This list is in a rough order of most obscure/useful, so that the things at the top are tools that you haven't heard of before.
I find the default application switcher in OSX useless. I often have many Sublime Text windows open, a number of GitX windows, and maybe a couple of Chrome windows. Having to Cmd + Tab to the app, and then Cmd + ` through the app windows takes too long. Witch works like Alt + Tab on Windows.
It takes a bit of persuading to make it replace the default Cmd + Tab shortcut, but it's worth it.
https://manytricks.com/witch — $14
When diffing code I like to see changes in context. There are a few native GUI diffing tools for OSX, but I've found none of them as good as the free and open-source Meld. It makes it really easy to see where changes came from and went to, and to copy old changes across from previous versions.
Use it with git difftool -d to change your code review life.
It has a GTK UI, so it doesn't quite fit in with OSX, but it more than makes up for it in functionality.
https://yousseb.github.io/meld/ – Free & open source, OSX port
http://meldmerge.org/ – Free & open source, project page
I like being able to quickly close windows in Expose by middle clicking on them. I like three finger tap to be a middle click. I like making the most of my laptop screen by making 2 windows exactly 50% wide, either with a keyboard shortcut, or by dragging windows to the sides of the screen. BetterTouchTool does all this and much, much more.
https://www.boastr.net/ — Pay what you want, $4 - $50
“Never memorize something that you can look up” said Einstein (allegedly). But that only works if you can look things up quickly. Dash offlines all the documentation for different environments and libraries so you can fuzzy search through it instantly.
https://kapeli.com/dash — $24.99
(There's also the free https://devdocs.io/ but I like the speed and convenience of Dash)
Spotlight is now doing more things than it used to, but it's still slower and has less features than Alfred. Using Alfred to open apps quickly, do quick bits of math and easily integrate with external programs like Dash are all great.
https://www.alfredapp.com/ — Free. Optional Powerpack £17
The terminal on OSX is fine, but iTerm2 is much better. Great split panes that you can drag out into their own window when you need more space, and back again when you're done. Cmd + Click to open URLs and files directly from the terminal. Enable "shell integration" and the daily tips to discover things that you never knew you wanted to do.
https://iterm2.com/ — Free & open source
Syntax highlighting of commands in the shell, Ctrl + W that deletes back to / instead of just space, and great command suggestions as you type are a few of the things that elevate Fish over Bash. A few bits of syntax are slightly different to Bash, so you'll have to adapt some of those commands you copy from the internet.
https://fishshell.com/ – Free & open source
brew install fish
(see below for Homebrew)
Save your eyes and sleep by reducing the blue light in your screen at night.
https://justgetflux.com/ – Free
After years of using Git on the command line I'm suspicious of what fully featured Git apps get up to behind the scenes. But sometimes you want to see the branching history of a repo, or stage a few hunks to quickly commit. GitX provides just a few features that make Git more pleasant.
Don't forget to enable terminal usage under the GitX menu, so that you can run gitx to open the current directory.
http://rowanj.github.io/gitx/ – Free & open source
An easier way to install all those libraries and tools you need for development. You probably already know about this.
http://brew.sh/ – Free & open source
Sublime Text is made great by its plugins and Package Control. Here are my favourites:
- DocBlockr
- GitGutter
- sublime-github
- Just for the "GitHub: Copy remote URL to clipboard" command. It makes it easy to copy a Github link to the line(s) you currently have selected, for easy sending to your colleagues
- MarkdownEditing
- SublimeLinter
- JsFormat
https://www.sublimetext.com/ – $70
https://packagecontrol.io/ – Free & open source
- BeardedSpice, https://beardedspice.github.io/ – Free & open source. To make the play/pause media keys work with websites like Soundcloud, Pandora, Youtube etc.
- DaisyDisk, https://daisydiskapp.com/ – $9.99. For finding out where all your disk space went.
- Show hidden files in Finder
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool YES
- I autohide my dock to maximize screen space and hide those distracting red dots on messaging app icons, but the default show and hide is too slow. Speed it up:
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.12;killall Dockdefaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0; killall Dock