HACKER Q&A
📣 ShittyKickflips

macOS apps/utils you can’t live without?


I bought new MBpro (nice machine, m2 max, 96 gb ram, 2tb ssd) after running my original 2015 i7 machine down. I thought that is good time to revisit my tools.

I am using my machine for security research, pentesting (not so much these days), sw development - more like scrips and tiny apps/automations. I also use the machine for some video edits - mostly board sports.

After using mac for so long, I am wondering - is there some killer app I am missing?

I use so far (except mail, calendar, office and other “defaults”): - iterm2 - pimped zsh - sublime text - neovim - UTM - little snitch - wireguard - monitor control - synergy (to connect to corporate mac) - amphetamine

In Safari I have: - wipr - super agent - hush - vinegar - amplosion

Dear hackers, is there killer app you use? What can’t you live without? Thanks!


  👤 jiripospisil Accepted Answer ✓
I'm a big fan of Atuin (fuzzy shell history search) and lately I've been using Helix for most of programming. Check out Btop or erdtree as well.

https://github.com/ellie/atuin

https://github.com/helix-editor/helix

https://github.com/aristocratos/btop

https://github.com/solidiquis/erdtree


👤 surprisetalk
Amethyst is a lovely tiling window manager for MacOS.

I don't know how people survive without TWMs.

[1] https://ianyh.com/amethyst


👤 lanna
Dash for API browsing https://kapeli.com/dash

Flycut for clipboard management https://github.com/TermiT/Flycut

iStat Menus for system resource monitoring https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

Kaleidoscope for file merging https://kaleidoscope.app/

OmniOutliner for note taking https://www.omnigroup.com/omnioutliner/


👤 hitpointdrew
For me THE reason to get a Mac is because of iterm2.

The BEST feature it has is a built in password manager. Need a password for sudo, no problem option+command+f brings up a small window here you can add as many passwords as you like and name them and save them. Double click the password and it puts in the command line for you, it even warns you if it detects that you are not actually at a password prompt. This great if you have passwords for postgres, redis, sudo access, etc. etc.


👤 overvale

👤 deanmoriarty
AlDente for better battery management than Apple’s default heuristics. It pains me too much sitting at my desk all day with the laptop plugged in at 100% capacity. Now I can leave it plugged at 70% and charge it to 100% only when I know I’ll need it.

👤 pinewurst
Carbon Copy Cloner - not open source but well worth the purchase, in value and support

👤 zamnos
Contexts.app, to fix alt tab behavior

Hammerspoon, for Linux style click to drag/resize windows



👤 is_taken
Forgot to mention https://rectangleapp.com

👤 coldtea
Alfred, brew