My MacBook Setup for Development (2023)
How my setup has helped me to improve my productivity.
Last year in Feb 2022, I wrote an article about my MacBook Setup for Development and it was appreciated by a lot of readers. Things have changed so quickly and it's time to write the MacBook setup for the 2023 edition.
Hi, My name is Vinay Kesharwani & I am the Founder of ScriptMint. I am a Full Stack Developer working with Laravel, Vue.js & Tailwind CSS.
I am a big fan of Apple’s focus app and I have scheduled multiple focus for different times a day. My phone never rings, I don’t get app notifications and it helped me to avoid distractions throughout the day.
By the way, I am still using my MacBook Pro 2019 model. However, the MacBook battery went crazy in Nov 2022 and I had to replace it for $300. I also had to reset my MacBook after changing the battery as I faced some performance issues. After the reset, My MacBook is again doing well.
Till last year, I rarely found my MacBook fan making any noise but now it happens occasionally.
I have an up-to-date MacOS Ventura 13.1 version running. If I find any update related to OS, I immediately apply it.
I am addicted to dark mode. Everything on my MacBook or iPhone is set in dark mode. I simply can’t handle the brightness of the light mode. The first thing I look for in any app before installing is whether or not it has a dark mode view! Pardon me if you see everything in dark mode here!
I am now more attached to MacBook and treating the same as my family member. All the files & folders are arranged very systematically & I know where my files are located and I don’t need to use the search bar.
I have 1TB of SSD storage but around 65% of the storage is still free.
If you go into detail, I have a large number of photos of 9.7MB on My MacBook. FYI, I use Google Photos for all my photos.
I have replaced (cmd + space) MacOS spotlight with RayCast. RayCast is a lightweight, super-fast tool you can you to perform multiple actions with your keyboard. Whether you need to open any app or arrange windows or empty your trash or do calculations, RayCast can be used for everything. RayCast is one of my favourite tools that has increased my productivity with the use of extensions, commands and snippets.
I bet, you use RayCast for two days and you won’t come back to Spotlight. FYI, RayCast is FREE for personal use.
As I wrote last year, I use to have all my windows in a fixed order. These 7 windows with the Desktop arranged in the centre helps me to quickly move between different application.
Here is the order from left to right:
Last year I was using Spark 2 which was a FREE edition. A few months back I checked Spark 3 and immediately subscribed to the annual plan. I use to manage 4–5 different emails and with Spark 3 all the emails are organized in one place. The best thing about Spark 3 is its new UI. Also, it categorizes your emails into different folders, it can schedule incoming emails based on priority so that you have less distraction. Spark works for all iOS devices and can really improve your productivity.
Next is Notion. I replaced Evernote with Notion last September. Notion is my favourite productivity app of 2022. I write notes, manage my projects, financials, store important files, and track my progress & goals with Notion. Notion is actually a multi-purpose app which can be used for endless use and is completely FREE for personal use.
I will write a separate article about how Notion can help to improve your productivity.
Next in the order is Safari browser. Chrome was taking up a lot of memory therefore I decided to use Safari for websites that are open all the time and use Chrome only for development purposes. Todoist, Habitify, Slack, Skype, Twitter and WhatsApp Business are always open in my Safari browser.
One more benefit I observe of using Safari is that it can block these apps based on screen time and the focus setting I have chosen.
I use Todoist to manage my day-to-day to-do list. I have actually scheduled all my recurring tasks, subscriptions, renewals etc on Todoist so I never forget about it.
Habitify is also new to my list. I am using Habitify to track my habits. It is a paid application which offers you to build good habits and break bad habits. I am developing the habit of Meditation, Regular Excersize, Reading Books, Writing Blogs etc with the help of this app and am quite satisfied with it.
The next window is my Desktop. I use stage manager and switch between different apps like Sublime Text, Finder, Terminal 2, Termius, Tinkerwell etc. Mostly these are my web development tools which I use frequently.
Next is VS Code followed by Google Chrome & GitHub Desktop where I spend most of my time. Still using most of the settings & preferences of VS Code I wrote last year in my blog here.
This fixed order of windows helps me to save a lot of my time. My fingers move left to right and vice versa quickly without any confusion.
Other than that, I also use the continuity feature of the MacBook & iPhone a lot like copy paste items from one device to another, using iPhone to capture images and transfer it to MacBook, using MacBook for calls etc.
I fall in ❤️ with my MacBook every day I start my work with this beautiful setup & I have improved my productivity a lot.
Do share how you set up & use your computer. Let's learn from sharing and make coding awesome!