Set up your Mac, once

Everything the seven weeks need, installed in one sitting so you are never stopped mid-lesson hunting for a download. None of this is urgent to understand; it is plumbing. Work top to bottom, and if you are new to the terminal, keep Terminal 101 open in another tab. You will not need all of these on day one, but installing them now beats installing them while annoyed later.

Tip

You can do most of this course without living in the terminal. Several of these tools have friendly windows and buttons, and they are marked as such. Use them without apology.

1. Node.js

The runtime everything else sits on. Go to nodejs.org (opens in a new tab), click the big LTS button, open the `.pkg`, and click through. LTS is the boring, dependable release, which is exactly what you want holding up your tools. Take the latest LTS rather than an older one you might have used before.

Confirm Node and npm are installed, and see their versions.

Terminal

$ node -v$ npm -v

2. Python

Not the star of this course, which is JavaScript through and through, but worth having. Plenty of QA tooling, small automation scripts, and data wrangling assume a working Python, and you will meet it sooner or later. Get the latest version from python.org/downloads (opens in a new tab), open the installer, and click through.

Confirm Python and pip are installed, and see their versions.

Terminal

$ python3 --version$ pip3 --version

3. An IDE, with an agent built in

You need somewhere to write and read code. The recommendation for this course is Google Antigravity (opens in a new tab), a free, agentic IDE launched in late 2025 with AI coding agents built into the editor rather than bolted on. Since a chunk of the modern QA role is working well alongside AI, learning in a tool that treats an agent as a first-class citizen is a head start, not a gimmick. Download it for macOS from antigravity.google/download (opens in a new tab).

Tip

Prefer something more conventional, or already know one? Any editor works, and Visual Studio Code is the widely-used, agent-optional default that every tutorial assumes. Pick one and move on; you can switch later without losing anything.

4. A GitHub account

GitHub is where your work lives and where employers will look. Create a free account at github.com (opens in a new tab). Pick a username you would be comfortable putting on a CV, because you will be putting it on a CV.

5. Git, and GitHub Desktop

Git is the tool that tracks versions of your code. git-scm.com (opens in a new tab) is its home, but you may not need to install it separately: it ships with Apple's developer command line tools, which macOS offers to install the first time you run `git`. If Git is new, or you are unsure how it differs from GitHub, the Git 101 page explains it plainly.

If you do want the terminal version, set your identity once so commits are yours:

One-time setup. Use your own name and the email tied to your GitHub account.

Terminal

$ git config --global user.name "Your Name"$ git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

6. Google Chrome

You will test against a browser, and Cypress drives one. Chrome is the safe default because it is what most test setups assume. Get it from google.com/chrome (opens in a new tab) if it is not already on the machine.

7. Postman

For testing APIs in week three. Download it from postman.com/downloads (opens in a new tab), a normal Mac app you drag to Applications. There is also a web version if you would rather not install anything. No terminal required either way.

8. Cypress

The automation framework at the heart of the course. You do not install this globally or now; it goes into each project as a dependency, which week four walks through. It is listed here only so you know it is coming and why the project folders exist. The command, when you get there, is:

For reference. You run this inside a project in week four, not yet.

Terminal

$ npm install cypress --save-dev

The docs live at docs.cypress.io (opens in a new tab) and are unusually good.

9. A Vercel account

For putting the site online in week seven. Sign up at vercel.com (opens in a new tab) using your GitHub account, so the two are already connected when you come to deploy. Nothing to install; it lives in the browser.

Keep your tools and libraries current

A habit worth forming now: prefer the latest stable versions, and check what you actually have rather than assuming. Pinning an old version because a tutorial from three years ago used it is how projects quietly rot. The commands below tell you where you stand.

See the versions you have installed.

Terminal

$ node -v$ npm -v$ python3 --version

Inside a project with a `package.json`, npm can tell you which libraries have moved on without you, and install the newest one when you decide to upgrade:

List outdated project libraries, then upgrade one to its latest version.

Terminal

$ npm outdated$ npm install cypress@latest --save-dev

On the Python side, pip does the same:

List Python packages that have newer versions available.

Terminal

$ pip3 list --outdated

Why

Where a version genuinely matters, install the latest and let the tooling report its own number, rather than hard-coding one that will age badly. That is the same instinct as choosing Node's LTS and, in week six, writing `node-version: lts/*` into the pipeline instead of a fixed number. Current by default, pinned only when you have a reason.

When you want more, later

Two terminal tools worth knowing about eventually, not now: nvm (opens in a new tab) for switching Node versions per project, and Homebrew (opens in a new tab) for installing command line tools. Both are covered, calmly, on the Terminal 101 page. Ignore them until something actually needs them.

The five-minute check

Before you start week one, confirm the essentials are in place. You do not need every tool yet, but these unblock everything else.

Node. `node -v` prints a version number in Terminal.
An IDE. Antigravity, or your editor of choice, opens and you can create a file.
GitHub. You can sign in, and GitHub Desktop is installed or you are comfortable with `git` in the terminal.

Tip

Stuck on any step? The AI help page shows how to get an assistant to walk you through an install error without pretending you already know the answer.