macOS Web Development Setup Guide

10 min readDec 8, 2021

What does this guide cover?

This brief guide will go over a step-by-step process of setting up a web development environment for Software Engineers, specifically web developers. If you are new to web development or even an experienced pro, I think I got you covered. While this is not an exhaustive list for every cool hack or setting you may want for your development setup, I hope it helps to get someone started, without wasting a ton of time.

Quick note, this is NOT an industry standard for how every developer should set up a development environment. There is no such thing as that. This is a personalized guide that I find handy whenever I set up a new macOS device or factory reset an existing one.

Why should you consider using it?

Well… I’m sure developers always run into this whenever they start a new job or buy a new macOS device. They had their old development setup on their previous device that worked well, but now, they have to set up the entire process all over again. THIS is where this guide comes in. I know different developers will have different opinions and preferences for how they want to set up their development environment and that’s completely fair, but I hope they can at least take some helpful tips that I have added here.

Ok, enough talk, let’s get started!

Guided Steps

Prerequisites:

macOS Big Sur or above

Step 1

Factory Reset

I am going to assume that you are perhaps in one of these 2 scenarios as you start this guide:

You have a new macOS device (i.e., Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, and so on)
You have an existing macOS device, but you want a fresh start with a factory reset.

If you have a new macOS device, you won’t need to factory reset it. Feel free to skip to Step 2 in that case.

While factory reset is completely optional for existing macOS devices, I prefer to start with that b/c I like a fresh new laptop to work with.

Anyways, there are plenty of videos on YouTube on how to factory reset a macOS device, here is one that I prefer:

How To Erase and Reset a Mac back to factory default

Step 2

Accounts

Sign in to iCloud:
System Preferences > Sign In (top right)

iCloud Preferences:

Note: The above preferences are solely based on my own choices, which obviously might differ quite a bit from others. So, feel free to enable/disable apps using iCloud as you see fit.

Step 3

macOS Settings

Show hidden files in Finder

Open “Finder”
Press the Command + Shift + . (period) keys at the same time
Now, all hidden files should be shown

Show path bar in Finder

Open “Finder”
View > Show Path Bar
Now, full path to a file should be shown

Press enter or click to view image in full size

Show File / Directory Status in Finder

Open “Finder”
View > Show Status Bar

Press enter or click to view image in full size

Show all file and directory sizes

Finder > View > Show View Options > (Check) “Calculate all sizes”

Show file name extensions

Finder > Preferences > Advanced > (Check) “Show all filename extensions”

Show reference to user in Finder sidebar

Finder > Preferences > (Check) <user> on the sidebar, i.e., “jsmith”

Turn on Firewall

System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Firewall > Turn On Firewall

Only Allow App Store and Identified Developer Apps

System Preferences > Security and Privacy > General > Allow apps downloaded from > (Choose) "App Store and identified developers"

Disable File Sharing

System Preferences > Sharing > (Uncheck) “File Sharing”

Enable tap to click

System Preferences > Trackpad > (Check) Tap to click

Disable auto correct spelling

System Preferences > Keyboard > Text > (Uncheck) Disable “Correct spelling automatically”

Enable fast keystrokes and key repeats

System Preferences > Keyboard
Set “Key Repeat” to “Fast”
Set Delay Until Repeat” to “Short”

Auto hide docks

System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > (Check) “Automatically hide and show the Dock”

Show battery percentage

System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > Battery (left sidebar) > (Check) “Show Percentage”

Step 4

Finder Directory Structure & Hierarchy

- AirDrop
- Recents
- Applications
- Desktop
- Documents
- Downloads
- <user-directory>, i.e., “jsmith”
   - screenshots      // all screenshots live here
   - workspace
      - ___space___   // all development related configuration, contents and settings live here
      - projects      // all development projects live here
      - profile
         - avatar     // profile and social pictures
         - wallpaper  // (optional) wallpapers directory 
         - refs       // photo id, resume, or essential quick references live here

Step 5

Screenshots

By default, all screenshots are automatically saved on the “Desktop.” This can really clutter your home screen over time, so for a cleaner and more maintainable structure for screenshots, let’s set up a “screenshots” directory

Create a screenshots directory on the root level (under user’s directory, i.e., jsmith > screenshots)
Open screenshot app (Command + SHIFT + 5)
Update “Options” by setting “Save to” to the screenshots directory

Ok, now the real stuff… development environment

Step 6

Set Up Development Environment

Open Command Line / Terminal

Install Xcode command line tools

Run xcode-select --install

Install Homebrew

Run /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
Run brew update; brew upgrade; brew cleanup; brew doctor to ensure brew is up to date and healthy

