DEV Community: Saar Shechter

Why Alfred Is the First App You Should Install on Your Mac

Saar Shechter — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 08:34:44 +0000

Let's face it - Macs are very powerful, but the default Spotlight search is... meh 🤷‍♂.

Spotlight is that little search bar you summon with ⌘ + Space that is meant to help you quickly open apps, find files and search the web.

The problem? It rarely does what you actually want.
How many times have you tried opening the "Downloads" folder and ended up in a Google search or the App Store instead?

Why the hell would this be the first suggestion?

That's where Alfred comes in - a faster, smarter and more flexible alternative to Spotlight.

That's better... 😎🎩

By the way — this isn’t sponsored. Just a genuinely happy user sharing a tool I love.

📚 Table of Contents

🎩 What is Alfred?
⚛ Core Features (Free & Paid)
⏳ Real-World Example: Looking Up Invoices (10 Steps -> 1)
🛠️ Install Alfred
✨ Create Your First Custom Web Search
📝 Final Notes

🎩 What is Alfred?

Alfred is an award-winning app for macOS which boosts your efficiency with hotkeys, keywords, text expansion and more. Search your Mac and the web, and be more productive with custom actions to control your Mac
(from Alfred's official website)

Alfred launches apps instantly, finds files reliably, learns your habits and even lets you create custom search shortcuts for the websites, flows and tools you use every day.
All of that - for free.

The cool thing is, Alfred adapts to you. The more you use it - the better its suggestions become.

Alfred is free to use, with optional advanced paid features in the Powerpack (a one-time purchase, not a subscription).
But even if you stick with the free version - value is guaranteed.

I couldn't recommend it more.

⚛ Core Features (Free & Paid)

Even in the free version, Alfred offers powerful tools that make your mac feel snappier and smarter:

🚀 App Launcher – Type part of an app’s name, hit Enter, and it’s open. Super fast.
🔍 File Search – Quickly find files and folders on your Mac. You can open a file directly, reveal it in Finder, search by tags and even search by file content.
🌐 Custom Web Search – Search any website straight from Alfred (more on this in the next section 👀).
⚙ System Commands – Sleep, restart, empty trash, lock your screen — all from Alfred.

✏ Learns as You Go – Alfred remembers your habits and boosts your most-used results.

A few extra features are included in the Powerpack (paid 💰):
🕥 Clipboard History – Search your copy history and paste anything you've ever copied.

I'm using another app called Paste, you can read about it in my article about clipboard managers.
📋 Snippets – Create custom text shortcuts to save time typing.

As a free replacement you can use macOS's text replacements.
🔄 Workflows – Build advanced automations (but that's material for another article 🗒️).

👉 Everything in this article works 100% in the free version.

⏳ Real-World Example: Looking Up Invoices (10 Steps -> 1)

Let's take a look at an actual example from my day-to-day that demonstrates how much time I save using Alfred.

At work, I often need to find a customer invoice using just its ID. Some days, I do this dozens of times.
Let's say our invoice ID is 123456789.

The usual process looks like this:

Open our internal back office system and wait for it to load (⌨️⏱️)
Select "Search by Invoice ID" (🖱)
Paste the invoice ID (⌨)
Press Enter and wait (⌨⏱️)
Click the matched account (🖱)
Navigate to the "Invoices" tab (🖱)
Use ⌘ + F and search for the specific invoice (⌨)
Find the correct invoice in the list
Click it (🖱)
Finally — the invoice page loads 😫

That’s 10 steps, dozens of clicks, and constant switching between keyboard and mouse.

This process takes around 10-20 seconds, depending on how old the invoice is (older invoices require more scrolling to load).

Let's say it takes 15 seconds on average, and I do this 20 times per day.

15 seconds × 20 = 300 seconds = 5 minutes/day.

5 minutes × 250 workdays = 1250 minutes/year = 20+ hours/year.

🔥 With Alfred, I turned all that into one line:

I open Alfred with ⌘ + Space, type:
invoice 123456789

...and it instantly opens the correct invoice page.
Just one step (or two, if you count opening Alfred).

