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Puru
Puru

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🍏 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! 🙌

Top comments (7)

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bugf1x3r profile image
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.

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ptuladhar3 profile image
Puru

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

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martinbaun profile image
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.

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ptuladhar3 profile image
Puru

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

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martinbaun profile image
Martin Baun

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

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CitronBrick

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

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Puru • Edited

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