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

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

Puru Tuladhar's photo
Puru Tuladhar
·

2 min read

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:

🙌 Let’s connect: LinkedIn (@ptuladhar3) | X (@tuladhar) | GitHub (@tuladhar)

⭐️ Leave a star if you found it helpful → https://github.com/tuladhar/devops-on-mac

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 → 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! 🙌

👇 Don’t forget to leave a star ⭐️ if you liked it.

DevopsmacOSProductivitytoolscode editorGitHub