🍏 If I Got a New Mac, Here's What I'd Install First as a DevOps Engineer 🧑‍💻

Introduction

Whenever I get a new Mac, the first thing I do is set it up with the apps and tools that make my workflow smooth. These apps help me stay productive, organized, and ready for whatever comes my way. Here's my go-to list of must-have installs:

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Essentials for Work and Dev

• 🌏 Arc → My Safari/Chrome replacement for a cleaner browsing experience.
• 📺 Warp → My favorite replacement for the built-in Terminal.
• 📺 Alacritty → Another solid Terminal option.
• ↔️ Easy+Move+Resize → Easily move and resize windows like on Linux.
• 🐳 Docker Desktop → For all things Docker.
• 📊 iStat Menus → Keeping an eye on system performance.
• 🐶 k9s → A terminal UI for interacting with Kubernetes clusters.
• 🐚 Fish → My shell of choice, replacing bash and zsh.
• 📺 Zellij → My preferred Tmux replacement.
• 📂 exa → An enhanced ls command replacement.
• 📦 Homebrew + Nix → Package managers to handle everything.
• 🌈 kubecolor → Makes kubectl outputs more readable.

Code Editors and Tools

• 🤖 Cursor (📙 Checkout My Book) → VS Code replacement powered by AI.
• 📝 Sublime Text → My all-time favorite for quick note-taking or file editing.
• 🐙 GitHub Desktop with GH CLI → For managing Git repositories easily.

macOS Enhancements

• 🔎 Raycast → Replaces Spotlight, streamlines productivity.
• 🔘 ChatGPT → My AI assistant on macOS.

Creative and Visual Tools

• 🎨 Pixelmator Pro → Photoshop for Mac.
• 🎥 GIPHY Capture → Simple GIF creation tool.

Productivity Boosters

• ✍️ Day One → Daily journaling for tracking life and work.
• ⚫️ Obsidian → Powerful note-taking app.
• 🔵 Trello → Organizing projects and tasks.

Miscellaneous

• 🌝 Flux → Reduces eye strain by adjusting screen brightness at night.
• ⬇️ Motrix → The best download manager I’ve found.
• 🟣 OrbStack → Lightweight Linux VM on Mac.
• 🟠 Multipass → Another VM option for running Linux.
• ⏯️ VLC → My go-to video player.
• 🦙 Ollama → Run LLMs (Large Language Models) locally.

Summary

These are my personal picks, and I’ve found them incredibly useful. If you found this list helpful, please give it a thumbs up, and let me know if there are any apps or tools you think I should try out! 🙌

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👍 Did you found it helpful? If so, please give it a star ⭐️ and feel free to create an issue or submit a PR for any apps you'd like to include! 🙌

Comments

[Agustín Clemente]

Great content here! Thanks for sharing.
As an 8-hour-a-day developer, I can share one more tool: BatFi. It helps me to take care of the battery and use energy directly from the power line once the battery reaches a predetermined threshold. It's been 4 months since I got my MacBook Pro and I have 50 power cycles.

[Puru]

Is it open-source? How do I download it?

[Martin Baun]

As a new Mac user, I highly appreciate this resource! Might I also suggest Goleko to manage your projects, Id love to hear what you think.

[Puru]

Thanks Martin, really glad you found it useful. Is there an open-source self-hosted option for Goleko?

[Martin Baun]

Currently no, but we're working on it! :)

[CitronBrick]

I would suggest Vivaldi a Chromium based browser with mouse gestures, that gives you the experience of using a wand.

[Puru]

I have used Vivaldi in the past, but I recommend Arc at this moment, and it's Chrome-based as well.