Even better? Alfred learns. Since I use this often, typing i is enough - it autocompletes to invoice, and I just paste the ID and hit Enter.

(As you can see, I use it more than I open my terminal. And I open my terminal a lot).

This entire flow takes less than a second.
That’s dozens of hours saved every year — with just one tiny automation.
And I didn't even need to upgrade to the paid version for it.

How Did I Do It?

I created a custom web search - a free feature - using this URL format:
https://{OUR_BACKOFFICE_URL}/invoices/ui/details?invoiceId={query}

So in our case, the URL was:
https://{OUR_BACKOFFICE_URL}/invoices/ui/details?invoiceId=123456789

This works because our system uses a URL parameter (invoiceId) to load a specific invoice.
I can use the keyword {query} to get a parameter from the Alfred command straight to the URL and open it instantly.

Luckily - most modern websites nowadays use query parameters - including:

Google
YouTube
Amazon
GitHub
Google Maps
Urban Dictionary
And many internal tools at work

This means we can create these custom web searches for each of these services.
Alfred even has built-in web searches for many of these already.
You can also create your own, specific to your tools and workflows.

Alfred becomes a search-anything launcher — for your browser, tools, docs, and more.

After the next installation section - we will build our very first custom web search together.
If you already have Alfred, you can skip straight to action.

🛠️ Install Alfred

The installation process is very simple.

Go to Alfred's website and click on the "Download Alfred 5" button.
Go through the simple installation process (you can skip the part in which it asks for a license key and just use the free version).
That's it! Alfred is ready for you to use.

The default command to launch Alfred is Option (⌥) + Space.
Try hitting ⌥ + Space, type an app's name and hit Enter to launch it! 🚀

You can change the Alfred's launch hotkey to be ⌘ + Space like I did, but this hotkey is already taken by Spotlight (which you don't need anymore).

Let's change that.

Go into your Mac's settings (you can use Alfred for that 😎. hit ⌥ + Space, write settings and hit Enter).

Search for keyboard in the settings' search, and click keyboard shortcuts.

Now look for Spotlight on the left, and uncheck Show Spotlight search to disable it from popping when pressing ⌘ + Space.

Now let's make Alfred open when pressing ⌘ + Space.
Open Alfred settings by opening Alfred and pressing ⌘ + ,

💡 Pro tip: most of macOS apps allow you to open their settings by pressing ⌘ + ,

Open the General tab and select a hotkey for opening Alfred.

And Alfred is ready for action 🎩🔥.

✨ Create Your First Custom Web Search

First, open Alfred's settings (open Alfred, then hit ⌘ + ,).

Go to the Features tab, then to the Web Search tab.

As you can see here, there are many web searches that are already defined by default.

If you like - you can edit the keywords used to trigger the custom web search by double clicking it (as I renamed youtube to yt for maximum efficiency 📈).

Now let's create a new custom web search, which is a very simple process.
The example we'll use is a custom search that searches icons in Iconfinder.

Iconfinder use a search query in their URL, very similar to our internal system in which I search for invoices daily.
For example - to search "car" on Iconfinder, I would need to navigate to:
https://www.iconfinder.com/search?q=car

See that little q=car at the end?
car is our query, and this is how we'll build our web search.

Click on the Add Custom Search on the bottom right corner of the table.

The window that opens contains of 4 important parts:

Search URL: The actual URL that will be used in the search. Note that {query} parameter, this will be replaced by anything you type after the keyword.
Title: The title of the search in Alfred's UI.
Keyword: What you need to write in Alfred's UI in order to provoke this web search.
Image (optional): The image that will be shown for that search in Alfred's UI.

These are my values for easy copying:

Search URL: https://www.iconfinder.com/search?q={query}
Title: Search Iconfinder for {query}
Keyword: icon
Image: The Iconfinder logo

That's it!
Just click Save and your first web search is ready for use!

