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 Intel chip running macOS 12+ (Monterey or later).

Please read carefully and do all the steps.

⚠️ Confirm which chip your computer has

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

You have Intel if…

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

🚫 If you see Chip or Apple listed, your computer is not using an Intel processor.

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.