Now, with Homebrew installed, let’s download a list of essential tools and applications right from the command line:

brew install node
brew install tree
brew install blueutil
brew install --cask iterm2
brew install --cask visual-studio-code
brew install --cask google-chrome
brew install --cask firefox
brew install --cask docker

Setup Shell

Run echo $SHELL // expect “zsh” shell by default

Note: if you have a different shell, use the steps below to install zsh shell:

Run brew install zsh
Then, run chsh -s /bin/zsh

Install Oh-My-Zsh

Oh-My-Zsh is a popular framework for ZSH configuration, mainly to jazz up your command line

Run `sh -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Add Alias:

Aliases let us add easy to remember short commands that run much longer and multi-step processes in the command line

After installing Oh-My-Zsh, you should have a .zshrc the configuration file on the root level

Open .zshrc file inside VS Code (Note: VSCode is code editor we installed via homebrew earlier)

Run code ~/.zshrc

Under “# Example aliases”, add these aliases:

To keep brew up to date and clean — alias brewup=”brew update; brew upgrade; brew cleanup; brew doctor”
Shortcut to copy SSH — alias copyssh=”pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub”
Shortcut to open .zshrc file — alias openzshrc=”code ~/.zshrc”
Shortcut to go to projects directory — alias gotoprojects=”cd ~/workspace/projects”
Shortcut to turn Bluetooth on/off:

ON — alias bton=”blueutil --power 1”

OFF — alias btoff=”blueutil --power 0”

Add ZSH plugins:

Plugins help to add more enhancements to Oh-My-Zsh. I always go with these 2 must-haves:

zsh-autosuggestions

Run git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions inside the command line
Now, add the plugin name to the plugins list inside .zshrc file:

plugins=(zsh-autosuggestions)

zsh-syntax-highlighting

Run git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting
Add to plugins list in .zshrc file:

plugins=(zsh-syntax-highlighting)

Note: If you are interested in installing more plugins, check out awesome-zsh-plugins

Git

Run brew install git, if git is NOT installed already
Run brew upgrade git, to install the latest version of git on system
Run git config --global user.name "<FIRSTNAME> <LASTNAME>" (keep the quotes)
Run git config --global user.email "<EMAIL>" (keep the quotes)
Run git config --global color.ui auto

Setup SSH Key

SSH key enables a password-less way to talk to another computer or a server from your local machine. Check out Quick Bite: SSH Key if you want to learn a little bit about SSH keys.

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Anyways, let’s set up SSH key…

To check for existing SSH key, run ls ~/.ssh/id_rsa (if you see “No such file or directory”, then continue on to generate a new SSH key)
To generate a new SSH key, run ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"
To copy SSH key, run pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Visual Studio Code

Open VSCode (Finder > Applications > Visual Studio Code.app)
Open command palette inside VSCode — CMD + p
Once search bar pops up, type >shell command, choose Install 'code' command in PATH
Install VSCode extensions:

Create a new file (extensions.txt) file inside workspace/___space___/ directory

Paste in the following list of extensions inside extensions.txt file:

bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss
christian-kohler.path-intellisense
CoenraadS.bracket-pair-colorizer
dbaeumer.vscode-eslint
dracula-theme.theme-dracula
dsznajder.es7-react-js-snippets
eamodio.gitlens
EditorConfig.EditorConfig
esbenp.prettier-vscode
formulahendry.auto-close-tag
formulahendry.code-runner
johnpapa.vscode-cloak
Mikestead.dotenv
nathanchapman.JavaScriptSnippets
PKief.material-icon-theme
pnp.polacode
ritwickdey.LiveServer
sdras.night-owl
stevencl.addDocComments
streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker
thedavej.night-owl-black
tombonnike.vscode-status-bar-format-toggle
WallabyJs.quokka-vscode
wayou.vscode-todo-highlight
xabikos.JavaScriptSnippets
Yzhang.markdown-all-in-one

Now, open command line, go into the `extensions.txt` file level, and run `cat extensions.txt | xargs -L1 code — install-extension` (installs all these cool extensions automatically, all at once):