Of course - you can go wild here.
I have over 50 custom web searches for our back office and monitoring tools, complex flows that I occasionally do and save me time, calendar, Gmail, GitHub, Gemini, ChatGPT, Google docs, and many more.
All of these save me lots of time every day, but most of all - make my workflow snappier and more fun.

📝 Final Notes

Alfred is one of those rare tools that starts out simple - just replacing Spotlight - but quickly becomes a core part of your workflow.

You don’t need to pay a cent to start getting serious value out of it.
The powerpack offers a lot of value, and I'll get deeper into it on another post.

Alfred doesn’t just make your Mac faster — it makes you faster.

If you found this helpful, share it with a friend or teammate 🤝.
If you're feeling like supercharging your terminal as well - check out my article about it.
Want a walkthrough on Alfred’s clipboard manager or custom workflows? Let me know in the comments 👇.
And of course - stay tuned for future guides on Alfred and other productivity tools!

The One Productivity Tool You Didn't Know You Can't Live Without

Saar Shechter — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 14:44:15 +0000

Why You Should Start Using a Clipboard Manager Today

The Pain Everyone Ignores 😫

You copy something important, copy something else... aaand it's gone.

Ever lost a long message you spent 10 minutes writing? Had to keep switching between apps to re-copy five different values? Or filled a long form just for the browser to refresh and for you to lose all the work you've done?

We've all been there.

How I feel when losing a long message because I copied a meme.

That’s where clipboard managers come in - saving your day (and your sanity).

So... What Exactly Is a Clipboard Manager? 🤔

A clipboard manager is an app that, well... manages your clipboard.

Every time you copy something (Ctrl+C / ⌘+C) - it's saved in a special place among the stars called "the clipboard".

When you paste (Ctrl+V / ⌘+V) - the most recent item from the clipboard is pasted in the foremost app.

By default - your clipboard only remembers the last item you copied - just one at a time, that's it.
That's how you end up in the kind of hell we opened with, making you question your every life decision that brought you to this miserable moment.

A clipboard manager lets you store many items, search through them, and even pin the ones you use most.

Think of it as a Time Machine, but for everything you’ve copied.

How I Use a Clipboard Manager Every Day 💡

I don't even think about using the clipboard manager - and that's the beauty of it.

I use it to:

Copy a piece of text, then copy another without overwriting the first.

Copying and pasting one by one SUCKS 💩.

Copying everything then pasting in whatever order we like ROCKS 🪨🔥.

Keep an infinite history of my clipboard - everything I copy stays there, ready for immediate access.
Search through my copied items and find them instantly.

Searching in my clipboard history is easy and blazing fast ⚡️

Organize important notes, code snippets, AI prompts, etc.

OK, You Convinced Me. Now What? 🚀

Glad you asked! Getting started with a clipboard manager is ridiculously easy.

All you have to do is pick a clipboard manager and install it.

But What Clipboard Manager Should I Pick?

The short answer is - it doesn't really matter! Just pick one and try it out.

I use Paste, a very feature rich clipboard manager for Mac with gorgeous UI. It's not free, but it comes along with a Setapp license that I got from work, so if you already have a license you can use it to install Paste.

You can visit their website for pricing information.

Other Great Options

💸 Free and Open Source:

Maccy (Mac) - Lightweight, open source and fast. Minimal and effective.
Raycast (Mac) - A very strong utility tool, a big competitor to Alfred. On the free tier, it stores up to 3 months of clipboard history (older items are automatically removed as new ones are added).
Ditto (Windows) - One of the most popular clipboard managers for Windows. Free, efficient and gets the job done.
Windows Clipboard History (Windows) – Built right into Windows 10 and 11. Just press Win + V to open your clipboard history. Simple, free, and already installed, but limited to 25 items.

🔥 More Paid / Premium Options:

Paste (Mac) - This is what I use in my day-to-day. I recommend it only if you already have a Setapp license, as it can be a little pricy on its own.
Alfred 🎩 (Mac) - A very powerful clipboard manager that comes along with the Alfred Powerpack (if you're interested, I wrote a begginer's guide to Alfred, read it here).

