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Brew Essentials Install for a New Mac Developer Setup

· 2 min read macoshomebrewterminaldevelopersetup

Homebrew turns Mac software installation into one-line terminal commands. On a fresh machine it is usually the first thing developers install, because everything else (shells, runtimes, editors) installs faster through it afterward.

What you need

  • A Mac with admin rights
  • Terminal open (Spotlight can launch it; see [[spotlight-power-user-moves]])
  • A working internet connection

Step by step

  1. Install Xcode Command Line Tools first by running xcode-select --install and accepting the dialog. Homebrew depends on these compilers and tools.
  2. Install Homebrew with the official command from brew.sh, pasted into Terminal. It asks for your login password once.
  3. Add brew to your shell path when the installer suggests it. On Apple Silicon this means appending the eval line it prints to ~/.zprofile, then opening a new tab.
  4. Verify with brew doctor. A clean reply of "Your system is ready to brew" confirms everything works.
  5. Install the core CLI tools: brew install git wget ripgrep fd jq tree htop. These cover version control, fast searching, JSON parsing, and readable directory listings.
  6. Install a runtime or two as needed, such as brew install node, brew install python@3.12, or brew install go. Pin major versions explicitly so upgrades are deliberate.
  7. Add GUI apps as casks: brew install --cask iterm2 visual-studio-code rectangle stats. Casks place real applications in /Applications just like manual downloads.
  8. Create a Brewfile for reproducibility: run brew bundle dump to write a list of everything installed. On any future machine, brew bundle from that file restores the whole setup.
  9. Build a maintenance habit: run brew update && brew upgrade weekly, and brew cleanup monthly to delete old versions and reclaim disk space.

Common mistakes

  • Skipping the PATH step on Apple Silicon and concluding brew is broken because every command returns "command not found".
  • Installing GUI apps twice, once manually and once via cask, ending up with duplicate copies in /Applications.
  • Never running brew doctor, so a stale Command Line Tools version silently breaks formula builds months later.

Related guides

Brew is part of a broader new-machine routine. Follow [[migration-assistant-new-mac]] if you want files and settings carried over wholesale, then use this guide to layer fresh developer tooling on top. Keep the resulting packages lean with [[optimize-mac-storage]], since caches from runtimes grow quickly, and manage the resulting terminal windows with [[free-window-management-macos]].

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