As mentioned in a previous post, I have migrated to an M1 based MacBook Air and have recently spent some time setting up the terminal shell to my tastes.

This post will detail what I have done to achieve this.

Terminal App

The terminal application I am using is iTerm2 and I run it under the Rosetta translation layer to keep compatibility with things like homebrew.

Terminal Config

• Download ‘oh-my-zsh’

• Download iTerm2

  • Install a color scheme for iTerm, I use Dracula or Solarized (Light & Dark), but there are plenty of options
  • Set left option key to Esc+
  • I use the following Python script for auto-changing iTerm’s theme according to my Mac’s system theme:

  import asyncio
  import iterm2
  
  async def changeTheme(connection,parts):
      theme_dark = "Solarized Dark"
      theme_light = "Solarized Light"
      print(parts)
  
      if "dark" in parts:
          preset = await iterm2.ColorPreset.async_get(connection, theme_dark)
      else:
          preset = await iterm2.ColorPreset.async_get(connection, theme_light)
  
      # Update the list of all profiles and iterate over them.
      profiles=await iterm2.PartialProfile.async_query(connection)
      for partial in profiles:
          # Fetch the full profile and then set the color preset in it.
          profile = await partial.async_get_full_profile()
          await profile.async_set_color_preset(preset)
  
  async def main(connection):
  
      app = await iterm2.async_get_app(connection)
      window = app.current_window
      initial_theme = await app.async_get_theme()
      await changeTheme(connection,initial_theme)
  
      async with iterm2.VariableMonitor(connection, iterm2.VariableScopes.APP, "effectiveTheme", None) as mon:
          while True:
              # Block until theme changes
              theme = await mon.async_get()
              # Themes have space-delimited attributes, one of which will be light or dark.
              parts = theme.split(" ")
  
              await changeTheme(connection,parts)
  
  
  iterm2.run_forever(main)

  • This must be placed in $HOME/Library/ApplicationSupport/iTerm2/Scripts/AutoLaunch
  • Then go to iTerm2 > Scripts > Autolaunch and install the Python runtime

Fonts

• Install patched Nerd Fonts for terminal symbols/icons
  • brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts
  • brew install --cask font-hack-nerd-font
• Install powerlevel10k https://gist.github.com/kevin-smets/8568070 and run p10k configure then follow the wizard according to your tastes

Jekyll (How I made this blog)

• Install jekyll ’https://jekyllrb.com/docs/installation/macos/’
  • gem install --user-install bundler jekyll
  • Navigate to a jekyll project folder and run bundle config set --local path 'vendor/bundle'
    • Note this will fail if there are spaces in the path to the folder
  • Run bundler install
  • Now bundle exec jekyll serve will work

Terminal Dotfiles

• .git-credentials & .gitconfig
• .zshrc customisations:
  • alias for iCloud drive
  • function for highlight homebrew package

Homebrew:

• Install using a terminal app running through Rosetta
• Always use an x86 terminal to install and use (M1 not yet supported)
• Packages
  • Highlight