Here’s a summary of essential software for MacOS development. All of these tools are free, and most are open-source. I hope they enhance your development experience.
Basics
Git
Git needs no introduction. Simply run git in the terminal, and a dialog will pop up. Click install. This typically installs the basic Xcode runtime environment as well. Alternatively, you can install it by running xcode-select --install in the terminal.
ServBay
ServBay is probably the best development environment for Mac. It allows easy one-click installation of various development environments and simplifies subsequent upgrades. For teams, it ensures consistency in dependencies and configurations.
Terminal Tools
iTerm2 + Oh-My-Zsh
iTerm2 is the premier terminal on Mac, and Oh-My-Zsh provides powerful theming and plugin capabilities.
Terminus
A minimalist, cross-platform shell tool that I often use to connect to cloud servers.
Debugging Tools
Bruno
Since Postman became paid, we switched to Bruno as an alternative. It uses JSON for data storage, which allows version control with Git, meeting team collaboration needs. Plus, the UI is top-notch among API tools.
SwitchHosts
A tool for managing and switching between multiple hosts configurations, making local HTTPS debugging easier.
AnotherRedisDesktopManager
A free yet powerful Redis GUI tool.
CotEditor
A lightweight text editor, simple yet powerful, suitable for replacing the default system text editor. For more complex text editing, stick with VS Code.
Install the command-line tool for convenience:
# Install cot command
sudo ln -s /Applications/CotEditor.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/cot /usr/local/bin/cot
# Use the cot command, equivalent to open xxx
cot ~/.zshrc
Productivity Tools
Hidden Bar
Customize hidden taskbar icons, free and open-source.
Fork - Highly Recommended
A powerful Git GUI software with an intuitive linear history view, making branch management easy. Operations like merge/squash/rebase/amend are quick and smooth.
Maccy
An essential clipboard tool that makes it easy to find recently copied content, supporting both images and search!
Top comments (6)
Great to see Bruno getting adopted.🚀
If you'd like to try an open source { free } alternative to test APIs, try Hoppscotch - API request builder for web : hoppscotch.io
Open source API development ecosystem - https://hoppscotch.io (open-source alternative to Postman, Insomnia)
Thanks for the list!
One more productivity tool to organize workflows: Freeter (also free & open-source)
And a post on how I boosted my productivity with it: dev.to/alexk/how-i-boosted-my-prod...
I recommend Raycast
I did not expect to actually find anything new, and I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong 😁
Thank you very much for this curated list of pieces of software