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Setting up your Mac for Drupal development ​

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Overview ​

Setting up your Mac for development is a highly personal process. Everyone has their own preferences. I've collected some practices that work well for me here.

Better start with these ​

Display files that start with . ​

Open finder and press Cmd-Shift-.

Note

This is a toggle, so if you press it twice, it will turn the . files off again.

Set fast keyboard repeat and short delay ​

In keyboard settings, set key repeat rate to the maximum and delay until repeat to the minimum.

Display path bar at bottom of finder window ​

Open finder, in the top menu, select view and Show Path Bar. This will add a path bar at the bottom of the finder window. This is useful for copying the path to a file or folder. You can also navigate to a folder by clicking on the folder in the path bar.

Set main display monitor ​

In the System settings, displays, set your main display monitor to the monitor that you want. Otherwise things pop up on the other monitors.

Show speaker icon in menu bar ​

If the Sound control isn't in the menu bar, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Control Center in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.) Click the pop-up menu next to Sound on the right, then choose whether to show Sound in the menu bar all the time or only when it's active.

SSH Keys ​

To generate a 4096 byte (4K) key use these commands and just hit return when prompted. Don't enter a passphrase.:

bash
cd ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "johnsmith@gmail.com"

Note

Replace johnsmith@gmail.com with your email.

You will need to add the ssh key to the agent permanently.
for older versions of MacOS:

ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_rsa

for newer:

ssh-add --apple-use-keychain ~/.ssh/id_rsa

To list all the keys (or confirm that you successfully added the key to the agent.)

ssh-add -l

To remove an entry from ~/.ssh/known_hosts

ssh-keygen -R pogoacademystg.ssh.prod.acquia-sites.com

To copy the public key to the clipbpoard for pasting into Acquia/Github/Gitlab etc.

$ pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

More at https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/48502/how-can-i-permanently-add-my-ssh-private-key-to-keychain-so-it-is-automatically

And https://help.github.com/articles/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent/ and for multiple keys: https://gist.github.com/jexchan/2351996

Homebrew ​

Install the Homebrew package manager. This will allow you to install almost any app from the command line. This provides the brew command used extensively in this guide.

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

Note

once you install a formula with Hombrew, you might want to see the info that was displayed after you ran the brew install command. This is that crucial info that you need to complete the installation. Do that with brew info formula e.g.:

brew info php@8.1 or brew info jq

PHP ​

I like to install php 8.1 so I can run composer and drush commands in the terminal without having to first ssh into the DDEV docker containers.

brew install php@8.1

Be sure to run these scripts to put php 8.1 first in your PATH:

echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/php@8.1/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/php@8.1/sbin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

Add some settings to let you run drush:

check to make sure this is the place to add your custom settings.ini

php --ini

You should see:

Configuration File (php.ini) Path: /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1
Loaded Configuration File:         /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/php.ini
Scan for additional .ini files in: /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/conf.d
Additional .ini files parsed:      /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/conf.d/ext-opcache.ini,

Add a custom file e.g. /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/conf.d/selwyn.ini with the following contents

php
memory_limit = 1024M
max_execution_time = 30
upload_max_filesize = 200M
post_max_size = 256M
; How many GET/POST/COOKIE input variables may be accepted
max_input_vars = 5000
date.timezone = America/Chicago
error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED

To test that your settings are in place, runphp --ini. Notice the last line was added indicating that your custom php settings file was loaded.

Configuration File (php.ini) Path: /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1
Loaded Configuration File:         /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/php.ini
Scan for additional .ini files in: /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/conf.d
Additional .ini files parsed:      /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/conf.d/ext-opcache.ini,
/opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.1/conf.d/selwyn.ini

Note

If you install composer first, you might end up with php 8.2 installed which has some challenges running the Drupal Test Traits and PHPUnit.

Composer ​

brew install composer

Note

Ideally install this after installing PHP@8.1 to avoid this putting PHP 8.2 (or later) first in the path. This could cause some challenges running the Drupal Test Traits and PHPUnit.

