MacTerm Installer

v1.0 · MacTerm

A simple macOS bootstrapper for zsh and developer tooling.

Quick install

Run the installer from your terminal (recommended), or download and inspect before running.

curl -fsSL https://installers.scstudios.tech/macterm/install.sh | zsh

If you prefer to inspect before running, open https://installers.scstudios.tech/macterm/install.sh in your browser or code editor, then run it with zsh.

What the installer does:

  • Prepend a remote ~/.zshrc block from https://installers.scstudios.tech/.zshrc (only if it's not already present).
  • Clone Homebrew into ~/.brew (shallow clone).
  • Update your ~/.zshrc PATH so Homebrew is available.
  • Source ~/.zshrc to apply changes.
  • Run brew update.
  • Install developer packages: tree and wget.
  • Install OpenCode via their installer script.
  • Install Ollama via its install script.
  • Enable Safari Developer Tools (preferences toggles).
  • All steps are run with a friendly spinner & progress UI in the installer script.

Detailed steps (what to expect)

The installer runs each task in sequence. Some steps (like Homebrew or Ollama installs) may request sudo or show their own prompts — follow those prompts if they appear.
  1. Prepend .zshrc — the installer fetches a small zsh configuration block and prepends it to your ~/.zshrc unless that block is already present. This is how MacTerm injects prompt/theme helper code and convenience aliases.
  2. Homebrew — a shallow clone into ~/.brew so you have local Homebrew without changing system files.
  3. PATH — the script appends export PATH="$HOME/.brew/bin:$HOME/.brew/sbin:$PATH" to ~/.zshrc if missing.
  4. Package installs — installs tree and wget via Homebrew.
  5. OpenCode & Ollama — runs upstream install scripts from their official URLs. These installers are maintained by their respective projects and run as separate processes.
  6. Safari DevTools — toggles developer menu and WebKit developer extras via macOS defaults writes.

Customisation

You can change the banner, icons and behaviour easily.

Change the ASCII banner

Open the installer script and replace the ASCII block in the top area (it's labelled YOUR MULTI-LINE ASCII ART GOES HERE).

Change the root icon

# In the theme / script:
PROMPT_ICON=""
ROOT_ICON="⚙"
# or pick another glyph (gear, lock, warning) and replace ROOT_ICON value

Add/remove steps

If you want to skip installing Ollama or OpenCode, remove or comment their curl ... | sh lines in the script. Always review remote installer scripts before executing them.

Troubleshooting

  • Permission errors: If the installer stops asking for permission, re-run using sudo only if necessary — most steps should not require global root.
  • Homebrew failed to clone: make sure git is installed (Xcode Command Line Tools provide it). You can install them with sudo xcode-select --install.
  • Script fails in the middle: Inspect the generated logs printed in the terminal. You can run individual commands manually to isolate the issue.
  • Prompt doesn't update: Open a new Terminal window or run source ~/.zshrc.

Security notes

MacTerm downloads and runs scripts from the web (OpenCode, Ollama, and the remote .zshrc). This is convenient but comes with risk — you should inspect any remote script before executing it.

  • Recommended: curl -fsSL https://... -o file.sh && less file.sh, inspect, then sh file.sh.
  • Check the remote .zshrc contents before accepting it into your dotfiles.

Uninstall

To undo the main changes done by MacTerm:

# Remove Homebrew clone
rm -rf "$HOME/.brew"

# Remove PATH line from ~/.zshrc (runs a safe sed)
sed -i.bak '/\\.brew\\/bin:\\.\\/brew\\/sbin/d' ~/.zshrc

# (Optional) remove the remote .zshrc block if present.
# You'll need to edit ~/.zshrc and remove the block that was prepended (search for "scstudios").

FAQ

Q: Do I need to run this as root?
A: No. Run as your user. This script is specifically designed to be run without sudo privileges, as it was developed on my school laptop (so mdm prevents root for me).

Q: What terminals are supported?
A: Terminal.app and iTerm2 are supported. The script and prompt use plain Unicode glyphs that render in macOS system fonts.

Changelog

v1.0 — initial release: zsh config prepend, Homebrew clone, PATH fix, installs (tree, wget), OpenCode, Ollama, Safari dev tools toggles, spinner UI.

Contact & Source

the source code of this is available at installers.scstudios.tech/macterm/install.sh, and the .zshrc block is at installers.scstudios.tech/macterm/.zshrc

Report issues & suggestions via email at macterm@scstudios.tech

MacTerm Installer