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Development Environment Setup

· 3 min read
Max Kaido
Max Kaido
Architect

Opinionated guide on how to setup the development environment on a laptop.

This guide covers the complete development environment setup used in our projects.

Window Manager (i3)​

Our development environment uses i3 window manager with several enhancements:

Core Components​

  • i3-gaps: Tiling window manager with gaps support
  • i3blocks: Status bar for i3
  • i3lock-fancy: Beautiful screen locker
  • polybar: Advanced status bar
  • rofi: Application launcher and window switcher
  • picom: Compositor for transparency effects
  • dunst: Notification daemon
  • nitrogen: Wallpaper manager

Key Features​

  • Dynamic workspaces
  • Gaps between windows
  • Smart borders
  • Scratchpad support
  • Multi-monitor support
  • Custom keybindings
  • Floating window rules
  • Automatic startup applications

Common Keybindings​

  • $mod+Enter: Open terminal
  • $mod+d: Application launcher (rofi)
  • $mod+Tab: Window switcher
  • $mod+Shift+q: Close window
  • $mod+[1-0]: Switch workspace
  • $mod+Shift+[1-0]: Move window to workspace
  • $mod+f: Fullscreen
  • $mod+v/h: Split vertically/horizontally
  • $mod+r: Resize mode
  • $mod+Shift+space: Toggle floating
  • Print: Screenshot menu

Terminal Environment​

Shell (Zsh)​

Our setup uses Zsh with various enhancements:

Core Features​

  • Modular configuration
  • Advanced completion system
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Command suggestions
  • History management
  • Directory jumping
  • Git integration

Key Plugins​

  • zsh-syntax-highlighting: Syntax highlighting for commands
  • zsh-autosuggestions: Fish-like command suggestions
  • starship: Cross-shell prompt
  • fzf: Fuzzy finder
  • autojump: Smart directory jumping
  • direnv: Directory-based environments
  • mcfly: Smart command history search
  • atuin: Shell history sync
  • zoxide: Smarter cd command

Terminal Emulator​

  • Alacritty: GPU-accelerated terminal emulator
  • tmux: Terminal multiplexer

Development Tools​

Version Control​

  • git: Distributed version control
  • Advanced git aliases and functions
  • Integrated git completions

Package Managers​

  • nvm: Node.js version manager
  • pyenv: Python version manager
  • cargo: Rust package manager
  • pip: Python package manager

Text Processing​

  • ripgrep: Fast grep alternative
  • fd-find: Fast find alternative
  • bat: Cat clone with syntax highlighting
  • exa: Modern ls alternative
  • jq: JSON processor

System Monitoring​

  • htop: Interactive process viewer
  • neofetch: System information tool
  • sysstat: System performance tools

Productivity Tools​

Screenshots and Media​

  • maim: Screenshot utility
  • slop: Selection operator
  • xclip: Clipboard manager
  • playerctl: Media player controller
  • pavucontrol: Audio control
  • brightnessctl: Brightness control

System Utilities​

  • arandr: XRandR GUI
  • redshift: Blue light filter
  • unclutter: Hide idle mouse cursor
  • xautolock: Automatic screen locker

Configuration Management​

All configurations are managed through Ansible playbooks:

Playbook Structure​

ansible/
├── playbooks/
│   └── laptop_setup.yml    # Main laptop setup playbook
└── files/
    ├── i3/                 # i3 configurations
    ├── polybar/            # Polybar configurations
    ├── dunst/             # Notification configurations
    ├── picom/             # Compositor configurations
    ├── rofi/              # Application launcher configurations
    └── zsh/               # Shell configurations

Running the Setup​

# Install everything on a laptop
ansible-playbook -i inventories/production/inventory.ini playbooks/laptop_setup.yml --limit laptops

Customization​

Adding New Tools​

  1. Add package to laptop_setup.yml
  2. Create configuration in ansible/files/
  3. Add configuration copy task to playbook
  4. Update documentation

Modifying Configurations​

  1. Edit files in ansible/files/
  2. Run playbook with --tags config
  3. Test changes
  4. Commit and push

Troubleshooting​

Common Issues​

i3 Issues​

  • Black screen: Check picom service
  • No status bar: Check polybar service
  • No notifications: Check dunst service

Shell Issues​

  • Slow startup: Check plugin loading order
  • Completion issues: Rebuild completion cache
  • History issues: Check history file permissions

Debugging Tools​

  • i3 debug log: ~/.i3/i3log
  • Polybar log: polybar -l debug
  • Zsh startup profiling: zsh -i -c exit

Best Practices​

Window Management​

  • Use workspaces for different contexts
  • Utilize scratchpad for temporary windows
  • Set up automatic window rules

Shell Usage​

  • Use fuzzy finding (fzf) for navigation
  • Leverage directory jumping (autojump/zoxide)
  • Utilize command history effectively

Development Workflow​

  • Use tmux for session management
  • Set up project-specific direnv
  • Configure editor integration

Security Considerations​

System Security​

  • Automatic screen locking
  • Secure clipboard handling
  • Protected configuration files

Development Security​

  • SSH key management
  • GPG key integration
  • Secure environment variables

Performance Optimization​

Shell Performance​

  • Lazy loading of heavy tools
  • Efficient completion system
  • Minimal startup scripts

System Performance​

  • Compositor optimization
  • Efficient process management
  • Resource monitoring

Updates and Maintenance​

Regular Updates​

# Update system packages
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

# Update development tools
rustup update
pyenv update
nvm install --lts

# Update configurations
ansible-playbook laptop_setup.yml --tags config

Backup Strategy​

  • Configuration backup
  • Shell history backup
  • Custom scripts backup