A couple of months ago I purchased a 2015 27" iMac to use as my main development machine for work. As I started installing and configuring all of the apps and software I needed, I thought it would be fun to document everything, and share it with you all!

Let me know in the comments the apps that y'all have installed that would make my life easier!

I'll share the following categories of setup: Apps, Apps for Development, Apps for Work, Chrome Extensions, CLI Tools, and Configuration.

Apps

• Chrome (daily browser)
• Spotify
• 1Password
• Alfred App (+ Powerpack)
• Spectacle (window management)
• Dropbox
• Things (task management)
• Notion (writing/organization)

Development Apps

• Github Desktop
• Sequel Pro (DB Management)
• VS Code (extensions below)
  • Cobalt2 Theme (Wes Bos)
  • Import Cost
  • Prettier - Code formatter (Esben Petersen)
  • Vetur (Pine Wu)
  • VS Live Share
  • Twig (whatwedo)
  • Twig for Craft 2 (Selvin Ortiz)
• Transmit (FTP+)

Work Apps

• Harvest app
• Sketch
• Photoshop (Adobe CC)
• Illustrator (Adobe CC)

Chrome Extensions

• 1Password
• Vue.js Dev Tools
• Adblock (and Plus)
• Poper Blocker
• Privacy (awesome credit card privacy tool)

CLI Tools (in order)

• Homebrew
• Composer
• Laravel Valet (local dev)
• MariaDB
• Node
• Yarn
• Xcode Command Line Tools

Configuration

I love almost everything about the way macOS works, so I only had to configure one thing: By default, screenshots are saved in PNG format, and medium/large screenshots usually end up around 2mb (in my experience). I would rather have screenshots saved as JPGs, because they are much smaller, and usually end up under 1mb.

To change this default, you can run a single command in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Once you've changed the default, you have to restart a small bit of the OS for it to take effect:

killall SystemUIServer

Then you're done, and your screenshots will automatically be saved as .jpg files.

Finally

That's it! I purposefully did not install some applications that I have on my personal computer, because I am intending to use my iMac exclusively for work, so I'm trying to make it harder to get sidetracked 😬