Setting Up a New MacBook for AI Coding in 2026: The 12 Apps I'd Install First
A fresh MacBook is the best and worst day of the year. Everything is fast, and nothing works the way your hands expect. This is the list I'd run through before writing a single line of code: the free basics first, then
A fresh MacBook is the best and worst day of the year. Everything is fast, and nothing works the way your hands expect.
This is the list I'd run through before writing a single line of code: the free basics first, then the AI tools, then the small utilities that make a laptop feel like yours. Every app here is real, current, and linked to its official page.
The foundation
1. Homebrew
Install this before anything else. Almost every app below has a brew install --cask line, so a new machine becomes one script instead of an afternoon of download pages.
2. Ghostty
A free, open-source terminal with a native macOS feel. It is fast, configured with a plain text file, and does not ask you to sign in to anything.
3. Raycast
The launcher I'd set to Cmd+Space on day one. The free plan already covers clipboard history, window management, snippets and the community extension store. Pro adds Raycast AI and starts at $96 a year.
Window and keyboard sanity
4. Rectangle
Move and resize windows with keyboard shortcuts or by dragging to screen edges. Free and open source, macOS 14+. If you used Spectacle years ago, Rectangle can start with its default shortcuts.
5. AltTab
Cmd+Tab switches apps. AltTab switches windows, with previews, including minimized ones and windows on other Spaces. The core app is free and open source (GPL-3.0); Pro adds search and extra styles.
6. Maccy
A clipboard manager that does exactly one job. Hit the shortcut, type a few letters, press Enter. MIT licensed, free, macOS 14+, and it drops passwords your password manager clears from the clipboard.
The AI coding layer
7. Cursor
An AI code editor built on the VS Code base, so your extensions and keybindings come along. Worth installing even if you live in another editor, just to compare how it handles multi-file edits.
8. Claude Code
Anthropic's coding agent that runs in your terminal. Pair it with Ghostty and a couple of tabs and you have a very capable setup with almost nothing on screen.
claude.com/product/claude-code
9. Wispr Flow
Voice dictation that works across your apps. Useful for long prompts to an agent, where talking through the problem is faster than typing it. There is a free plan on Mac; Pro removes the usage limits.
The menu bar
10. Ice
A new Mac fills the menu bar fast, and the notch eats whatever does not fit. Ice hides the icons you rarely need, can show them in a separate bar below the notch, and lets you drag items into order. Free and open source, macOS 14+.
11. TokenBar
Once Cursor, Claude Code and Codex are all on the machine, each one has its own limits and its own reset time. TokenBar puts usage and reset times for Claude, Codex, Cursor, Gemini and Copilot in the menu bar, with a fuller dashboard when you need it. It is built on Peter Steinberger's open-source CodexBar (MIT) and includes a Pixel Agents view for seeing which coding agents are working or waiting. It does not give you extra quota; it just shows what is left. $5/month Basic or $15 lifetime Pro, macOS 14+.
12. CleanShot X
Screenshots, screen recordings, annotation and scrolling capture in one app. Handy for bug reports and PR descriptions. $35 one-time for the Mac app with a year of updates, or on Setapp. Requires macOS 13+.
The install script
Most of the list in one go:
brew install --cask ghostty raycast rectangle alt-tab maccy cursor jordanbaird-ice cleanshot
Then grab Claude Code, Wispr Flow and TokenBar from their sites.
Your turn
What is the first app you install on a new Mac that nobody else seems to know about? Drop it in the comments. I'm always looking for the thirteenth item.
Originally published by Dev.to AI. Aggregated on AIWithGhost for educational purposes β full credit and traffic to the original publisher.