Bottom Line ⚡️

A clipboard manager is one of those tools you try once and instantly wonder how you ever lived without it.

Whether you're coding, writing, designing, researching, filling out annoying forms or just making memes - having a searchable history of everything you copied can be a HUGE upgrade to your workflow.

Pick one. Try it for a day.

You'll never go back.

If you’re into productivity tools, you might enjoy this deep dive into my .zshrc, where I share how I’ve optimized my terminal.

Supercharging Your Terminal: A Deep Dive into My .zshrc

Saar Shechter — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 14:42:22 +0000

A friend recently watched me jump between projects - and asked, "Wait, how did you do that so fast?".

That moment made me realize just how much of my workflow is powered by my customized .zshrc (and Alfred 🎩, but that's a topic for another article).

Below, you'll find an overview of tools, plugins, and custom scripts I use to make my development workflow more efficient.

Whether you're setting up your terminal for the first time or an experienced developer looking for inspiration, this guide has something for you.

⚡️ Best of all: each section is modular and easy to follow - jump in wherever you're curious and skip what you don't need.

🧭 Note: This guide is written for macOS  and other Unix-like environments. Some parts may not work as-is on Windows without WSL or similar tools.

📚 Table of Contents

🔧 What is .zshrc and Why Do We Need It?
⚙️ Terminal Framework: Oh My Zsh
🎨 Theme: Powerlevel10k
🔌 Plugins
- git
- zsh-autosuggestions
- zsh-syntax-highlighting
- fzf and fzf-tab
⚡️ Aliases
💻 Custom Scripts
- grepo — Go to Repo
- Git Garbage Collection (ggc)
- Git Branch Switch (gbs)
📝 Final Notes

🔧 What is .zshrc and Why Do We Need It?

zsh is short for Z Shell: a powerful, highly customizable Unix shell that helps you interact with your operating system.

The .zshrc file is your main zsh configuration file. It runs every time you start a new terminal session.
It defines the environment, sets up shortcuts, loads plugins, and controls how your terminal behaves.
A well-configured .zshrc makes your terminal more powerful and easier to use, but most importantly - more fun!
So without further ado - let's dive in 💪🏼.

From giphy.com

⚙️ Terminal Framework: Oh My Zsh

I use Oh My Zsh to manage my Zsh configuration. It makes Zsh far more powerful and customizable than the default setup, thanks to its plugin system and theming capabilities.

Generated using Flux1.AI

Installation

Just run this command in your terminal:

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

This will download and install Oh My Zsh in your home directory (~).
It will also create a new .zshrc file under ~/.zshrc, backing up any old .zshrc you might have had into a file called .zshrc.pre-oh-my-zsh.

💾 Backup Your .zshrc Before You Start

Before making any changes to your .zshrc, it's a good idea to create a backup. That way, if anything goes wrong or you just want to roll back to your original configuration, you can easily restore it.

You can run this command to create a backup:

cp ~/.zshrc ~/.zshrc.backup.$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)

This will create a timestamped backup file, like ~/.zshrc.backup.20250604123045, so you can always go back to a specific version.

How to Edit .zshrc

💡 Important Note: Throughout this guide we will need to edit our .zshrc file. We can open it in any editor we like (for example - VS Code, Cursor, Sublime Text, etc.).

To open it in VS Code, run:

code ~/.zshrc

No VS Code? You can use the default macOS editor:

open ~/.zshrc

After saving changes, apply them with:

source ~/.zshrc

Alternatively, close and reopen your terminal to reload the config.
Now we're ready to start with the customizations 😎🛠️.

🎨 Theme: Powerlevel10k

The default Oh My Zsh theme is robbyrussell, which is decent.

robbyrussell - the default Oh My Zsh theme, taken from Oh My Zsh docs

But I really like Powerlevel10k, as it offers much more customization.

