Setup MacBook for DevOps Work

Project structure

macos/
├── ansible.cfg          # Inventory path, deprecation_warnings
├── inventory.yml        # Explicit localhost (avoids Ansible warnings)
├── daily-driver.yml     # Main playbook
├── requirements.yml     # Galaxy collections
├── README.md
├── vars/
│   └── main.yml         # Configuration variables
├── handlers/
│   └── main.yml         # Yabai/skhd start and restart
└── tasks/               # Task files included by the playbook
    ├── preflight.yml
    ├── directories.yml
    ├── cli-apps.yml
    └── ...

Install homebrew

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

Install Ansible

brew install ansible

Install Ansible Galaxy collections

The playbook uses the community.general collection (homebrew, homebrew_cask, homebrew_tap) and ansible.posix (synchronize for dotfiles):

ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml

Run the playbook

From the macos/ directory (so ansible.cfg and inventory.yml are found):

ansible-playbook daily-driver.yml -K

Pre-flight checks (Homebrew installed, macOS only) run automatically. If Homebrew is missing, the playbook fails with instructions to install it.

Run only specific tasks (tags)

To install only AWS tools:

ansible-playbook daily-driver.yml -K --tags aws

Other useful tags: cli-apps, kubernetes, git, editors, dotfiles, etc. Pre-flight checks use tag preflight (and run by default); to skip them use --skip-tags preflight.

Test CLI apps only:

ansible-playbook daily-driver.yml -K --tags cli-apps

Verify: which yabai skhd fzf zoxide bat jq yq rg.

Configuration variables

Variables are defined in vars/main.yml (dotfiles repo, directories, NvChad, Powerlevel10k, fonts, custom go tools). To override without editing the file:

# Different dotfiles repository
ansible-playbook daily-driver.yml -K --tags dotfiles -e "dotfiles_repo=https://github.com/your-user/dotfiles.git"

# Different directories in $HOME (YAML list)
ansible-playbook daily-driver.yml -K --tags directories -e '{"directories_to_create": ["personal", "work", "hooks", "projects"]}'

Dotfiles

Dotfiles tasks clone the repository defined in vars/main.yml, create ~/.config if missing, and copy/sync files in an idempotent way. Git config files are copied to $HOME if present in the repo: .gitconfig-personal, .gitconfig-work, .gitconfig. To use a different repository, set the dotfiles_repo variable (see above).

Ghostty terminal

The playbook installs Ghostty (tip), the development build: brew install --cask ghostty@tip. Config is synced from your dotfiles: if dotfiles/.config/ghostty/ exists (e.g. a config file), it is copied to ~/.config/ghostty/. Run with --tags ghostty to install Ghostty and sync config only (dotfiles should be present).

Test fonts

To install only the MesloLGS fonts (Powerlevel10k):

ansible-playbook daily-driver.yml -K --tags fonts

Verify: ls ~/Library/Fonts/MesloLGS* or open Font Book and search for "MesloLGS".

Test AWS

After running the tasks with tag aws, verify the installations:

aws --version
eksctl version
aws-iam-authenticator version
granted --version

Services (Yabai, skhd)

Yabai and skhd are started via handlers at the end of the play. They are notified when: laptop tools are installed (cli-apps), dotfiles .config_macos are synced (config reload), or when you run with tag services. Handlers are defined in handlers/main.yml. Start handlers are idempotent: they only start a service if it is not already running (using pgrep).

Notes

Open neovim and run:

:MasonInstallAll