How To Setup Your Mac Terminal

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Install Homebrew

Open up a terminal window and install homebrew with the following command:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Add Homebrew To Path

After installing, add it to the path (replace ”[username]” with your actual username):

echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/[username]/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

Install iTerm2

To install, run:

brew install --cask iterm2

Switch to iTerm2 for the remainder of this walkthrough.

Install Git

If you don’t have it installed, install git as well:

brew install git

Install Oh My Zsh

Run this to install Oh My Zsh:

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

Install PowerLevel10K Theme for Oh My Zsh

Run this to install PowerLevel10K:

git clone https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k.git $ZSH_CUSTOM/themes/powerlevel10k

Now that it’s installed, open the ”~/.zshrc” file with your preferred editor and change the value of “ZSH_THEME” as shown below:

ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

To reflect this change on your terminal, restart it or run this command:

source ~/.zshrc

Install Meslo Nerd Font

Install the font by pressing “y” and then quit iTerm2.

Update VSCode Terminal Font (Optional)

Open settings.json and add this line:

"terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "MesloLGS NF"

Configure PowerLevel10K

Restart iTerm2. You should now be seeing the PowerLevel10K configuration process. If you don’t, run the following:

p10k configure

Follow the instructions for the PowerLevel10K configuration to make your terminal look as desired.

Increase Terminal Font Size

  1. Open iTerm2 preferences
  2. Go to Profiles > Text
  3. I increase my font size to about 20px

Change iTerm2 Colors to My Custom Theme

  1. Open iTerm2
  2. Download my color profile by running the following command (will be added to Downloads folder):
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/josean-dev/dev-environment-files/main/coolnight.itermcolors --output ~/Downloads/coolnight.itermcolors
  1. Open iTerm2 preferences
  2. Go to Profiles > Colors
  3. Import the downloaded color profile (coolnight)
  4. Select the color profile (coolnight)

You can find other themes here: Iterm2 Color Schemes

Install ZSH Plugins

Install zsh-autosuggestions:

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

Install zsh-syntax-highlighting:

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

Open the ”~/.zshrc” file in your desired editor and modify the plugins line to what you see below.

plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting web-search)

Load these new plugins by running:

source ~/.zshrc

You’re Done!

With that, you’re finished and should have a much better terminal experience!