Powerlevel10k - a customizable theme for Oh My Zsh, taken from Powerlevel10k docs

Installation

First - clone the Powerlevel10k repository by running this command:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git "${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k"

Now open ~/.zshrc, find the line that sets ZSH_THEME, and change its value to "powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k".

The configuration wizard should start immediately, but if not - you can run this command to manually trigger it:

p10k configure

You can now follow the wizard in order to customize the theme to your preferences.

You can go wild here, as you can always run p10k configure again and select different options.
The wizard is pretty straightforward, but let me know if you'd like to see an in-depth tutorial on it.

Created on imgflip.com

🔌 Plugins

Plugins are small add-ons that extend Zsh's functionality - they can
add helpful aliases, improve autocomplete, enhance Git integration,
and more.

Generated using Flux1.AI

In order to install plugins we usually need to do 2 things:

Clone the plugin repository.
Add the plugin to the plugins line in our .zshrc file.

You can view a huge list of Oh My Zsh plugins in their docs.
Let's go over some of my favorite plugins that I use every day.

Git

The git plugin provides many useful aliases and functions.
Some aliases I use are:

gl = git pull
ga = git add
gcm = git checkout $(git_main_branch) (which is like git checkout master or git checkout main, depending on your repo's settings)
gc = git commit --verbose
gp = git push

You can view the entire list of aliases and functions here.

In order for it to work - find the plugins line in your .zshrc file and add git to it (if it weren't already there).
Your plugins line should now look like this:

plugins=(git)

zsh-autosuggestions

Always dreamt of auto-complete in your terminal? Well, now it's not a dream anymore.

As you type commands in your terminal - zsh-autosuggestions will suggest completions based on your usage history, and can also be customized to suggest using a completion engine.
When pressing the → (right arrow) key - the suggestion will be accepted, replacing the contents of the command line buffer with the suggestion.

You can view the suggestion strategy (and other customization options) in their docs.

zsh-autosuggestions demo

Installation

Clone this repository into $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins (by default ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins):

git clone [https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions](https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions) ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

Add the plugin to the list of plugins for Oh My Zsh to load (inside ~/.zshrc):
```
plugins=(
    # other plugins...
    zsh-autosuggestions
)
```
(Optional) In order to customize zsh-autosuggestions to auto complete based on a completion engine if it didn't find a match in your history - add this line above the plugins line:
```
ZSH_AUTOSUGGEST_STRATEGY=(history completion)
```
Don't forget to source your .zshrc file:
```
source ~/.zshrc
```

zsh-syntax-highlighting

zsh-syntax-highlighting provides, well, syntax highlighting in your terminal.

Syntax highlighting is shiny ✨

Installation

As usual - clone this repository into $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins (by default ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins):

git clone [https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git](https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git) ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

Add the plugin to the list of plugins for Oh My Zsh to load (inside ~/.zshrc):
```
plugins=(
    # other plugins...
    zsh-syntax-highlighting
)
```
(Optional) We can add more highlighters (and even implement our own). The default highlighter is main. I also added brackets to highlight brackets. You can see the available highlighters in the docs. To add highlighters - add this line above the plugins line:
```
ZSH_HIGHLIGHT_HIGHLIGHTERS=(main brackets)
```
Don't forget to source your .zshrc file:
```
source ~/.zshrc
```

fzf and fzf-tab

fzf is an interactive filter program that implements a "fuzzy" matching algorithm. This means you can quickly type in patterns with omitted characters and still get the results you want.

fzf - command-line fuzzy finder

We need to install it in order to use fzf-tab.
fzf-tab is replacing zsh's default completion selection menu (that shows up when pressing tab) with fzf!

This is what it looks like before using fzf-tab:

No fzf-tab 🙁

And this is how it looks after using fzf-tab:

With fzf-tab 😍

We can even set it to have directory previews, as shown above.

