New Students · Toolkit · Install

Set up fast.

You never have to use a terminal — every tool has a normal download button on its own page. But a package manager installs apps from one command and keeps them updated later. Set it up once, then paste the blocks you want.

On a lab or managed computer some installs may be blocked — use each tool's web version, or ask IT. If a command ever errors, search for the app by name (winget search zotero) or just grab it from its website.

Step 1 — one-time setup

Get a package manager.

Windows — winget

Already built into Windows 11. Open Windows Terminal and check:

winget --version

No version number? Install App Installer from the Microsoft Store. Later, winget upgrade --all updates everything at once.

Mac — Homebrew

Open Terminal and paste this one line:

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

Follow the prompts, then reopen Terminal. Later, brew upgrade updates everything.

Step 2 — the essentials

A starter set for any major.

Windows

winget install -e --id Mozilla.Firefox
winget install -e --id Bitwarden.Bitwarden
winget install -e --id TheDocumentFoundation.LibreOffice
winget install -e --id Zotero.Zotero
winget install -e --id Anki.Anki
winget install -e --id Obsidian.Obsidian
winget install -e --id Mozilla.Thunderbird
winget install -e --id Syncthing.Syncthing

Mac

brew install --cask firefox
brew install --cask bitwarden
brew install --cask libreoffice
brew install --cask zotero
brew install --cask anki
brew install --cask obsidian
brew install --cask thunderbird
brew install syncthing

Step 3 — add by need

Only what your courses use.

Private / local AI

winget install -e --id Ollama.Ollama
winget install -e --id Jan.Jan

brew install ollama
brew install --cask jan

Media & creation

winget install -e --id OBSProject.OBSStudio
winget install -e --id Audacity.Audacity
winget install -e --id GIMP.GIMP
winget install -e --id Inkscape.Inkscape
winget install -e --id JGraph.Draw

brew install --cask obs
brew install --cask audacity
brew install --cask gimp
brew install --cask inkscape
brew install --cask drawio

Coding & data

winget install -e --id Microsoft.VisualStudioCode
winget install -e --id Git.Git
winget install -e --id Python.Python.3.13

brew install --cask visual-studio-code
brew install git
brew install python@3.13

Want the reasoning behind each pick? Head back to the full toolkit →