My Mac Setup 2025

When I got my new MacBook, I decided to set it up from scratch instead of migrating from my old machine. This gave me a chance to review and select the apps I installed, as I found that many old apps I had stopped using or no longer worked on an M4 Mac. While I still used my dotfiles and Brewfile to streamline the process, I took a more manual approach—commenting out unnecessary installs and selectively choosing what to bring over.

Here’s how I set up my Mac for an efficient and productive developer experience.

1. Installing Essentials with Homebrew

I rely on Homebrew as my package manager, but instead of blindly installing everything from my previous setup, I:

Used
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```
brew bundle dump
```
on my old machine to generate a Brewfile which is saved in my dotfiles repo.
Commented out tools I no longer needed.
Ran
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```
brew bundle install
```
selectively.

This gave me a clean but optimised setup without unnecessary bloat.

Must-have CLI Tools

Some of my go-to command-line utilities:

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zsh
& plaintext
oh-my-zsh
– My shell of choice, with plugins for auto-suggestions and syntax highlighting.
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nvm
– I manage my Node.js versions with nvm, keeping things flexible per project.
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git
– Of course, with signed commits configured.
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gh
– GitHub CLI for faster interactions.

2. Development Environment

I keep my development setup simple and efficient:

Node.js via nvm – I avoid system-wide installs of Node and let
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```
nvm
```
handle versions per project.
Docker – For containerised dev environments.
VS Code – My IDE of choice, with my usual extensions (ESLint, Prettier, GitLens, etc.).
Warp – Terminal of choice.

3. Productivity & Workflow Optimisations

Must-have Productivity Apps

These apps help me stay efficient:

Raycast – A powerful launcher that replaces Spotlight.
Rise – Helps me track work hours and breaks.

Mapping Raycast to Spotlight Shortcut

One major tweak I made this time was remapping Raycast to use Spotlight’s shortcut (

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Cmd + Space

). Since I rarely used Spotlight, I disabled it in macOS settings and set Raycast to take its place. This change significantly improved my workflow since I now use Raycast for everything.

4. Additional System Tweaks

Beyond installing software, I made some key system adjustments:

Added spacers to the dock to split out the docked apps I use most often.

5. Lessons Learned & Final Thoughts

Rebuilding my Mac from scratch was worth it. It allowed me to rethink my tools, remove bloat, and refine my workflow. While my dotfiles and Brewfile gave me a solid starting point, selectively choosing what to install kept things cleaner.

If you’re setting up a new Mac, I’d recommend:

Using
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```
brew bundle dump
```
to create a reference Brewfile.
Installing tools manually where it makes sense.
Remapping shortcuts like Spotlight to better alternatives like Raycast.
Keeping your dev setup modular (e.g., using
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```
nvm
```
for Node versions).

Would love to hear how others optimise their Mac setups—what tools and tweaks do you use, reach out on X? 🚀