Setup: What I Use

The
Desk .

The editor, terminal and apps I use every day to build for Drupal, WordPress, Laravel, Nuxt and Astro.

Machine: MacBook Pro 16″ · M4 Max
Editor: VS Code · Dracula Pro
Terminal: Warp · Oh My Zsh
Last updated: October 2026

(01) Toolchain

Pick a tool to see exactly how it's configured.

Editor — how it's set up

VS Code

A quiet editor: no minimap, no highlight noise, generous line height, and Prettier formatting on save.

Dracula Pro, with Alucard for light mode
JetBrains Mono 16 with ligatures
Project Manager pointed at ~/Sites

settings.json

"workbench.preferredDarkColorTheme": "Dracula Pro",
"workbench.iconTheme": "material-icon-theme",

"editor.fontFamily": "'JetBrains Mono', Menlo, monospace",
"editor.fontSize": 16,
"editor.fontLigatures": true,
"editor.lineHeight": 2,
"editor.tabSize": 2,
"editor.minimap.enabled": false,
"editor.renderLineHighlight": "none",
"editor.stickyScroll.enabled": true,
"editor.formatOnSave": true,

"projectManager.git.baseFolders": ["~/Sites"]

Terminal — how it's set up

Warp

Warp with the Dracula theme, set slightly transparent, and a prompt built from just the chips I actually look at.

Dracula theme
55% window opacity
Prompt: directory, branch, dirty files, Node version

Warp's prompt in the McPasha.sh folder: chips for the directory, the main branch and Node v26.10.0, on the Dracula theme

Warp › Settings

theme       Dracula
font size   13
opacity     55%

prompt
  ├── remote login
  ├── working directory
  ├── git branch
  ├── git dirty files
  └── node version

Shell — how it's set up

Oh My Zsh

Oh My Zsh on the default robbyrussell theme, with autosuggestions, syntax highlighting and extra completions from Homebrew.

robbyrussell theme
Suggestions from history as I type
Commands colored as valid or not

.zshrc

ZSH_THEME="robbyrussell"

# installed with Homebrew
brew install zsh-autosuggestions \
             zsh-syntax-highlighting \
             zsh-completions

JavaScript — how it's set up

nvm + pnpm

nvm keeps the right Node version per project, and pnpm is the package manager on every JavaScript project.

Both installed with Homebrew
Node version per project
pnpm by default

~/Sites — zsh

brew install nvm pnpm

cd ~/Sites/[project]
nvm use
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Local sites — how it's set up

OrbStack

OrbStack runs Docker for every local site: one Compose file per project, up in a few seconds and easy on the battery.

Docker Compose per project
Projects live in ~/Sites

~/Sites — zsh

cd ~/Sites/[project]
docker compose up -d

PHP — how it's set up

PHP 8.1–8.5

Client sites span a few PHP versions, so they all live side by side through Homebrew. A small direnv helper puts the right one on the PATH as soon as I cd into a project.

8.1 via shivammathur/php
One line of .envrc per project
Intelephense set to 8.4

~/.config/direnv/direnvrc

use_php() {
  local version="$1"
  local prefix
  prefix="$(brew --prefix "php@${version}" 2>/dev/null)"

  if [[ -z "$prefix" || ! -x "$prefix/bin/php" ]]; then
    log_error "php@${version} is not installed (brew install php@${version})"
    return 1
  fi

  PATH_add "$prefix/bin"
  PATH_add "$prefix/sbin"
  export PHP_VERSION="$version"
}

# then in each project's .envrc
use php 8.5

Version control — how it's set up

Git + gh

Git with main as the default branch and a compact, colored log graph on git lg. The GitHub CLI handles PRs.

main by default
git lg for a readable history
gh for pull requests

.gitconfig

[init]
  defaultBranch = main
[core]
  pager = less -F -X
[alias]
  lg = log --color --graph --abbrev-commit \
    --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset'

Databases — how it's set up

TablePlus

One saved connection per environment, grouped by site, and a backup of each one before anything changes.

Grouped by client site
Local, stage and production side by side
Backup before every change

connections

[client-site]
├── local
├── stage
└── production

before any change:
  back up local
  back up stage
  back up production

AI — how it's set up

Claude Code

Claude Code sits in VS Code's bottom panel, beside the terminal, so the editor keeps the full width.

Claude Code in the panel
Editor keeps the full width

settings.json

"claudeCode.preferredLocation": "panel"

(02) Command line

The small tools I reach for dozens of times a day.

direnv: Per-project environment variables.
doggo: Readable DNS lookups for launches.
eza: A better ls, with git status.
gh: GitHub from the terminal.
wp-cli: WordPress from the command line.

(03) Apps

Everything else in the dock.

Every day

Build & ship

Team & notes

Off the clock

The
Rig .

Rig photo coming soon

What runs after the laptop closes — the build and the gear around it.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3070
Memory: 32 GB DDR4-3200
Last updated: October 2026

(01) Current build

Every part in the case today.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Motherboard: ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (Wi-Fi)
Memory: 4 × 8 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 CL16
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB + Seagate 2 TB HDD
Cooling: NZXT Kraken Z73
Power: Corsair CX750M
Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic

(02) Peripherals

Everything on the desk around it.

Monitor: ASUS TUF Gaming VG27V
Mouse: Logitech Pro X2
Keyboard: Mode Sonnet
Headset: SteelSeries Arctis Nova Elite