Browsers ​

Dev tools ​

DDEV ​

Install ddev

From the DDEV docs website

sh
brew install ddev/ddev/ddev

Also to keep ddev up to date, run:

sh
brew upgrade ddev

Note

You might need to have your ssh certificate set up correctly before doing this step.

To initialize mkcert for ddev, run:

sh
mkcert -install

This is the output which in this case is prompting to install nss if you have FireFox installed. Don't forget that step.

Created a new local CA 💥

Sudo password:
The local CA is now installed in the system trust store! ⚡️

Warning: "certutil" is not available, so the CA can't be automatically installed in Firefox! 
Install "certutil" with "brew install nss" and re-run "mkcert -install"

Sequel Ace ​

This is a great GUI SQL tool. It is actually a fork of the fantatic Sequel Pro which has not been updated in 4 years.

brew install --cask sequel-ace

Terminal ​

Iterm2 Terminal Replacement ​

Download and install iTerm2

Follow instructions here to install Shell integration. The easiest way to install shell integration is to select the iTerm2>Install Shell Integration menu item. It will download and run a shell script. This enables command history in the toolbelt. Try it. You'll love it!

Oh My ZSH ​

This is a "helper" program and bunch of useful plugins etc to enhance the ZSH shell that comes with the current MacOS. See

bash
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

ZSH auto suggestion plugin ​

From the zsh-autosuggestions repo:

bash
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions

This will load the folder zsh-autosuggestions into the ~/oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins folder

Edit your .zshrc to make sure in your ~/.zshrc you have the zsh-autosuggestions in your plugins as below:

plugins=(git z macos zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting sudo)

ZSH syntax highlighting ​

From the repo for zsh-syntax-highlighting:

bash
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git
echo "source ${(q-)PWD}/zsh-syntax-highlighting/zsh-syntax-highlighting.zsh" >> ${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zshrc

Move the ~/zsh-syntax-highlighting into the ~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/plugins folder.

In ~/.zshrc file make sure in your ~/.zshrc you have the zsh-autosuggestions in your plugins as below:

plugins=(git z macos zsh-autosuggestions zsh-syntax-highlighting sudo)

Command line tools ​

git ​

Although the macOS comes with git, it is probably wise to install the latest with homebrew using the following command:

brew install git

Setup .gitconfig ​

In your $HOME directory, create the .gitconfig file. Replace my name and email address with yours. I've added some useful aliases which allow nice shorthand commands like git co branch_abc git hist etc.

# This is Git's per-user configuration file.
[user]
  name = Selwyn Polit
  email = selwynpolit@example.com
[core]
  excludesfile = /Users/spolit/.gitignore_global

[alias]
  co = checkout
  ci = commit
  st = status
  br = branch
  hist = log --pretty=format:\"%h %ad | %s%d [%an]\" --graph --date=short
  plog = log --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit

[pull]
        rebase = false
[filter "lfs"]
        clean = git-lfs clean -- %f
        smudge = git-lfs smudge -- %f
        process = git-lfs filter-process
        required = true

Also to set the default main branch as main rather than the old and somewhat oppressive word master use:

sh
git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Setup .gitignore_global ​

In your $HOME directory, create the .gitignore_global file.

# Borrowed from https://gist.github.com/octocat/9257657
# Vim patterns from https://github.com/github/gitignore

# Ignore Emacs and Vim auto backup files
*~
[#]*[#]
*.swp
*.swo

# Ignore PHP Storm project files
.idea/

# Ignore Sublime project files
*.sublime-project
*.sublime-workspace

# Ignore Codekit files
*.codekit

# Ignore logs and databases
*.log
*.sql
*.sql.gz
*.sqlite

# Ignore SASS cache files
*.scssc

# OS generated files #
######################
.DS_Store
.DS_Store?
._*
.Spotlight-V100
.Trashes
ehthumbs.db
Thumbs.db

# Vim temp files #
##################
[._]*.s[a-w][a-z]
[._]s[a-w][a-z]
*.un~
Session.vim
.netrwhist
*~

# Acquia CLI
.acquia-cli.yml

Automatically create upstream branches ​

When you create a new branch and try to push it with git push, you might see:

fatal: The current branch feature/updates has no upstream branch.
To push the current branch and set the remote as upstream, use

    git push --set-upstream origin feature/updates

To have this happen automatically for branches without a tracking
upstream, see 'push.autoSetupRemote' in 'git help config'.

