Recently I got to spend quite a bit of time finding settings, tools and apps that **boost my productivity 🚀** and make my **development routine easier ✨**.

Note that all of the following are **just my personal warm recommendations**, and I'd like to hear about any **additional tools** I may have missed in the **discussion section 🎤**.

---

> The following **preferences ⚙️** allow me to **utilize macOS more effectively**

### System Preferences 💻

- Dock & Menu Bar → ☑️ Automatically hide and show the Dock
- Dock & Menu Bar → Other Modules → Battery → ☑️ Show Percentage
- Accessibility → Pointer Control → Mouse & Trackpad → Trackpad Options… → ️️☑️ Enable dragging
- Trackpad → Point & Click → ☑️ Tap to click
- Trackpad → Point & Click → Increase Tracking speed
- Battery → Power Adapter → ☐ Wake for network access

### Finder Preferences 🗂

- Preferences → Advanced → ☑️ Show all filename extensions
- View → Show Path Bar
- View → Show Status Bar
- Press `shift ⇧ + command ⌘ + .` (Show hidden files)

---

> The following tools and applications **are free 🆓** and allow me to significantly **shorten daily operations**

### Command-line Tools 🛠 <a name="cli-tools"></a>

- **Xcode Command Line Tools** is a small self-contained package available for download separately from Xcode and that allows you to do command line development in macOS. 
Some of the **tools below depend on it**, so it is important to **install it first**.
Press `command ⌘ + Space` → Type `terminal` → Run `xcode-select --install` → Wait few minutes

- **Homebrew** is an open-source software package management system that simplifies the installation of software on macOS.
Open [Homebrew page](https://brew.sh/) in a new tab → Copy the snippet → Paste it in the terminal → Follow the instructions that the script will display

> By **installing** the rest of the **command-line tools via** [brew](https://formulae.brew.sh/), you will be able to **keep them up-to-date** by running `brew upgrade` once in a while.
``` bash
brew install git curl wget jq htop speedtest tldr thefuck fzf bat 
```

- [git](https://git-scm.com/) version control system
- [curl](https://curl.se/) transferring data with URLs
- [wget](https://www.gnu.org/software/wget/) retrieving files
- [jq](https://stedolan.github.io/jq/) JSON processor
- [htop](https://htop.dev/) process viewer
- [speedtest](https://www.speedtest.net/apps/cli) internet connection measurement
- [tldr](https://tldr.sh/) commands cheatsheets
- [thefuck](https://github.com/nvbn/thefuck) corrects errors in previous commands
- [fzf](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) fuzzy finder
- [bat](https://github.com/sharkdp/bat) cat with syntax highlighting and Git integration

### Applications 📱 <a name="apps"></a>

> Since most apps these days can update themselves automatically, I **prefer to install** them **via their native installer** (download then drag to application directory, and if needed remove with AppCleaner) **rather than via brew casks**, but it is entirely **up to you**. (see [this issue](https://stackoverflow.com/a/31994862)).

- [iTerm2](https://iterm2.com/index.html) terminal emulator {% link https://dev.to/rannn505/macos-awesome-terminal-519n %}
- [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) code editor.

> To launch VS Code from the terminal, Open VS Code → Press `⌘ + ⇧ + P` → Type `shell command` → Select `Install code command in path`.

- [Maccy](https://maccy.app/) clipboard manager
- [Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com/) keyboard windows manager 
- [Xnip](https://xnipapp.com/) screenshot app
- [Kap](https://getkap.co/) screen recorder
- [KeepingYouAwake](https://keepingyouawake.app/) prevents sleep
- [Ngrok](https://ngrok.com/) public URL to your localhost
- [Bitwarden](https://bitwarden.com/) password manager
- [AppCleaner](https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/) thoroughly uninstall apps

## Extra 🛸

- [Awesome Mac](https://wangchujiang.com/awesome-mac/)
- [Is Apple Silicon ready?](https://isapplesiliconready.com/)

**Happy coding day 🍻**
![easy dev](https://i.gifer.com/5eKX.gif)