How to Setup Mac Terminal

21 March 2023

Let's quickly start with the forgotten package on Mac operating system Homebrew.

Install Homebrew

Open you Mac terminal and install the package with following command:

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

After the installation it will ask you to add homebrew to your path, if not please follow the process given below (replace [username] with your username):

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

Install iTerm2

Because I don't like default terminal 😜

brew install --cask iterm2

Install Git

I believe you have git already installed on your Mac, if not please follow the command:

brew install git

Install Oh My Zsh

Fun time begins, this utility helps us to make our terminal prompts more intuitive.

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

Install PowerLevel10K Theme

After installing Oh My Zsh, its time to make it more interesting by installing another package called PowerLevel10K.

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

After installing, please open your ~/.zshrc file in your preferred code editor and change the following line:

ZSH_THEME="powerlevel10k/powerlevel10k"

Now, please restart your iTerm2 or perform source ~/.zshrc to reflect changes.

Note: You need to install Meslo Nerd Font as well, it will be part of PowerLevel10K theme only, please press y when it ask.

Configure PowerLevel10K

Ideally, you have been asked to set PowerLevel10K theme, but in case you want to make any additional changes, feel free to use following command:

p10k configure

Change iTerm2 Colors to My Custom Theme

Step 1: Open iTerm2

Step 2: Download color profile (it will be added to Downloads folder):

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/learnwithgurpreet/mac-dev-env-setup/main/nightking.itermcolors --output ~/Downloads/nightking.itermcolors

Step 3: Open iTerm2 preferences

Step 4: Go to Profiles > Colors

Step 5: Import the downloaded color profile (nightking)

Step 6: Select the color profile (nightking)

Install Auto suggestion Plugin

Clone this repository into $ZSH_CUSTOM/plugins (by default ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins)

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

After installing, please open ~/.zshrc file and modify the plugins line to what you see below:

plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions)

Update VSCode Terminal Font (Optional)

Open settings.json of your vscode and add "terminal.integrated.fontFamily": "MesloLGS NF"

We are done!

I believe you will like your terminal more than before 😍