To fix this permanently, run the following command:

sh
git config --global push.autoSetupRemote true

Read more about automatically creating upstream branches

NVM (Node Version Manager) ​

brew install nvm

Add the following to the end of your ~/.zshrc file:

  export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
  [ -s "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/nvm.sh" ] && \. "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
  [ -s "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm" ] && \. "/opt/homebrew/opt/nvm/etc/bash_completion.d/nvm"  # This loads nvm bash_completion

To test if it installed correctly, use:

sh
nvm --version
0.39.7

bat ​

[bat(https://github.com/sharkdp/bat)] is a replacement for cat, does beautiful syntax highlighting

brew install bat

cloc ​

Count lines of code.

brew install cloc

acli ​

Acquia CLI tool

curl -OL https://github.com/acquia/cli/releases/latest/download/acli.phar
chmod +x acli.phar

For some reason, I got permission denied for the suggested command:

mv acli.phar /usr/local/bin/acli

so I rather moved it to my ~/bin with

mv acli.phar ~/bin

which is in my path. Then authorize acli's login with:

acli auth:login

Follow prompts, setup API token etc

Note

You can make the bin directory if it doesn't exist with:

sh
mkdir ~/bin

Then add it to your path with by adding the following to the end of your ~/.zshrc file:

export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"

jq ​

jq is a tool for processing JSON inputs, applying the given filter to its JSON text inputs and producing the filter's results as JSON on standard output.

brew install jq

wget ​

GNU Wget is a free software package for retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS, the most widely used Internet protocols. You can use wget for running Drupal cron.

brew install wget

Drush ​

Global Drush ​

I find that installing drush version 8 globally is most convenient for my Drupal development as I frequently run drush commands in the terminal and really like the command completion afforded my Oh-my-Zsh. Drush runs slower than the equivalent ddev drush commands when installed this way. The host drush version doesn't matter very much since it is only used to find the proper drush version (most likely within /vendor/bin) and call it. Always install drush in each project using composer.

WARNING

You should be aware that you might get unpredictable results if you use differing versions of PHP on your local vs in the DDEV containers. E.g. if your local mac has PHP 7 and your DDEV is using PHP 8.1, you are likely to have unpredictable results when you issue some drush commands. Generally speaking I haven't seen things be too wacky, but you should be aware of this.

Don't use homebrew to install drush. Rather use the composer version:

composer global require drush/drush ^8

Then add Drush to your system path by placing the following in your ~/.zshrc ( or if using bash: ~/.bash_profile:

 export PATH="$HOME/.composer/vendor/bin:$PATH"

Note

Test any of these path changes by running source ~/.zshrc to reload the environment variables. You can also open a new iterm window if you prefer.

By setting up drush globally, you can navigate into a Drupal directory e.g. (~/Sites/apc) and issue drush commands e.g.

drush cr or drush cst etc.

As of November 2023 and v1.22.4+ to allow local drush on host you will need to install the following Ddev addon:

ddev get rfay/ddev-drushonhost

See https://github.com/rfay/ddev-drushonhost for documentation

You will need: export IS_DDEV_PROJECT=true

OR

In your project settings.php make sure the last part of the file looks like this (the order is critical):

php
if (file_exists($app_root . '/' . $site_path . '/settings.local.php')) {
  include $app_root . '/' . $site_path . '/settings.local.php';
}

// Automatically generated include for settings managed by ddev.
$ddev_settings = dirname(__FILE__) . '/settings.ddev.php';
if (getenv('IS_DDEV_PROJECT') == 'true' && is_readable($ddev_settings)) {
  require $ddev_settings;
}

Then add this to your settings.local.php: putenv("IS_DDEV_PROJECT=true");

Discussion: https://github.com/ddev/ddev/pull/5328

Restart the project with ddev restart.

