Automate setting up macOS

Aug 26, 2018 · Follow on Twitter and Mastodon

In this post, I’ll describe how to automate setting up a new Mac with a terminal script that will install system software and applications, configure the computer etc. in mere minutes.

Why automate?

I prefer to automate as many tasks as possible, to reduce the amount of repetitive manual work, reduce the risk of human error and to increase the overall reliability of a process.

For developers, this involves unit testing, continuous integration, release management etc. while for testers it can involve automated UI testing etc.

However, one thing that I haven’t automated until recently, is to set up a brand new Mac, which is time consuming and just not fun. It’s tedious to remember all the tools and apps.

Without automation, this can easily take a day, and you will then fill out the gaps for weeks. With automation, you can set up a new Mac in minutes.

Tools on which I base my script

Before I show you the script I have put together, let me go through some tools that I base it on. They are great and will simplify your life, so make sure to check them out.

Homebrew is a package and dependency manager (one of several) for macOS.
Homebrew Cask is a brew extension that lets you install Mac apps with Homebrew.
Brew Bundle is a brew extension that lets you define brew packages with a Brewfile.
Gem is a package manager for Ruby-based software, e.g. Fastlane.
NPM is a package manager for web-related software. I also use it for hybrid apps.

My script will first install these tools, then install everything else using the tools and scripts.

Creating the script

Let’s first create the main system script. It’s modular, to make it easy to adjust it over time.

First, create a file called setup.sh and add the following code to it:

#!/bin/bash

while true; do
  if [[ $# == 0 ]]; then
    printf "\n\n***** Setup *****\n\n"

    printf "Available commands:\n\n"
    printf "\n"
    printf "      all:  Install everything\n"
    printf "     brew:  Install packages & apps from Brewfile\n"
    printf "   config:  Configure macOS\n"
    printf "      gem:  Install packages from Gemfile\n"
    printf "      npm:  Install npm packages from scripts/npm.sh\n"
    printf "      ssh:  Create & copy SSH key\n"
    printf "   system:  Install system software\n"
    printf "\n"
    printf "        q:  Quit/Exit.\n"
    printf "\n\n"

    read -p "Enter option: " response
    printf "\n"
    process_option $response
  else
    process_option $1
  fi
done

This prints a “main menu” with various options. As you can see, I have split it into several modules, with an all option that installs everything.

The script lacks the process_options function that it refers to. Add this above while true:

process_option() {
  case $1 in
    'all')
      source scripts/config.sh
      source scripts/system.sh
      source scripts/apps.sh
      source scripts/npm.sh
      source scripts/fastlane.sh
      source scripts/ssh.sh
      break;;
    'apps')
      source scripts/apps.sh
      break;;
    'config')
      source scripts/config.sh
      break;;
    'fastlane')
      source scripts/fastlane.sh
      break;;
    'npm')
      source scripts/npm.sh
      break;;
    'ssh')
      source scripts/ssh.sh
      break;;
    'system')
      source scripts/system.sh
      break;;
      
    'q')
      break;;
    *)
      break;;
  esac
}

Each option calls another script in the scripts folder or runs a Terminal command. Each external file is simple. The Brewfile contains brew and cask dependencies, the Gemfile gem dependencies and the script files commands that you could also type manually.

Have a look at some examples from each file:

// scripts/system.sh

if ! command -v brew > /dev/null; then
    printf "[SYSTEM] Install Homebrew\n"
    ruby -e "$(curl --location --fail --silent --show-error https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
else
    printf "[SYSTEM] Update Homebrew\n"
    brew update
fi
printf "\n"

printf "[SYSTEM] Install Cask\n"
brew tap caskroom/cask
printf "\n"

...

// scripts/config.sh

printf "[CONFIG] Finder, Show hidden files\n"
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
killall Finder -9
printf "\n"

// scripts/npm.sh

printf "[NPM] Installing TypeScript\n"
sudo npm install -g typescript
printf "\n"

// scripts/ssh.sh

read -p "[SSH] Create new SSH key (yes/no): " response
if test "$response" = "yes"; then
	printf "\n"
	read -p "Enter your e-mail: " ssh_email
	printf "\n"
    printf "[SSH] Creating ssh key\n"
    ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C $ssh_email
fi
printf "\n"

printf "[SSH] Adding ssh key to ssh-agent\n"
eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
printf "\n"

printf "[SSH] Copying ssh key to pasteboard\n"
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

printf "[SSH] Done\n"
printf "\n"

// Brewfile

cask_args appdir: "/Applications"

brew "mas"
cask "android-studio"
...

// Gemfile

# frozen_string_literal: true
source "https://rubygems.org"
git_source(:github) {|repo_name| "https://github.com/#{repo_name}" }
gem 'cocoapods'
...

Result

If I run the all option, it will take care of the following:

Configuring OS X
Installing package managers (Homebrew, Cask, RubyGems, NPM)
Installing brew packages (Carthage, SwiftGen, SwiftLint etc.)
Installing Mac applications (Chrome, Slack, Sketch etc.)
Installing gem packages (CocoaPods, Fastlane, Jekyll etc.)
Installing npm packages (Ionic, Gulp, TypeScript etc.)
Setting up SSH (create a key, add to ssh-agent, copy to pasteboard)

Doing this manually would take a couple of hours. Now, it finishes in a matter of minutes.

Download

I have a GitHub repo that you can fork and tweak to fit your needs. You can find it here.