Getting your tools right is an important step in becoming a developer. This guide will walk you through every step you need to take to be ready to write code at Momentum.

There are multiple options for setting up your computer. This guide is opinionated about those options. Our guidelines are:

• When possible, use what you already have instead of installing something new.
• Use the most common development tool unless it is deficient.
• Less setup is better.

These instructions assume that you are setting up a Mac that has an Apple Silicon (M1 or M2) chip running macOS 12+ (Monterey or later).

Please read carefully and do all the steps.

⚠️ Check to confirm which chip your computer uses

Go to the Apple Menu in the upper left corner of your screen.  > About This Mac

You have Apple Silicon if…

✅  You see Chip listed below the name of your computer model (it may not be exactly the same chip as you see in the screenshot below, but it should still be listed as Chip).

<aside> ⚠️ If you see Processor or Intel listed, your computer is not using an Apple Silicon chip, so you should not proceed with these instructions. Please use these instructions for setting up an Intel-based Mac instead.

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Update your operating system

Before we start installing the necessary tools, you should update your operating system. You can do this by going to the Apple Menu > About This Mac > Software Update.

If you are unsure whether your computer can run the latest operating system (Monterey), check this list from Apple Support.