Et voila! You can now issue command such as drush cr as if you had first ssh'ed into the container.

Troubleshooting Failing looks like this:

sh
$ drush cr

In Database.php line 378:

The specified database connection is not defined: default

Try a ddev restart

Drupal Check ​

Built on PHPStan, this static analysis tool will check for correctness (e.g. using a class that doesn't exist), deprecation errors, and more.

Why? While there are many static analysis tools out there, none of them run with the Drupal context in mind. This allows checking contrib modules for deprecation errors thrown by core.

To install drupal-check use:

composer global require mglaman/drupal-check

PhpStorm ​

I find this to be a powerful tool in my Drupal development.

Plugins ​

I like the following plugins:

  • GitHub Copilot
  • Rainbow CSV
  • PHP Annotations

Code Sniffing ​

You can set up PhpStorm to automatically look at your code and warn you of lines that do not meet Drupal Coding Standards.

Go to: Settings, Php, Quality Tools, PHP_CodeSniffer

Image of PHP Codesniffer settings

Use the following settings:

  • Configuration: System PHP

  • Check files with extensions: php,js,css,inc, module

  • Check Show warning as: Warning

  • Check Show sniff name

  • If you installed the coder module in your project (with composer require drupal/coder):

    • Check Installed standards path and set the path to: /Users/spolit/Sites/tea/vendor/drupal/coder/coder_sniffer Replace this with the path to your project. Later you will need to unchcheck the checkbox.. Really!
    • Be sure to set Coding standard to: Drupal. If this option isn't shown, follow the steps below, click ok and then open the settings dialog again. Hopefully it will show up then.
    • After checking installed standards path and providing the path above, it seems you must uncheck installed standards path for this to keep working. I know, weird, right? If you installed the coder module in your project: Under the ... button (on the right side of the screen next to Show ignored files), set the PHP_CodeSniffer path to: /Users/spolit/Sites/tea/vendor/bin/phpcs and the Path to phpcbf to /Users/spolit/Sites/tea/vendor/bin/phpcbf.

  • If you have phpcs installed globally (with composer global require drupal/coder):

    • Check Installed standards path and set it to: /Users/spolit/.composer/vendor/drupal/coder/coder_sniffer (Replace this with the path to your global composer directory.)
    • Be sure to set Coding standard to: Drupal. If this option isn't shown, follow the steps below, click ok and then open the settings dialog again. Hopefully it will show up then.
    • After checking installed standards path and providing the path above, it seems you must uncheck installed standards path for this to keep working. I know, weird, right?
    • If you have installed phpcs and coder globally, Under the ... button (on the right side of the screen next to Show ignored files), set the PHP_CodeSniffer path to: /Users/spolit/.composer/vendor/bin/phpcs and the Path to phpcbf to /Users/spolit/.composer/vendor/bin/phpcbf.

Note

(replace /Users/spolit with your own path to your username and tea with the name of the directory for your site.)

More at PhpStorm PHP_Codesniffer docs.

For troubleshooting, see this issue on Drupal.org especially if you see this annoying issue:

phpcs: ERROR: Referenced sniff "SlevomatCodingStandard.ControlStructures.RequireNullCoalesceOperator" does not exist  
Run "phpcs --help" for usage information

Error messages in PHPStorm

Super useful utilities ​

These are some useful mac utilities that make my life a little better.

Stats ​

Show cpu/disk/network i/o stats in toolbar

brew install stats

Run stats from applications folder, in settings, select start at login.

ngrok ​

ngrok lets you quickly share a site you are developing on with others. From the ddev docs: ddev share proxies the project via ngrok for sharing your project with others on your team or around the world. It’s built into DDEV and requires an ngrok.com account. Run ddev share and then give the resultant URL to your collaborator or use it on your mobile device. More at https://ddev.readthedocs.io/en/latest/users/topics/sharing/

brew install ngrok

rectangle ​

Rectangle is a window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift. More at https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle

brew install --cask rectangle

Resources ​