Set up a Mac in 2024 for Power Users and Developers

In this video CJ walks you through his Macbook setup. He covers OS settings, essential productivity apps, terminal setup, zsh settings, VS Code setup and VS Code Extensions. Whether you're brand new to a mac or have been using one for years, you will likely find something useful in this video.
View all of the links to the apps I install and commands I run here: github.com/CodingGarden/mac-s...
View all of my VS Code settings and extensions here: github.com/CodingGarden/vscod...
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:56 What Macbook did I get?
00:01:14 Desktop Settings
00:02:18 Dock Settings
00:03:44 Finder Settings
00:07:01 Quick Launcher - RayCast
00:08:20 RayCast Setup and Overview
00:10:34 Homebrew
00:13:18 RayCast Homebrew Plugin
00:14:12 Window Management - Rectangle
00:16:04 App Switching - Alt-tab
00:17:20 Menu Bar Utility - Hidden Bar
00:18:30 Menu Bar Stats
00:21:26 Menu Bar Calendar - itsycal
00:22:10 Break Timer - Time Out
00:23:37 Homebrew Cask Versions
00:24:30 Install Firefox Developer Edition
00:25:12 Firefox Settings
00:28:21 Useful Browser Extensions
00:31:05 Privacy Focused Browser Extensions
00:32:30 Firefox Layout
00:33:29 Other Apps I use
00:35:06 Install Docker Desktop
00:35:41 oh my zsh setup
00:38:37 iterm settings
00:41:09 oh my zsh configuration
00:42:46 Set up git SSH key
00:44:49 dotfiles setup
00:45:42 CLI Tools I use
00:46:29 Install Node.js with nvm
00:47:37 Useful npm global commands
00:48:33 VS Code
00:49:32 Install VS Code Extensions
00:50:33 Local Project Setup
00:51:15 Load VS Code Settings
00:52:04 VS Code Layout
00:53:29 Useful VS Code Settings
00:54:50 Useful VS Code Extensions
00:58:15 Other VS Code Extensions
00:59:19 Thanks!
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[@syntaxfm]

00:00:56 What Macbook did I get? 00:01:14 Desktop Settings 00:02:18 Dock Settings 00:03:44 Finder Settings 00:07:01 Quick Launcher - RayCast 00:08:20 RayCast Setup and Overview 00:10:34 Homebrew 00:13:18 RayCast Homebrew Plugin 00:14:12 Window Management - Rectangle 00:16:04 App Switching - Alt-tab 00:17:20 Menu Bar Utility - Hidden Bar 00:18:30 Menu Bar Stats 00:21:26 Menu Bar Calendar - itsycal 00:22:10 Break Timer - Time Out 00:23:37 Homebrew Cask Versions 00:24:30 Install Firefox Developer Edition 00:25:12 Firefox Settings 00:28:21 Useful Browser Extensions 00:31:05 Privacy Focused Browser Extensions 00:32:30 Firefox Layout 00:33:29 Other Apps I use 00:35:06 Install Docker Desktop 00:35:41 oh my zsh setup 00:38:37 iterm settings 00:41:09 oh my zsh configuration 00:42:46 Set up git SSH key 00:44:49 dotfiles setup 00:45:42 CLI Tools I use 00:46:29 Install Node.js with nvm 00:47:37 Useful npm global commands 00:48:33 VS Code 00:49:32 Install VS Code Extensions 00:50:33 Local Project Setup 00:51:15 Load VS Code Settings 00:52:04 VS Code Layout 00:53:29 Useful VS Code Settings 00:54:50 Useful VS Code Extensions 00:58:15 Other VS Code Extensions 00:59:19 Thanks!

[@iamqqu]

If i had to rank all the mac setup videos i have watched through the years, this ranks way up at number one. CJ is a natural teacher. Took the time to explain everything and not just skim through it. Really great work.

[@leojclarke]

What a killer video. So indepth but super high production value and veeery watchable. Timestamps are on point. I'm sure to visit and revisit this video many times in the future.

[@alexliebhaber3109]

20 mins in, and I've already downloaded 3 new apps! Wonderful video!

[@williamcameron83]

41:06 seamlessly done! Love it! Great video, very useful and A LOT to take in so thanks for the timestamps to jump about.

[@PRonYouTube]

Thanks so much for sharing your setup! This was one of the better videos I've seen :) The iTerm "Natural Text Editing" key mappings was super helpful!

[@aleksrutar8839]

My Macs are all reconfigured and a bit "hacked", but you just made it super clean! Well done Mr. CJ!

[@rjborba]

Amazing! It is hard to find someone with a very similar setup that I have. Yours gave me some ideas of improvement. Thank you so much 🎉

[@jaumfcn]

First video of yours I've seen and I loved your vibe. Thanks for bringing it all together in such a light and cool way! Regardless the development stack, my setup is very similar and I would like to say that it is really worth giving Arc Browser and Warp Terminal a chance.