- npm Intellisense

- Path Intellisense

- ESLint

- Prettier — Code formatter

- Live Share

- Auto Close Tag

- Bracket Pair Colorizer 2

- DotENV

- Live Server

- Add jsdoc comments

- Code Spell Checker

- DotENV

- Dracula Official

- EditorConfig for VS Code

- GitLens — Git supercharged

- Markdown All in One

- Material Icon Theme

- Night Owl

- Night Owl Black

- ES7 React/Redux/GraphQL/React-Native snippets

- Palacode

- Quokka.js

- Tailwind CSS IntelliSense

- TODO Highlight

Install FiraCode Font

Download FiraCode inside workspace/___space___ directory

Now, unzip it

Go into the ttf directory

Select all font files

Right click and select Open

Select “Install Font”

VSCode Settings

Open command palette — CMD + p

Inside the search bar, type in > open setting and choose Preferences: Open Settings (JSON) from given options

Now, paste in the following rules (in JSON) in it:

{
  "editor.fontSize": 18,
  "editor.fontLigatures": true,
  "editor.fontFamily": "Fira Code",
  "editor.wordWrap": "on",
  "workbench.colorTheme": "Dracula Soft",
  "editor.formatOnPaste": false,
  "editor.formatOnType": false,
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
  "workbench.iconTheme": "material-icon-theme",
  "terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "MesloLGS NF",
  "terminal.integrated.fontSize": 14,
  "editor.tabSize": 2,
  "prettier.requireConfig": true
}

(Optional) install “Settings Sync” extension to keep all of your VSCode extensions and settings in Sync on GitHub. Here is a great video showcasing that — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-uzUsHTQ8s&ab_channel=JamesQQuick

Node Version Manager (NVM)

NVM lets you install multiple versions of Node.js inside your local machine. This can be essential at times when you have to go back and forth between different projects using different Node versions.

Install NVM:

Run curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
Verify installation — command -v nvm (output should be nvm)
Usage:

Run nvm install node, to install the latest version of Node

Run nvm install <version>, to install a specific version, i.e., nvm install 14.7.0

See list of Node versions installed — nvm ls

To use the default node version — nvm use node

To set alias default version — nvm alias default <version>

To uninstall a node version — nvm uninstall <version>

iTerm

A great alternative to Terminal.app for command line

Preferences:

Profiles > General > Working Directory > (Choose) “Reuse Previous Session’s Directory”
Profiles > Font > Size (16)

Themes:

3 Options:

Oh-My-Zsh Theme (easiest to set up)
Dracula Theme (what I use)
Powerlevel10k Theme (coolest option)

Oh-My-Zsh Theme:

Pick a theme from this list
Update “ZSH_THEME” inside .zshrc file with your favorite theme
Example: ZSH_THEME="awesomepanda"

Dracula Theme:

Open iTerm and go into workspace/___space___ directory
Run git clone https://github.com/dracula/iterm.git
Activating theme:

iTerm2 > Preferences > Profiles > Colors Tab

Open the Color Presets drop-down in the bottom right corner

Select Import from the list

Select the Dracula.itermcolors file (from “workspace/space/iterm” directory)

Select “Dracula” from Color Presets

Powerlevel10k Theme:

Open iTerm and go into workspace/___space___ directory
Run git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git
Run echo 'source ~/workspace/___space___/powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k.zsh-theme' >>~/.zshrc
Now, restart iTerm
You should be prompted by Powerlevel10k to customize your iTerm
Follow through each step with provided instructions to setup your own customized iTerm UI preferences

Step 7

Recommended Applications:

Alfred — a solid replacement for Spotlight search
AppCleaner
CleanMyMac
AS Timer
Brave Browser
Discord
GitKraken
Google Chrome
iTerm
ImageOptim
Notion
Slack
Surfshark (VPN)
Taskboard
Trello
Visual Studio Code
VLC
WhatsApp
Zoom

Step 8

Dock

Before I leave, a few things…

📑 bookmark this page in case you want to refer back to it later on
👍 share this article with your peers or anyone who might want to set up a macOS for web development
💌 if I got anything wrong in this article, please leave a kind feedback

References:

macOS Web Development Setup Guide

What does this guide cover?

Why should you consider using it?

Guided Steps

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Show hidden files in Finder

Show path bar in Finder

Show File / Directory Status in Finder

Show all file and directory sizes

Show file name extensions

Show reference to user in Finder sidebar

Turn on Firewall

Only Allow App Store and Identified Developer Apps

Disable File Sharing

Enable tap to click

Disable auto correct spelling

Enable fast keystrokes and key repeats

Auto hide docks

Show battery percentage

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Install Xcode command line tools

Install Homebrew

Setup Shell

Install Oh-My-Zsh

Git

Setup SSH Key

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Visual Studio Code

Node Version Manager (NVM)

iTerm

Step 7

Step 8

Written by Nazmuz Shakib Pranto

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