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My Dev Environment

· 3 min read
Nivek Beans

Tinkering with configs​

I think I'm pretty particular with my dev environment. I've likely spent more time setting up my environment more than 80% of the devs out there. Many people probably think it's a waste of time to tinker your configs, but I find lots of value of doing so. I wasn't always like this; I used to always just use the default configs that came on a macbook and do things how one would expect. Howevever, on a random day in mid 2022, I came across this video on youtube and it changed my dev workflow ever since. (my configs)

Learning your environment​

Naturally just from playing around with my configs, I get comfortable around the terminal. That is probably one of the best things that happened for me as a byproduct with me customizing my env. Most of my configs are required to be set via .rc files so I was forced to learn the terminal. In addition, customizing things to the way you like it naturally requires you to know more about your environment via experimentation and reading docs. Throughout this process is where the learning happens and where you become the master of the tools that you use on a daily basis.

Tinkering with configs isn't only about turning knobs in some settings file, but it is about discovering and learning new things along the way. For example, setting up Yabai has led me to learn more about writing bash scripts to automate configuring app windows which then led to me learning about more mac automations via Hammerspoon. All of which just builds your coding skills and getting you used to your environment while setting things up exactly the way you like.

Personal customizations​

Imagine living in a house without your personal touch or organization. It will feel like living in a hotel or some stranger's home. The same applies to your dev environment; using the factory settings of a laptop is like navigating around someone else's home. To make it feel like your own, you must customize it to your own liking. As a developer, you mostly like spend about 8 hours a day x 5 days a week in your dev environment so might as well make it feel like home and your own.

Working efficiency​

When everything feels like home, that's when navigating around it will be buttery smooth. You'd become the wizards of summoning tools and the speed demon of completing tasks.

My favourite tools​

Tmux​

  • I love the sessions it provides plus the ability to detach from the terminal with my processes still running
  • Also being able to auto save my terminal and restore exactly how I left it after restarts is a big plus

Terminal​

  • reverse history search via Peco or fzf

Vim​

  • vim movements more specifically cause it is so powerful
  • the keybinds also extends to other tools which is a huge plus

Yabai​

  • manages my windows automatically for me

Karabiner​

  • used to remap keys on mac