Installation

Install fzf by running this command:
```
brew install fzf
```

Now install fzf-tab by cloning the repo like we did before:

git clone [https://github.com/Aloxaf/fzf-tab](https://github.com/Aloxaf/fzf-tab) ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/fzf-tab

Add the plugin to the list of plugins for Oh My Zsh to load (inside ~/.zshrc):
```
plugins=(
    # other plugins...
    fzf-tab
)
```
(Optional) We can config fzf-tab for some added functionality. I added case-insensitivity, tolerance to separators and directory previews. In order to add these configurations - add these lines above your plugins line:
```
zstyle ':completion:*' matcher-list 'm:{a-z}={A-Za-z}' 'r:|[._-]=** r:|=**'
zstyle ':fzf-tab:complete:cd:*' fzf-preview 'ls --color $realpath'
```
You can view other configuration options in fzf-tab docs.
As usual - don't forget to source your .zshrc:
```
source ~/.zshrc
```

⚡️ Aliases

We can also add custom aliases for commands we find ourselves typing regularly.
To add an alias just add an alias command to your .zshrc file.
An alias command looks like this:

alias ${your_alias}="${some_command}"

For example, these are my aliases:

alias yb="yarn build"
alias yba="yarn build:app"
alias ys="yarn start"
alias yt="yarn test"
alias ytw="yarn test:watch"
alias gc-="git checkout -"
alias ..="cd .."
alias ...="cd ../.."

So when I type yb into the console, it will actually run yarn build, which I do dozens of times daily.

Generated on imgflip.com

These are just things I find myself use over and over, so I decided to make an alias for them. You can go wild here!

💻 Custom Scripts

The last section of this guide will be dedicated to some custom scripts I wrote (using my best friend in the entire world - ChatGPT).
I did it because I was missing some functionality, but mostly because I wanted to experiment with bash scripting.
I'm sure that these could be improved, so feel free to comment if you have any suggestions 😬.

grepo - Go to Repo

A simple script used to quickly navigate to a repository. Requires fzf (see above).

"grepo" script

Installation

Copy the script into your .zshrc file.
Change the repo_dir variable to the directory in which you keep all your repositories.
source your .zshrc file.
Profit!

    function grepo() {
      local repo_dir=~/{YOUR_REPO_DIR_HERE}
      local open_in_editor=false
      local pull_latest=false

      # Parse flags
      while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
        case $1 in
          -o|--open)
            open_in_editor=true
            shift
            ;;
          -p|--pull)
            pull_latest=true
            shift
            ;;
          *)
            echo "Unknown option: $1"
            return 1
            ;;
        esac
      done

      # Select repository
      local selected_repo=$(find "$repo_dir" -maxdepth 1 -type d | fzf --height=20% --reverse --border --prompt="Select a repo: ")

      if [[ -n $selected_repo ]]; then
        cd "$selected_repo" || {
          echo "❌ Failed to navigate to $selected_repo"
          return 1
        }

        if $pull_latest; then
          echo "🔄 Pulling latest changes..."
          git pull --ff-only
        fi
        if $open_in_editor; then
          code .
        fi
      else
        echo "⚠️ No valid repository selected"
      fi
    }

Usage

Type grepo in your terminal.
An interactive fzf search box will open.
Search for your repository and click ↵ (enter) to select it and cd to it.
(Optional) - you can add the -p (or --pull) and -o (or --open) flags to also pull and open the directory in VS Code / Cursor.

Feel free to edit this script, add flags, validations and other functionalities you see fit. Let me know if you add anything cool 😎.

Git Garbage Collection (ggc)

Another simple script used to clean up stale branches after I merge them. It uses git prune.
Installation is similar to grepo, just copy the script and paste it in your .zshrc:

    function git_garbage_collection() {
      # Check if the current directory is a Git repository
      if ! git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree > /dev/null 2>&1; then
        echo "Error: This is not a Git repository. Exiting."
        return 1
      fi

      # Fetch updates from the remote and prune stale references
      echo "Fetching and pruning stale remote references..."
      git fetch --prune > /dev/null 2>&1

      # Prune stale remote-tracking branches for the 'origin' remote
      echo "Pruning stale remote-tracking branches for 'origin'..."
      git remote prune origin > /dev/null 2>&1
      echo "Remote pruning complete."

