Nick's Mac setup

Everything I need to painlessly configure my Mac exactly how I like it.

Get started

⚠️ Danger: This will completely change your system. It is strongly recommended to create a fork and comment out any parts you do not want before using it yourself.

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nickineering/setup/master/bootstrap.sh | /bin/bash

After running, complete the manual steps.

What It Does

Package Management

• Homebrew packages - fd, ripgrep, jq, yq, uv, go, rust, deno, terraform, shellcheck, ruff, tldr, thefuck, autojump, tmux, trash, and more
• Homebrew casks - VS Code, iTerm2, Docker, 1Password, Raycast, Firefox Developer Edition, Postman, Shottr, Tiles, and more
• VS Code extensions - Synced from version control
• Detects additions/removals from state files and prompts to install/uninstall

Dotfiles

Symlinked from linked/ so edits sync automatically:

• .zshrc, .vimrc, .gitconfig
• Shell functions and aliases
• Git aliases and custom commands

Claude Code

Pre-configured Claude Code environment:

• Permissions - Pre-approved commands for git, docker, terraform, aws, glab, python, node, ruff, pytest, mypy, and many more
• Hooks - Auto-format before commits, block dangerous commands, prevent accidental file overwrites
• Skills - /commit, /pr, /mr, /summary for git workflows
• Instructions - CLAUDE.md with confidence scoring, sandbox rules, and coding preferences
• Security - Blocked access to secrets, credentials, SSH keys, and system directories

Git Workflow

Aliases and functions for common operations:

Command	Description
git b	Interactive branch list with metadata
git c "msg"	Commit with message and push
git ca "msg"	Add all, commit, and push
git u	Amend last commit (keep message)
git ua	Add all and amend (keep message)
git cu	Amend last commit (edit message)
git ir [n]	Interactive rebase last n commits
git squash [n]	Squash last n commits
git undo [n]	Soft reset last n commits
git wipe-commits [n]	Hard reset last n commits
git wipe-local	Reset to origin (discard all local)
git ro	Reset to origin (keep files)
git delete-branches	Delete all local branches except current
git start [ref]	Go to root, checkout ref, pull
git root	cd to repository root
git cb <name>	Create and checkout new branch
git cl	Checkout last branch (checkout -)
git bd <name>	Delete branch locally
git bdr <name>	Delete branch locally and remotely
git rename-branch	Rename branch locally and remotely
git d	Diff (excluding lock files)
git ll	Pretty log with graph
git last	Show last commit
git lc	List contributors
git stats	Commit statistics for the repo
git sc <code>	Search commits by source code
git sm <msg>	Search commits by message
git ss <snippet>	Search for snippet in history
git li <pattern>	Local-only gitignore (this clone only)
git lie	Edit local gitignore
git pa	Pull all nested repos
git pf	Push with --force-with-lease
git retag <tag>	Delete and recreate tag on HEAD
git credit	Add co-author to last commit

See git-aliases and git-functions for the full list.

Shell Commands

Command	Description
devenv	Re-run setup (safe, idempotent)
godir <pat>	Find and cd to a directory by pattern
finddir <pat>	Find directories matching pattern
cs <dir>	cd + ls
mcd <dir>	mkdir + cd
.., ..., ....	Navigate up 1, 2, 3 directories
lines <ext>	Count lines of code by extension
count	Count files in directory tree
count_lines	Count lines in directory tree
afk	Lock screen
reload	Reload shell
path	Print PATH entries (one per line)
ip	Show public IP address
localip	Show local IP address
cleanup	Recursively delete .DS_Store files
urlencode <str>	URL-encode a string
mergepdf	Merge PDFs preserving hyperlinks
unmeta <file>	Remove metadata from photos
backup_secrets	Backup ~/.env.sh and ~/.gitconfig
please	Alias for sudo
drun	docker compose run --rm app

GitLab Sync

Automatically sync all repos from a GitLab group:

# In ~/.env.sh
export GITLAB_GROUP="your-group"
export GITLAB_EXCLUDE_DIRS="archive|sandbox"  # optional

The devenv command will:

• Clone new repos to ~/work/
• Detect repos deleted from GitLab
• Sync branches and prune stale ones
• Run in parallel for speed

macOS Configuration

• Dock layout with preferred apps
• System preferences (key repeat, scroll direction, etc.)
• Finder settings

Tool Updates

Each run upgrades:

• Homebrew packages and casks
• VS Code extensions
• Go tools (gopls, staticcheck)
• Python tools (via uv)
• Oh My Zsh
• tldr pages

Directory Structure

Directory	Purpose
linked/	Dotfiles symlinked to home (changes sync)
copied/	Templates copied once (e.g., ~/.env.sh)
state/	Package/extension lists that drive installation
configure/	Tool-specific setup scripts
sync/	GitLab repo sync scripts
lib/	Shared utilities

State Files

The state/ directory controls what gets installed:

• brew_packages.txt - Homebrew formulae
• brew_casks.txt - Homebrew casks (GUI apps)
• vscode_extensions.txt - VS Code extensions
• linked_files.txt - Dotfiles to symlink
• copied_files.txt - Templates to copy

Lines support comments: package # why it's needed

Customization

Adding packages

echo "my-package" >> state/brew_packages.txt

Adding dotfiles

1. Add the file to linked/
2. Add the filename to state/linked_files.txt

Machine-specific config

Edit ~/.env.sh for secrets and device-specific settings.

Re-running

Safe to run anytime - all operations are idempotent:

devenv          # or: make setup

Development

make dev        # lint + test
make test       # run bats tests
make fix        # auto-fix formatting
make check      # lint without fixing

Troubleshooting

Setup interrupted? Re-run devenv. Backups are in ~/Documents/backups/.

Package failed? Warnings are printed but setup continues. Re-run or install manually with brew install <package>.