Development Environment Setup

Welcome to the team. This guide will get your Mac or Windows machine ready for development.

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Mac Setup

1. Install Homebrew

Homebrew is the package manager for macOS. Run this in Terminal:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

2. Install Git

brew install git

3. Install NVM (Node Version Manager)

NVM lets you switch between Node.js versions.

brew install nvm

Close and reopen your terminal, then install the latest LTS version of Node.js:

nvm install --lts

4. Install Laravel Herd

Laravel Herd is a macOS app that gives you a full PHP development environment.

1. Go to herd.laravel.com
2. Download and open the .dmg file
3. Drag Laravel Herd to your Applications folder
4. Launch it

5. Install Visual Studio Code

brew install --cask visual-studio-code

Or download it from code.visualstudio.com.

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Windows Setup

1. Install Git

Download from: https://git-scm.com/downloads

After installation, use Git in Git Bash, Command Prompt, or PowerShell.

2. Install NVM for Windows

Download the latest nvm-setup.exe from: https://github.com/coreybutler/nvm-windows/releases

Run the installer, then open a new Command Prompt and run:

nvm install lts
nvm use lts

3. Install Laravel Herd for Windows

Download from: https://herd.laravel.com/

1. Run the .exe installer
2. Follow the setup steps
3. Launch Laravel Herd and set your local development folder

Laravel Herd includes PHP, Composer, and Laravel out of the box.

4. Install Visual Studio Code

Download from: https://code.visualstudio.com/

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VS Code Settings

Add these to your VS Code settings.json:

{
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "[javascript]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode"
  },
  "emmet.includeLanguages": {
    "javascript": "javascriptreact"
  },
  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
    "source.fixAll.eslint": true
  }
}

Recommended Extensions

• Tailwind CSS IntelliSense
• Prettier
• ESLint
• Auto Close Tag
• Code Spell Checker
• EditorConfig for VS Code
• ES7 React/Redux/GraphQL/React-Native Snippets
• GitLens
• Highlight Matching Tag
• Import Cost
• Live Share
• Version Lens

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Configure Git

1. Set Your Git Identity

Run these in your terminal:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

Git uses these for every commit you make.

2. Generate an SSH Key

This lets you authenticate with GitHub without typing your password every time.

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"

When prompted, press Enter to accept the default file path. Set a passphrase if you want.

3. Add the SSH Key to the SSH Agent

macOS/Linux:

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Windows (Git Bash):

eval $(ssh-agent -s)
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

4. Add the SSH Key to GitHub

Copy your public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Then:

1. Go to GitHub SSH settings
2. Click New SSH key
3. Paste the key and give it a name (e.g., My Laptop)
4. Click Add SSH key

5. Test the Connection

ssh -T git@github.com

You should see:

Hi your-username! You've successfully authenticated...

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Install Discord

We use Discord for team communication. Download it here.

Ask the Lucky Media PM for an invite to our server.

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Optional Apps

• Raycast – A better Spotlight.
• iTerm2 – A better Terminal.

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Next Steps

1. Clone the repos you’ll be working on
2. Install any project-specific dependencies
3. Read through our coding standards and workflows

If anything breaks during setup, ask your team lead or a colleague.