Setting up your macOS development environment

This guide will walk you through installing and configuring Git, Python, and Visual Studio Code on macOS.

Homebrew is a package manager for macOS that makes installing development tools much easier. While not strictly required, it’s highly recommended.

1.1. Install Homebrew

  1. Open Terminal (press Cmd+Space, type “Terminal”, and press Enter)
  2. Visit https://brew.sh or run this command:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
  1. Follow the on-screen instructions
  2. After installation, you may need to add Homebrew to your PATH. The installer will provide the exact commands, which typically look like:
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

Note: The path differs for Apple Silicon Macs (/opt/homebrew) vs Intel Macs (/usr/local).

1.2. Verify Homebrew installation

brew --version

You should see output like: Homebrew 4.x.x

2. Installing Git

Git comes pre-installed on macOS, but it’s often an older version. We’ll install a more recent version using Homebrew.

2.1. Check if Git is already installed

git --version

If Git is installed, you’ll see the version number. If not, macOS may prompt you to install Command Line Tools.

brew install git

2.3. Alternative: Install Command Line Tools only

If you don’t want to use Homebrew, you can install Apple’s Command Line Tools, which includes Git:

xcode-select --install

A dialog box will appear asking you to install the tools. Click “Install” and follow the prompts.

2.4. Verify Git installation

Close and reopen Terminal, then run:

git --version

You should see: git version 2.x.x (or newer)

To check which Git is being used:

which git

If you installed via Homebrew, it should show /opt/homebrew/bin/git (Apple Silicon) or /usr/local/bin/git (Intel).

2.5. Configure Git

Set up your Git identity:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

3. Installing Python

macOS comes with Python pre-installed, but it’s typically Python 2.7 (on older systems) or an older Python 3 version. It’s best to install a current version.

3.1. Check current Python version

python3 --version

brew install python

This installs the latest Python 3.x and pip.

3.3. Alternative: Install from python.org

  1. Visit https://www.python.org/downloads/macos/
  2. Download the latest stable macOS installer
  3. Run the downloaded .pkg file
  4. Follow the installation wizard
  5. The installer will place Python in /usr/local/bin or /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/

3.4. Verify Python installation

python3 --version

You should see: Python 3.x.x

Check pip:

pip3 --version

You should see: pip x.x.x from ...

3.6. Update pip

pip3 install --upgrade pip

4. Installing Visual Studio Code

brew install --cask visual-studio-code

4.2. Alternative: Download from website

  1. Visit https://code.visualstudio.com/
  2. Click “Download for macOS”
  3. Open the downloaded .zip file
  4. Drag “Visual Studio Code.app” to your Applications folder
  5. Open VS Code from Applications or Spotlight