macOS Dev Environment Setup

Apple Silicon · macOS Tahoe · April 2026

Pairs with my dotfiles repo. Both repos are expected at $HOME/projects/_personal/.

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Two ways to use this

Path A: One command (recommended)

mkdir -p ~/projects/_personal
cd ~/projects/_personal
git clone https://github.com/striveforbest/macOS-dev-environment-setup.git
cd macOS-dev-environment-setup
./setup-mac.sh

Idempotent, prompts before each section, restores keys from backup if available.

Path B: Step-by-step

Skip to Manual setup and run commands one section at a time.

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Project layout

~/projects/_personal/
├── dotfiles/                       (cloned by script)
└── macOS-dev-environment-setup/    (this repo)

Override with PROJECTS_DIR or DOTFILES_DIR env vars.

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Key restore (Path A)

The script auto-detects Google Drive and offers to restore existing keys instead of generating new ones each setup.

Auto-detected paths:

• ~/Google Drive/My Drive/Development/
• ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*/My Drive/Development/

Expected layout in that directory:

.../My Drive/Development/
├── .ssh/             ← SSH keys (id_ed25519, id_ed25519.pub, config, etc.)
├── .boto             ← GCS credentials
└── gpg-private.asc   ← exported GPG private key (armored)

After generating fresh keys for the first time, the script offers to back them up to this directory so future re-runs / new machines can restore from the same source.

Manual GPG key export (if you have keys elsewhere):

gpg --armor --export-secret-key YOUR_KEY_ID > ~/Google\ Drive/My\ Drive/Development/gpg-private.asc

Override the restore source:

RESTORE_FROM=~/Dropbox/backup ./setup-mac.sh

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All env var overrides

PROJECTS_DIR=~/code \
DOTFILES_REPO=git@github.com:you/dotfiles.git \
DOTFILES_DIR=~/code/dotfiles \
RESTORE_FROM=~/Dropbox/backup \
./setup-mac.sh

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Manual steps the script can't do

1. Font: iTerm → Settings → Profiles → Text → Font → MesloLGS NF
2. Powerlevel10k wizard: p10k configure after first iTerm restart
3. GPG passphrase: enter when generating key (save in 1Password)
4. GitHub key uploads: paste in browser tabs the script opens
5. Unidentified developer apps: System Settings → Privacy & Security

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Manual setup

The canonical command list, in order. Run these instead of ./setup-mac.sh if you'd rather do it step by step.

Project structure

mkdir -p ~/projects/_personal
cd ~/projects/_personal

Xcode CLT

xcode-select --install

Homebrew

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

Brewfile install

brew bundle --file=./Brewfile

iTerm2 + Nerd Font

iTerm: Settings → Profiles → Text → Font → MesloLGS NF

Oh My Zsh

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

Restore SSH keys (if backed up)

SRC="$HOME/Google Drive/My Drive/Development"
mkdir -p ~/.ssh
rsync -av --exclude 'known_hosts*' "$SRC/.ssh/" ~/.ssh/
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_*
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/*.pub

Or generate fresh SSH key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com"
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Paste at https://github.com/settings/ssh/new

Optional backup:

cp ~/.ssh/id_ed25519* "$HOME/Google Drive/My Drive/Development/.ssh/"

Dotfiles

cd ~/projects/_personal
git clone git@github.com:striveforbest/dotfiles.git

DOTFILES="$HOME/projects/_personal/dotfiles"
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.zshrc"            ~/.zshrc
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.bash_profile"     ~/.bash_profile
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.bashrc"           ~/.bashrc
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.aliases"          ~/.aliases
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.functions"        ~/.functions
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.vimrc"            ~/.vimrc
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.gitconfig"        ~/.gitconfig
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.gitignore_global" ~/.gitignore_global
ln -s "$DOTFILES/bin"               ~/bin

mkdir -p ~/.gnupg && chmod 700 ~/.gnupg
ln -s "$DOTFILES/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf" ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf

GPG signing

mkdir -p ~/.gnupg && chmod 700 ~/.gnupg
echo "pinentry-program $(brew --prefix)/bin/pinentry-mac" > ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf
echo 'use-agent' > ~/.gnupg/gpg.conf
gpgconf --kill gpg-agent

Restore from backup:

gpg --import "$HOME/Google Drive/My Drive/Development/gpg-private.asc"

Or generate fresh:

gpg --full-generate-key
# 1, 4096, 0, y, name, email matching git, blank comment, passphrase

Then configure git:

gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG
# copy ID after `sec rsa4096/`

git config --global gpg.program $(which gpg)
git config --global user.signingkey YOUR_KEY_ID
git config --global commit.gpgsign true
git config --global tag.gpgsign true

gpg --armor --export YOUR_KEY_ID | pbcopy

Paste at https://github.com/settings/gpg/new

Optional backup:

gpg --armor --export-secret-key YOUR_KEY_ID > "$HOME/Google Drive/My Drive/Development/gpg-private.asc"

Powerlevel10k wizard

p10k configure

Python (pyenv)

pyenv install 3.14
pyenv global 3.14

Node (nvm)

mkdir -p ~/.nvm
source ~/.zshrc
nvm install --lts
nvm use --lts

PostgreSQL

Download Postgres.app from https://postgresapp.com/

sudo mkdir -p /etc/paths.d
echo /Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin | sudo tee /etc/paths.d/postgresapp

Elasticsearch

brew tap elastic/tap
brew install elastic/tap/elasticsearch-full
brew services start elastic/tap/elasticsearch-full

macOS defaults

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES && killall Finder
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleShowAllExtensions -bool true
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 2
defaults write NSGlobalDomain InitialKeyRepeat -int 15

Maintenance

brew update && brew outdated && brew upgrade && brew cleanup
brew doctor

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Common gotchas

• npm: command not found after brew install nvm — nvm is a shell function, source it in .zshrc

• Literal $(build_right_prompt) in prompt — powerlevel9k is broken on modern zsh, use p10k

• ? boxes instead of icons — install MesloLGS NF and select it in iTerm

• fatal: cannot exec '/usr/local/bin/gpg' — git config --global gpg.program $(which gpg)

• [oh-my-zsh] plugin 'zsh-syntax-highlighting' not found — brew-installed plugins go at the end of .zshrc, not in OMZ plugins=(...)

• SSH keys restored from cloud storage and SSH refuses them — permissions got mangled; chmod 700 ~/.ssh && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_*

• pygmentize: command not found — install pygments: brew install pygments (already in Brewfile)