      # Find stale local branches, excluding the current branch, and store them in an array
      local stale_branches=($(git branch -vv | grep ': gone' | awk '{print $1}' | sed 's/^\* //'))

      if [[ ${#stale_branches[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
        echo "The following local branches are no longer tracking a remote:"
        for branch in "${stale_branches[@]}"; do
          echo "$branch"
        done
        echo

        # Confirm deletion for each branch using a for loop
        for branch in "${stale_branches[@]}"; do
          echo -n "Force delete '$branch'? [y/N]: "
          read -r confirmation
          if [[ $confirmation =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
            git branch -D "$branch"
          else
            echo "Skipped '$branch'."
          fi
        done
      else
        echo "No stale local branches found."
      fi
    }

    alias ggc="git_garbage_collection"

Usage

While in some repository - type ggc in your terminal.
All of the stale (local and remote) branches will be fetched.
The script will verify before deleting each of the branches.

Feel free to add a flag to delete all of the branches without needing to confirm each.

Git Branch Switch (gbs)

Another simple script to list all local and remote branches using fzf.
As before - just copy and paste to your .zshrc.

    function git_branch_switch() {
      # Check if the current directory is a Git repository
      if ! git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree > /dev/null 2>&1; then
        echo "Error: This is not a Git repository. Exiting."
        return 1
      fi

      # Fetch all branches from the remote to ensure up-to-date references
      git fetch --all > /dev/null 2>&1

      # Combine local branches and valid remote branches
      local branch
      branch=$(
        {
          # List local branches
          git branch --format="%(refname:short)"
          # List remote branches, excluding symbolic refs like "origin/HEAD"
          git branch -r --format="%(refname:short)" | grep -v "origin/HEAD"
        } | fzf --height=20% --reverse --prompt="Select a branch: "
      )

      if [[ -n $branch ]]; then
        # Strip "remotes/origin/" if a remote branch is selected
        git checkout "${branch#remotes/origin/}"
      else
        echo "No branch selected"
      fi
    }

    # Create a convenient alias
    alias gbs="git_branch_switch"

📝 Final Notes

Customizing your .zshrc can feel intimidating at first, but even small changes can make a big impact on your workflow. Start with what feels useful, and build from there.

Don't worry about making it perfect, just make it yours.

I hope you found this guide helpful 🙏🏼.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions! ✌🏼

DEV Community: Saar Shechter

Why Alfred Is the First App You Should Install on Your Mac

📚 Table of Contents

🎩 What is Alfred?

⚛ Core Features (Free & Paid)

A few extra features are included in the Powerpack (paid 💰):

⏳ Real-World Example: Looking Up Invoices (10 Steps -> 1)

The usual process looks like this:

🔥 With Alfred, I turned all that into one line:

How Did I Do It?

🛠️ Install Alfred

✨ Create Your First Custom Web Search

📝 Final Notes

The One Productivity Tool You Didn't Know You Can't Live Without

The Pain Everyone Ignores 😫

So... What Exactly Is a Clipboard Manager? 🤔

How I Use a Clipboard Manager Every Day 💡

OK, You Convinced Me. Now What? 🚀

But What Clipboard Manager Should I Pick?

Other Great Options

Bottom Line ⚡️

Supercharging Your Terminal: A Deep Dive into My .zshrc

📚 Table of Contents

🔧 What is .zshrc and Why Do We Need It?

⚙️ Terminal Framework: Oh My Zsh

Installation

💾 Backup Your .zshrc Before You Start

How to Edit .zshrc

🎨 Theme: Powerlevel10k

Installation

🔌 Plugins

Git

zsh-autosuggestions

Installation

zsh-syntax-highlighting

Installation

fzf and fzf-tab

Installation

⚡️ Aliases

💻 Custom Scripts

grepo - Go to Repo

Installation

Usage

Git Garbage Collection (ggc)

Usage

Git Branch Switch (gbs)

📝 Final Notes