Last configured: M4 Mac — March 24, 2026

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Package Managers

Tool	Install method
Homebrew	brew.sh
pnpm	corepack enable && corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate
nvm	standard install; then get node via nvm install node
yarn

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CLI Tools

Tool	Purpose
git	Version control
gh	GitHub CLI
python	Check with python3 --version

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Terminal Setup

• iTerm2 — terminal emulator
• Oh My Zsh — shell framework (setup guide)
  • PowerLevel10K — prompt theme (include VS Code terminal font)
  • zsh-syntax-highlighting
  • zsh-completions

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Essential Apps

App	Purpose
1Password	Password manager — connect everywhere
Arc	Browser
Spotify	Music
VS Code	Web / React Native development
Xcode	iOS simulators, App Store certificates
Notion	Notes
Obsidian	Relational markdown notes with strong data sovereignty

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Mac Behavior

App	Purpose	Notes
Alfred	Improved search	See config below
Better Touch Tool	Custom trackpad/mouse commands
boringNotch	Temporary file shelf in notch area
AltTab	cmd+tab expands minimized windows	Set Select previous window to shift+tab in Settings → Shortcuts
MonitorControl	External monitor brightness	brew install --cask monitorcontrol

Alfred config:

• Suppress banner
• Shortcuts: access Apple Shortcuts via sc
• Wordsmith (thesaurus): trigger with the

Known issue: Alfred not populating inline options (e.g. Power Thesaurus, Wordsmith)

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Chrome Extensions

• 1Password
• Adblock Plus
• Star History / GitHub Star History
• YouTube Default Playback Speed (default 2×)
• Youtube Playback Speed Control
• Auto High Quality for YouTube
• ReaderView
• Antigram — Instagram modifier
• Better History

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System Preferences

• Trackpad: Disable swipe between pages (two fingers) — prevents accidental back navigation
• Calendar: Add to Spotlight privacy list — to prefer Fantastical instead
• Mission Control: Disable Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use Settings → Desktop & Dock → uncheck the option

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Utilities

App	Purpose
TRex	OCR via screenshot
ActivityWatch	Time tracking
noTunes	Prevent Apple Music from opening; installed with brew install --cask notunes

WebP Image Conversion

Saved as a Quick Action in ~/Library/Services. Source

for f in "$@"; do
  ext="${f##*.}"
  ext_lower=$(echo "$ext" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')

  case "$ext_lower" in
    heic|heif)
      tmp="/tmp/$(basename "${f%.*}").png"
      /usr/bin/sips -s format png "$f" --out "$tmp" >/dev/null
      /opt/homebrew/bin/cwebp -q 80 -quiet "$tmp" -o "${f%.*}.webp"
      rm -f "$tmp"
      ;;
    jpg|jpeg|png|tiff)
      /opt/homebrew/bin/cwebp -q 80 -quiet "$f" -o "${f%.*}.webp"
      ;;
    *)
      # skip unsupported formats
      ;;
  esac
done

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VS Code Extensions

Extension	ID
Markdown Inline Preview	markdown-inline-preview
cSpell	—

cSpell settings.json config:

"cSpell.enabledFileTypes": {
  "*": true,
  "json": false,
  "jsonc": false,
  "log": false
}

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