Set Up a New MacBook for Development in 5 Minutes
Go from factory-fresh to fully configured with a single command. No more spending half a day reinstalling everything.
We Have All Been There
You unbox a new MacBook. It is fast, the screen is beautiful, and you cannot wait to start working. Then reality hits: you need to install Xcode Command Line Tools, Homebrew, your shell config, git settings, SSH keys, VS Code with all your extensions, Node.js, Python, Docker, database tools, cloud CLIs, and dozens of other things you have accumulated over years.
Two hours later you are still at it. You Google "how to export iTerm2 settings" for the third time. You realize you forgot to save your global npm config. Your shell aliases are gone because you never committed your .zshrc to that dotfiles repo you set up once and never maintained.
There has to be a better way. There is.
The Old Way: A Checklist That Never Ends
Here is what a typical manual MacBook setup looks like:
The worst part is not the time. It is what you forget. That one CLI tool you use twice a month. The git alias you rely on in every PR review. The SSH config that routes traffic through your company's bastion host. You will not remember it is missing until you need it and it is not there.
The ConfigSync Way: One Command
With ConfigSync, you generate a one-time setup URL from your dashboard or CLI. On your new machine, you run a single command:
That single command does everything:
- Installs ConfigSync and its dependencies
- Authenticates with your encrypted cloud vault
- Pulls your latest snapshot
- Restores all tracked configs, packages, and secrets
- Runs your bootstrap script for anything that needs custom setup
Five minutes later, your new MacBook is identical to your old one.
What ConfigSync Restores
ConfigSync tracks your environment through 24 built-in modules. Each module knows how to capture and restore a specific category of configuration:
Homebrew Integration
One of the biggest time sinks in a new machine setup is reinstalling packages. ConfigSync's homebrew module tracks your installed formulae, casks, and taps as a Brewfile. When you pull on a new machine, it runs brew bundle to install everything.
You never have to maintain this file manually. ConfigSync updates it every time you push, capturing any packages you have installed since your last sync.
Bootstrap Scripts for Everything Else
Some things cannot be captured as files: macOS system preferences, fonts, or tools installed via custom scripts. ConfigSync supports a bootstrap.sh script that runs after all modules are restored:
The Comparison: Manual vs ConfigSync
| Task | Manual | ConfigSync |
|---|---|---|
| Install CLI tools & packages | 20-30 min | Automatic (brew bundle) |
| Restore shell config | 10-15 min | Automatic |
| Set up SSH keys | 5-10 min | Automatic (encrypted) |
| Install & configure editor | 15-20 min | Automatic |
| Clone project repos | 10-15 min | Automatic |
| Restore .env files | 20-30 min (find them first) | Automatic (encrypted) |
| System preferences | 10-15 min | Bootstrap script |
| Total time | 2+ hours | ~5 minutes |
The time savings compound when you factor in the things you forget. With manual setup, you will be discovering missing configs for weeks. With ConfigSync, everything is there from minute one because it was captured automatically from your working machine.
Getting Started
If you already have a configured machine, getting started takes two minutes:
The next time you set up a new machine — or need to recover from a catastrophic failure — your entire development environment is one command away.
Ready to try ConfigSync?
Sync your entire dev environment across machines in minutes. Free forever for up to 3 devices.