Setting Up A New Mac

Every now and then I set up a new Mac and I forget all the things I do. This is a list so that setup is fast.

Initial Environment

1. Google Chrome
2. Homebrew

Default Web Browser

Set it to Chrome instead

Screenshots Folder

Then set the Screenshots folder to ~/Pictures/Screenshots by hitting Cmd + Shift + 5, then Options, then Other Location... and create and select the folder.

Shell

1. Ghostty since it's a super-fast terminal emulator
   1. Ghostty Configuration
2. oh-my-zsh to make zsh enjoyable
3. fzf
4. ripgrep
5. mise allows managing different versions of runtimes
6. neovim
   1. Set EDITOR to nvim
7. fd

Text Entry

Now you can hold j to scroll down

Set up Caps Lock

First install Karabiner Elements

Disable Caps Lock Delay

Then, map Caps Lock to Escape if it's just tapped and to Ctrl if held

{
    "description": "Post escape if caps is pressed alone, left_ctrl otherwise",
    "manipulators": [
        {
            "from": {
                "key_code": "caps_lock",
                "modifiers": { "optional": ["any"] }
            },
            "to": [{ "key_code": "left_control" }],
            "to_if_alone": [{ "key_code": "escape" }],
            "type": "basic"
        }
    ]
}

LLM Assistants

1. Claude Code
2. Codex
3. Gemini

Productivity Tools

1. Slack