[@ohLyln]

Honestly great video! I have been using Mac OS to develop on for like 5 years and I didn’t know about some of these cool things. In particular; Raycast + the brew extension (just set it up last night) as well as stats tool is quite nice. Thanks for all this, very comprehensive!

[@theseus_dev]

This is the best set up video for mac 2024 hands down. I also use raycast and love using the create links as shortcuts

[@88onage]

Ah, the memories. The Mac setup streams were how I originally discovered CJ a few years ago. Awesome stuff 🚀

[@anitalakhadze5358]

I was watching this in incognito mode, but the video was so good and detailed and useful, that I specifically got back to non-incognito to give it a like 😄Thank you! ❤

[@ryanorr1]

This was an incredible resource. Thanks for putting this together!

[@StLolek]

Nice video CJ! Well presented a lot of useful stuff 🎉

[@EBay_Dev]

Spectacular! The best mac setup I've ever seen

[@nanoadam415]

This is SUCH an amazing video! This is actually incredible.

[@TheShoobah]

Great video, I will get a brand new Mac next week for my new job, so this was really useful 👌

[@FrontEndDevz]

One of the best and most useful video that I've seen this year!

[@jimbennett834]

This was an excellent video for a newbie to mac OS. Thank you.

[@nwokobia]

Outstanding walkthrough. Thank you!

[@DenzilLewis]

Super helpful stuff, CJ. Learned a lot. Thanks!

[@sadikrajabasha2938]

You're amazing, cj. I have implemented all the settings and its supercool. Post importing vs code settings, I couldn't toggle between editor and Primary side bar using shortcut "command +0" & "command+1"

[@Dedseq]

lots of the stuff mentioned here I'm already using, Though, there were things I didn't even know were there. Really good in-depth video !!

[@Jamrawk88]

Awesome video man. Was extremely helpful and informative. You sold me on raycast

[@joshuaa446]

One of the biggest lessons from this well thought through video I have gained is to take notes on setting up your pc/mac/linux work environment. Thank you for the details put into editing this educational video. For me settings and configurations is an ongoing process. I am considering a Password protected note file. Layer the note files with sub folders if necessary. I like how a lot of configurations in coding can be scripted and stored in a git repo.

[@ilyivanov5803]

Nice to see you in Syntax team. Thanks for the video, as I am new Mac user it helped a lot :)

[@Levelord92]

Ooooh CJ, nice to see you, I set up my MAC twice already based on your vid from Code Garden

[@ryanbeall5124]

Well done my man, just enough detail

[@AleksandarT10]

Great video, we need more content like this!

[@PauloVFSC]

Thanks a lot for the menu bar tools!

[@GayanSanjeewaKarunarathne]

Wow this is a Gold mine. Thanks CJ and Syntax!

[@DorinVancea]

Awesome tips, thanks CJ

[@gutterball237]

My life splits in half: before and after discovering iTerm's natural language setting 🤯 Thanks so much for this vid, amazing stuff!

[@Positive-rc5gl]

Amazing guide, so much great info. Thank you!

[@bukki007]

This is a thorough video. Love it

[@ho_artem]

Thanks for the tabless. It's a great Momentum alternative.

[@AlfredEssa]

Fantastic. A lot of nice tips and presented superbly. Much appreciated.

[@zacharyflynn77]

this is an awesome video. thank you cj

[@Furki4_4]

Thanks for the awesome tutorial. I've been using Windows since born and it was painful to install apps or switching between tabs on mac. I love RayCast and all other apps you suggested!

[@bleakCode]

CJ is awesome. I followed your twitch streams back in the day.

[@reginaldcurtis7538]

Thank you for this awesome video!

[@cis84muz]

This movie completely changed my life as software developer 🤯 Thank you 🙏

[@olympic-realty]

Awesome! Great "Mac Tweak Tools" :--) Thank you, CJ!

[@yeboije]

just got a mac for the first time and watched so many MacBook set up videos and this is by far the best! thanks!

[@Levelord92]

congrats with purchase!

[@jamieterrell75]

Awesome video, thanks for sharing.

[@rconr007]

Thank thank thank you. This was awesome 🎊

[@just3obad]

Great video. Thanks a lot for the tips. Learned a lot.

[@podroznik2214]

Wow! This is so helpful

[@antonpodkur3520]

Awesome video! Good job man!

[@sanyamjain7229]

handsdown the best setup video.

[@adamsDevArt]

Thanks! amazing content!

[@KarimAktouf]

Thanks for the great tips, my Mac feels better now :)

[@painkillerO8]

If I watched KZbin video from the start to the end, it means I like it and became new subscriber.

[@twitchizle]

watching this from my few hours old MacBook love you cj

[@D0ct0rPepper]

This is awesome! Thanks

[@Sezar_SZ]

Great Video! Lots of useful stuff!

