2024 dev setup

So last week, an colleague asked me about my dev setup, he thought it looked cool compared to what she had. And boy, I was flattered. I mean, I don’t think my setup is that cool, but I’m glad that he liked it. So I decided to write this post to share my setup with you. I hope you find it interesting.

#Visual Studio Code

Let’s start with the most important tool for a developer: the code editor. I use Visual Studio Code as my code editor. Not really a surprise to anyone, to be honest. But what matters is how it looks, right? So here’s how my VS Code looks like:

#Layout

Not exactly feel like everyone else’s VS Code, right? In this particular setup, I set the activity bar to the top instead of the left side using

{
  // ...
  "workbench.activityBar.location": "top"
}

Also on my work machine, which is running Windows, I set the title bar to be hidden. I also hide the breadcrumbs and the minimap because I find them distracting.

#Theme

• For color theme, I always opt for a minimal look, not too many colors, but also not too bland. Recently, I have found a theme named Subminimal, which is exactly what I’m looking for. But itself and its fork, Subminimal Next, haven’t been updated for a while, so I decided to fork it and make my own version, which I named Subessence. It’s available on the VS Code Marketplace, so you can install it if you want.
• For icon theme, I use JetBrains Icon Theme, the “2023+” variant. It fits quite well with my Subessence theme.

#Font

I used to be a loyal user of Roboto Mono font, but ever since I found Geist Mono font, I have been using it for all my setup eventhough it still does not support Vietnamese characters yet. I just love the look of it.

#Terminal

#Shells

Having to work with two different operating systems means I have to configure and work with two different shells. On my work machine, I set PowerShell as the default shell. I also have Git Bash installed, but I rarely use it. On my personal machine, I use fish shell as the default shell.

#Prompt

Though I use different shells on different machines, I want to have the same experience with prompt for both. So I use Starship as my prompt. It’s fast, customizable, and cross-platform. I have been using it for a while now, and I’m quite happy with it.

Starship tends to use a default preset that need a nerdfont to work properly. But since I want to stick with the original Geist Mono, I have to customize it a bit. Here’s my Starship config:

# ~/.config/starship.toml
[battery]
full_symbol = "• "
charging_symbol = "⇡ "
discharging_symbol = "⇣ "
unknown_symbol = "❓ "
empty_symbol = "❗ "
 
[erlang]
symbol = "ⓔ "
 
[git_branch]
symbol = "⎇ "
 
[nodejs]
symbol = "[⬢](bold green) "
 
[pulumi]
symbol = "🧊 "
 
[typst]
symbol = "t "

#Conclusion

So that’s it, my dev setup in 2024. I hope you find it interesting. If you have any feedback, please let me know. I would love to hear from you.