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CarlosRD Sandbox

Rebuilding my MacBook

·432 words·3 mins·
Technology MacOS
Table of Contents
At the beginning of the year I had to set up my MacBook. This post is a quick guide as a reference in case I need to configure another Mac from scratch. Hopefully it helps you as well.

Configure MacOS Preferences
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I start by configuring system preferences while updates are being installed in the background.

  1. Desktop & Dock > Disable “Click wallpaper to reveal desktop” and “Show widgets”
  2. Enable: “Automatically hide and show the dock”. Disable: “Animate opening applications” and “Show suggested and recent apps in Dock”
  3. Map Caps Lock to ESC: System Settings > Keyboard > Modifier Keys

Configure Finder settings:

  1. General: New finder window set to home folder. Show as list.
  2. Tags: Remove tags
  3. Sidebar: Disable recents. Rearrange icon order
  4. Advanced: Set When performing search to “current folder”.
  5. Finder > View > show pathbar and status bar.

Install Applications
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Homebrew
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Homebrew is the cornerstone of how I install and keep apps and packages up to date.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Raycast
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brew install --cask raycast

Raycast makes my life so much easier. I use it to launch apps, manage Homebrew packages, and as my window manager.

Raycast
Quick snapshot of my app and window management shortcuts

iTerm2 + Oh My Zsh + Powerlevel10k
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iTerm2 is my terminal of choice. This time I went with Anonymous Pro as my font.

I pair it with Oh My Zsh and Powerlevel10k. Although its development stopped in 2024 and many people are migrating to Starship which I’ve already been using on Linux.

Tmux
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Tmux to force me to use the CLI as my main development workspace.

Git and Lazygit
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Git and Lazygit for version control.

LazyVim
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LazyVim as my main text editor. I’m very far from using it to its full potential, but I’ll get there if I stick with it!

Karabiner-Elements
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I use Karabiner-Elements to manage my key mappings for external keyboards, mapping Caps Lock to Escape so one does not injure his left hand, and configure home row mods.

Obsidian
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Obsidian as my second brain and knowledge management system.

GNU Stow
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GNU Stow so I don’t go crazy managing my dotfiles.

Hidden Bar
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To keep the menu bar nice and clean.

Go + Hugo + Blowfish
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Install Go, Hugo and Blowfish so I can start blogging again.

Shottr
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Shottr is my go to for taking and annotating screenshots.

Wallpaper
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Perhaps the most crucial step of the whole process is setting your favorite wallpaper and installing your music player platform. Et voilà! We are off to the races!