[@imurashka]

Very useful video! Thanks

[@arthurhjorth1490]

Friend, this was actually useful. I've been so frustrated for so long with search defaulting to "This Mac" instead the obvious "This location". Having to click and "see properties" to see how much space is left on my HD is annoying. Having to Cmd + Up to go up through the folder tree to see where I am... all those little things that were low key annoying all the time. Thank you! You're also charming AF.

[@martantoine9977]

impressive thanks

[@armaandhanji7151]

Awesome video, love it! 👏

[@qnoox]

long time cj fan here to support 👍☕️🙏⭐️🥳

[@Alex-bv6wy]

thanks so much. Awesome video.

[@Chaithzx]

1:36 OMG, I resonate so much with you on this.

[@JamWebH]

congratulation very nice video for mac user and dev

[@EdwardBordenave]

Great Video, I opted for Warp terminal rather than iTerm but followed just about everything else

[@RolandSchlosser]

Awesome video!!

[@kreatur_]

An hour setup video is wild lmao. Well done

[@berrywhite2415]

this vid is awesome thanks

[@13zebras]

Mac user since literally 1984. Great content CJ. I even learned a thing or two. Three things: 1. Fish shell. 2. Kitty terminal. 3. Volume for the recording was way too low. I had to boost it quite a bit to hear it. Then blew my ears out when my Mac spoke the time. ;)

[@newby2224]

thank you for a great vid….you are very good at teaching…thx

[@aydogang]

FYI: Raycast Window Management plugin can replace Rectangle with the same shortcuts.

[@kigazon]

Yes, he also said that. He just prefers Rectangle.

[@niksingh710]

I am a Linux nerd mate and yeah i do these stuff by myself.............. but sooner or later have to use a mac for work so knowing these helps a lot. btw at first instance i was like WTF 1 hr but you covered everything that is relevant and important. Thanks for the video.

[@edarioq]

Lots of useful info thanks! I would add TMUX to the list, the speed at which you can manipulate the terminal without using the mouse is much faster with tmux.

[@repentandliveholy]

Thank you very much!!! Great!

[@someone9493]

Many many thanks ♥

[@vitalikda]

Amazing video! 👍

[@Arctect]

very cool and useful

[@Fullflexno]

Super ocol to see cj here!

[@m4u939]

THANKS

[@ArionKosturi]

Great video! 👏

[@user-hj5mz4lz1x]

First install on a fresh mac for me: spotify. I like to work in music :)

[@milad8436]

Such a Great content

[@Zoddex]

I don't use terminal a lot but the iterm tips were pretty awesome!

[@alrikschorling8046]

Super useful! Would definitely recommend Warp over iTerm though

[@shiuli6161]

39:24 dude, thanks a lot!!!

[@cant_sleeeep]

chad guy. i use these apps too. so convenient

[@micaelviana]

46:50, you can do "brew install nvm" and enable the nvm extension inside the .zshrc file, "plugins=(nvm)" so OHMYZSH will gonna detect nvm automatically.

[@cree_chan]

ooh we like CJ very much 😀

[@syntaxfm]

Yes we do

[@moritzre6325]

Insaneeeeeee Bro

[@arrchix]

Raycast already has built in window manager plugin, do you think that Rectangle is better? Great video, lots of inspiration for settings change.

[@donofriov]

natural text editing in iterm2 😲what a game changer

[@octavian0704]

Great stuff mate, I'd recommend you trying warp as your terminal.

[@syntaxfm]

Wes and Scott use warp, but there is def a concern around needing an account for a term.

[@Marcus_613]

Awesome video, I don't need to see more to subscribe. Thank you for sharing. Do you have any particular reason for using VSCode rather than VSCodium ? Are there any extension working on VSCode and not on VSCodium ?

[@kenshotek]

Beautiful video brother. You are nothing short of a Pro. Please let me know how you got that default, beige/light yellow theme, if it's an extension or custom settings. Much respect!

[@kenshotek]

Brother, can you please let me know how to get that color, theme on FIrefox you had in the video, I can't find it? I love the color for the theme

[@Operaatoors]

If talking about the shell, I like to extend my zsh with Starship (Cross shell prompt). But if talking about different kind of shell - I haven’t yet turned that way, but nushell is something worth checking out.

[@pnddesign]

Thank you for this tuts !! Question about gpg. I tried to use it to have my commits signed within github but installation is a pain and there is always something bugging so I don't use it. Would be great to cover under the section, Set up git SSH key. Cheers!

[@davepilks1]

Iterms warp drive plugin is amazing for jumping between directories

[@pabl.intriganto]

CJ 💚💚💚

[@kombearholes]

Everything works great, thank you for the detailed video. Except, hiddenbar doesn't open on my machine, apple says it cant scan it for malware so it won't open it. Thoughts?