Easy, automated macOS setup

donnybrilliant — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 18:31:33 +0000

If you're like me, setting up your Mac manually after a format or clean install can be a tedious task.
It's a time-consuming, repetitive process that I'd rather skip.
So, in a burst of frustration, I created a script to automate the whole process.

install.sh:
It's a simple bash script that performs a variety of tasks to prepare a macOS machine for use:

Updates macOS to the latest version.
Installs Homebrew, the package manager for macOS.
Installs essential software and applications through Homebrew casks and formulae.
Offers the choice between installing Node.js via NVM (Node Version Manager) or Homebrew.
Installs global NPM packages.
Provides options to install additional software, such as .NET, Firefox Developer Edition, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Epic & Steam, Unity Hub, and Figma.
Cleans up the installation environment by running brew cleanup and other maintenance commands.
Sets up Git with global username and email configurations.
Installs VSCode extensions.
Installs selected apps from the App Store using mas (Mac App Store command-line interface).
Installs and configures ohmyzsh for a better terminal experience.
Applies custom system settings and Dock configurations to optimize the user experience.
Automatically updates Homebrew installed packages with a specified frequency.

Just clone the repo, tweak the config file to your liking, and run it. It's that simple.
It's set up to my liking as a web developer by default.

Here's the link to the script on GitHub: https://github.com/donnybrilliant/install.sh

I'm hoping it can save you some time and make setting up your Mac a bit easier.
It's designed to be a starting point, so I'm really keen to hear your feedback, suggestions for improvements, or any cool tweaks you'd add.

DEV Community: donnybrilliant

Easy, automated macOS setup