I’m in the middle of setting up a new MacBook. I’m so grateful to past-me for documenting all my little apps, tweaks, and scripts I run to make it cozier for me. Here’s a thread of my favorite apps I can’t work without:

A clipboard manager and window manager is a must-have. Using a computer without them feels like operating with my hands tied behind my back. In the past, I’ve used @alfredapp + rectangleapp‍.com, but I’m currently trying out @raycastapp for both of these needs.

macOS’s new Live Text is a good first step, but it only works on images in Apple’s own apps, which just is not competitive compared to @TextSniperApp and @CleanShot which let grab text from anywhere: YouTube videos, Zoom calls, un-selectable text across the web, etc.

The built-in screen recording tool is okay, but it pales in comparison to @CleanShot: • record to .mp4 or .gif (not just .mov) • record my screen + camera at the same time • record system audio and microphone • record keystrokes

The system volume control is a bit simplistic for my needs. It doesn't have Per-App Volume Control, Fast Input Switching, or Multiple Output Destinations. @RogueAmoeba’s SoundSource steps into that gap.

Working remote means I need easy access to Zoom links without opening my calendar. There's many good options in this category, including @MeetingBarApp, but my recommendation is @sindresorhus’s Dato

After installing enough of these apps, you’ll find yourself with a new problem: too many menu bar apps! The long-time king of this space is @macbartender, but people also like @_matthewpalmer’s Vanilla

I also highly recommend a notepad-style calculator. It's a great lightweight tool for breaking down multi-step calculations into variables and letting you explore different scenarios and experiment with numbers. Give @numiapp or @soulver a shot.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here:

This is nice. I use @alfredapp for many things, along with some scripts I've written - I don't "get" clipboard managers really, and have never seen the benefit of them. I should try again. Also recommend imageoptim.com/mac for simple image optimisations.

Once you get in the habit of throwing any/every scrap of text onto your easily-searchable clipboard, going back feels like driving to store each time you need another ingredient for a meal. I’d suggest setting a hotkey like ⌘ + ⇪ to easily access the clipboard history search.

Thanks for putting this together! It's what convinced me to try Raycast finally and I'm super into it.

Thanks for including us, and highlighting the work of your favorite independent developers!

Quite some gems here. Thanks Nathan!

Did you just call your MacBook cozy?

Cozy in a "this is my personal space and if I'm spending 8hrs/day here, I wanna be comfortable" kinda way