🚀 macOS Terminal Setup

Transform your macOS terminal into a professional development environment in seconds.

Created by VAMFI — Building the future of AI-powered development tools.

⚡ One-Command Installation

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vamfi/macos-terminal-setup/main/install.sh | bash

🎯 What You Get

This automated setup transforms your basic macOS terminal into a feature-rich development environment with:

🖥️ iTerm2 - Advanced Terminal Emulator

• Split panes and tabs for multitasking
• Extensive customization options
• GPU-accelerated rendering
• Advanced search and selection features

🔀 tmux - Terminal Multiplexer

• Session persistence across disconnections
• Window and pane management
• Optimized key bindings (Ctrl+A prefix)
• Mouse support and visual customizations

🐚 Zsh + Oh My Zsh - Enhanced Shell

• Modern shell with extensive plugin ecosystem
• Intelligent autocompletion and suggestions
• Command history management
• Git integration and status display

⚡ Powerlevel10k - Beautiful Prompt

• Fast, informative prompt with git status
• Execution time and exit code display
• Customizable segments and icons
• Optimized for performance

🎨 Essential Plugins

• zsh-autosuggestions: Gray text suggestions from history
• zsh-syntax-highlighting: Real-time command validation
• Git integration: Branch status and shortcuts
• macOS utilities: System-specific enhancements

🔧 Features

🌈 Visual Enhancements

• ✅ Syntax highlighting - Valid commands in green, invalid in red
• ✅ Autosuggestions - Smart completions from command history
• ✅ Git status - Branch and repository status in prompt
• ✅ Professional fonts - Meslo Nerd Font with icon support

⌨️ Productivity Features

• ✅ Smart aliases - Common commands shortened for efficiency
• ✅ History management - Enhanced command history with search
• ✅ Session persistence - Never lose your work with tmux
• ✅ Window management - Split panes and multiple windows

🛡️ Reliability

• ✅ Backup system - Existing configs are safely backed up
• ✅ Idempotent - Safe to run multiple times
• ✅ Error handling - Graceful failure recovery
• ✅ macOS optimized - Specifically designed for macOS

🎮 Key Bindings

tmux Commands (Prefix: Ctrl+A)

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+A |	Split pane vertically
Ctrl+A -	Split pane horizontally
Ctrl+A h/j/k/l	Navigate panes (vim-style)
Ctrl+A H/J/K/L	Resize panes
Ctrl+A c	Create new window
Ctrl+A d	Detach session
Ctrl+A r	Reload config

Zsh Navigation

Shortcut	Action
→	Accept autosuggestion
Ctrl+R	Search command history
↑/↓	Browse command history
Ctrl+A	Move to line start
Ctrl+E	Move to line end

🔗 Useful Aliases

The setup includes productivity-enhancing aliases:

# Navigation
..          # cd ..
...         # cd ../..
ll          # ls -alF (detailed listing)

# tmux session management
ta          # tmux attach
tls         # tmux list-sessions
tns name    # tmux new-session -s name

# Git shortcuts
gs          # git status
ga          # git add
gc          # git commit
gp          # git push
gl          # git pull
gd          # git diff

# System utilities
myip        # Get public IP address
localip     # Get local network IPs
reload      # Reload shell configuration

📋 Manual Installation

If you prefer to install components manually:

1. Install Dependencies

# Install Homebrew (if not already installed)
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install applications
brew install --cask iterm2
brew install tmux
brew install font-meslo-lg-nerd-font

2. Install Oh My Zsh

sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

3. Install Plugins

# Syntax highlighting
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

# Autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

4. Install Powerlevel10k

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-$HOME/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/themes/powerlevel10k

5. Apply Configurations

• Copy the provided .zshrc and .tmux.conf from this repository
• Set iTerm2 font to "MesloLGS NF" in Preferences → Profiles → Text
• Run p10k configure to customize your prompt

🔧 Post-Installation

Configure iTerm2

1. Open iTerm2 Preferences (Cmd+,)
2. Go to Profiles → Text
3. Set Font to MesloLGS NF (size 14pt recommended)
4. Optionally enable font ligatures

Configure Powerlevel10k

Run the configuration wizard:

p10k configure

This will guide you through:

• Prompt style selection
• Icon and color preferences
• Information segments to display

Test Your Setup

# Start a new tmux session
tmux new-session -s test

# Try splitting panes
# Ctrl+A | (vertical split)
# Ctrl+A - (horizontal split)

# Test autosuggestions
# Start typing a previous command and see suggestions

🛠️ Customization

Adding More Plugins

Edit ~/.zshrc and add plugins to the plugins array:

plugins=(
  git
  zsh-autosuggestions
  zsh-syntax-highlighting
  brew
  macos
  tmux
  docker          # Add Docker commands
  kubectl         # Add Kubernetes support
  node            # Add Node.js utilities
)

tmux Customization

Edit ~/.tmux.conf to customize:

• Key bindings
• Status bar appearance
• Color schemes
• Additional plugins

Zsh Theme

Switch themes by changing the ZSH_THEME in ~/.zshrc:

ZSH_THEME="agnoster"      # Alternative themes
ZSH_THEME="spaceship"
ZSH_THEME="pure"

🔍 Troubleshooting

Font Issues

If Powerlevel10k doesn't display correctly:

1. Ensure MesloLGS NF is selected in iTerm2
2. Run p10k configure to reconfigure
3. Verify font installation: brew list --cask font-meslo-lg-nerd-font

Plugin Issues

If plugins don't work:

1. Reload configuration: source ~/.zshrc
2. Check plugin installation in ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins/
3. Verify plugin names in ~/.zshrc

tmux Issues

If tmux key bindings don't work:

1. Reload tmux config: tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf
2. Ensure you're using the correct prefix: Ctrl+A
3. Check tmux version: tmux -V

📦 What's Installed

The script installs and configures:

• iTerm2 - Terminal emulator
• tmux - Terminal multiplexer
• Oh My Zsh - Zsh framework
• Powerlevel10k - Zsh theme
• zsh-autosuggestions - Command suggestions
• zsh-syntax-highlighting - Syntax validation
• Meslo LG Nerd Font - Icon-capable font
• Custom configurations - Optimized .zshrc and .tmux.conf

🚀 Performance

This setup is optimized for performance:

• Fast startup - Plugins are efficiently loaded
• GPU acceleration - iTerm2 uses GPU rendering
• Optimized history - Smart history management
• Lazy loading - Components load only when needed

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guidelines for details.

Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/vamfi/macos-terminal-setup.git
cd macos-terminal-setup
./install.sh  # Test the installation

Reporting Issues

Please open an issue with:

• macOS version
• Terminal application being used
• Steps to reproduce the problem
• Expected vs actual behavior

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

This project builds upon the excellent work of:

• iTerm2 - Feature-rich terminal emulator
• Oh My Zsh - Zsh framework
• Powerlevel10k - Zsh theme
• tmux - Terminal multiplexer

🔗 Related Projects

• VAMFI - AI-powered development tools
• Blog Post - Detailed setup guide

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Made with ❤️ by VAMFI in Ottawa, Canada

Building the future of AI-powered development environments