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Setting up a new Mac for TypeScript / Web Development

A guide on setting up a new Mac computer for TypeScript and web development

Setting Up a New Mac

This a guide on setting up a new Mac for a Design Engineer. My name is Bridger Tower and I am a software designer and developer. I use Typescript and React to design and develop products.

General Settings

Initial Setup

  • Check for system upgrade. To do that go: Apple menu () > About This Mac > Software Update.
  • Remove all Icons from the Dock by dragging them to the Trash icon

Appearance Settings

  • Set appearance to dark mode
  • Set accent color to graphite

Control Center

  • Modules

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  • Other Modules

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  • Menu Bar Only

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Users & Groups

  • Login Options → Change fast user switching menu as Icon
  • Set up Password, Apple ID, Picture, etc.

Trackpad

  • Point & Click
    • Enable Tap to click with one finger
    • Change Secondary click to Right corner
    • Uncheck Three Finger Drag
  • Scroll & Zoom
    • Uncheck all apart from Zoom in and out

Dock

  • Visual Settings
    • Change position to Left and make the size of icons Small
  • Other settings
    • Remove workspace auto-switching by running the following command:
other
1defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-auto-swoosh -bool NO
2killall Dock # Restart the Dock process

Control Center

Spotlight

Accounts

  • Add an iCloud account and sync Calendar, Find my Mac, Contacts etc.

User Defaults

  • Enable repeating keys by pressing and holding down keys: defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false (and restart any app that you need to repeat keys in)
  • Change the default folder for screenshots
    • Open the terminal and create the folder where you would like to store your screenshots: mkdir -p /path/to/screenshots/
    • Then run the following command: defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /path/to/screenshots/ && killall SystemUIServer

Finder Settings

  • Finder settings > General > New finder window shows home folder
  • Finder settings > Sidebar > Add home folder to sidebar, remove airdrop and tags
  • Finder settings > Advanced > While performing a search > search current folder
  • View > Show path bar
  • View > Show Status bar
  • Folders as columns

Applications and Software

First Installations

other
1/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
  • Install Warp as default terminal → brew install warp
    • Minimal window theme, Dark Pastel color scheme, font size 16
  • Install Raycast as default spotlight search → brew install raycast
    • Replace default spotlight keyboard shortcut to use raycast
  • Install Node, NPM, NPX, etc. → brew install node

Coding and Development

  • Script to run
other
1brew install gh visual-studio-code dbngin cursor zed herd local
  • Github CLI → To manage GitHub code locally and on the server
    • run gh auth login to get started
    • Set git alias to have git send
other
1git config --global alias.send '!f() { git add . && git commit -m "${1:-wip}" && git push; }; f'
  • Cursor → AI focused code editor
    • Login with Github to use settings sync
  • Zed → Light weight collaborative code editor
  • Herd → PHP, Laravel, management
    • Open Herd to set up
  • Linear → Development Project management
  • Local → Wordpress Development
    • Install Rosetta to use this
  • Anaconda → Python Development (Install here)

Notes, Todos, and Calendar

  • Script to run
other
1brew install notion todoist amie
  • Notion → Notes and Docs
  • Notion Calendar → Multi-Calendar Management
  • Bear  → Notes and Docs
  • Craft Docs  → Notes and Docs
  • Todoist → Todo List

 = Install on the Apple App Store

Other Software

  • Script to run
other
1brew install spotify figma adobe-creative-cloud slack discord maccy raindropio
  • Spotify → Music
  • Figma → Design Software
  • Creative Cloud → Design Software
  • Slack → Messaging
  • Discord → Messaging
  • Maccy → Clipboard Manager

Setting up a New Mac

To Begin

  • Name the user folder brijr
  • Set up iCloud
  • Update MacOS to latest version
  • Remove Apps from Dock
  • Install Homebrew
  • Install Warp

Set up Terminal

  • Use zsh
  • Set up aliases
  • Theme Typewritten
  • Color scheme Flexoki

Software to Install via Brew

  • Warp
  • Node
  • Git
  • gh
  • conda
  • pnpm
  • Rectangle
  • Maccy
  • Raycast
  • Figma
  • Spotify
  • Cursor
  • Zed
  • nvim
  • Notion
  • Chrome
  • Firefox Developer Edition
  • Setapp
  • Notion Calendar
  • Slack
  • Discord
  • Docker
  • Linear
  • Zoom

Software to install via App Store

  • Craft
  • Cyberduck
  • Things

© Bridger Tower, 2025