16 ms·

Yabai – A tiling window manager for macOS

302 points by CathalMullan 3y ago

asadm 3y ago
Is there an auto-tiling window manager that just enforces tiling without using keyboard shortcuts? Like if I drag a window with mouse, it snaps it in a tile. I think I saw this in popOS. Does yabai support this?
dabeeeenster 3y ago
https://www.hammerspoon.org/ https://www.hammerspoon.org/ is amazing. Not quite the same as Yabai but I cant live without it!
- twp 3y ago
  You can configure Hammerspoon so a hot key combination puts a window in a defined section of the screen. For example, I use Ctrl+Alt+H to put the current window in the left half of the screen, Ctrl+Alt+L for the right half, Ctrl+Alt+Enter for full screen, etc. This makes arranging your windows very fast. Full config: https://github.com/twpayne/dotfiles/blob/21d0edcebaeebf0d90e8cb44abec6c3f66745ced/home/dot_hammerspoon/init.lua#L79-L121 https://github.com/twpayne/dotfiles/blob/21d0edcebaeebf0d90e...
  - lkuty 3y ago
    I use Magnet for that. But could probably put those key combinations into my hammerspoon config.
- dbalatero 3y ago
  I have an alpha guide I wrote on scripting macOS with Hammerspoon if anyone's interested! There's probably some editing issues and I've been meaning to move it to the actual domain/clean it up to release, but it's got good info in it now: https://learn-hammerspoon-0x8080.netlify.app/ https://learn-hammerspoon-0x8080.netlify.app/ I have a chapter on window management as part of the guide.
- ckolkey 3y ago
  Integrating hammerspoon as the keybinding manager for yabai is a perfect match. You can treat yabai as an api for window management, and script some pretty cool things, like sending the current window to a new space, and either keeping focus or not, swapping windows, all kinds of fun stuff.
- joshstrange 3y ago
  Phoenix [0] is another option in this space if you want to write JS/TS instead of Lua. I just commented about it here [1]. [0] https://github.com/kasper/phoenix https://github.com/kasper/phoenix [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38487077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38487077
xwowsersx 3y ago
Funny to see this at the top of HN after just having uninstalled Yabai. I used Yabai for about 6 weeks. I was so thrilled about having a proper tiling window manager for Mac. I invested a lot of time setting up skhd and fine-tuning my configuration for the most intuitive hotkeys. The problem ultimately, however, is that Yabai just doesn't work well enough. It'll regularly just lose track of windows altogether, which requires restarting Yabai. This and other bugs happened frequently enough that it outweighed the benefits of Yabai. I'd be more than willing to try another tiling window manager on Mac if there's one out there that truly works. Related, I started checking out Stage Manager and it's pretty bad in my experience - obviously it's the opposite of a keyboard driven TWM, but I'm willing to try anything that helps me maximize the limited screen space I have. I'm all ears if anyone has had better experiences with other tools on Mac.
- cedws 3y ago
  Nothing out there quite works like i3 because they all politely ask the actual window manager to set the position/size of windows. i3 controls the position and size of windows.
- lowmagnet 3y ago
  I just use Grid, it already has shortcuts (I don't like that Yabai doesn't) and it's pretty easy to get used to.
- daggersandscars 3y ago
  This may not be what you’re looking for, but I use Mizage’s Divvy on Mac & Windows and configure Gnome to match on Linux. It can be keyboard or mouse driven — I exclusively use custom keyboard shortcuts.
  - ebiester 3y ago
    I used to use Divvy (and have a paid copy), but I've moved to Rectangle which also does everything I need and is open source. It doesn't have the same "drag" mouse capabilities that Divvy does, but I don't end up using that too often.
  - 3y ago
galoisscobi 3y ago
Coming from i3wm on Linux, I cannot use macOS without yabai. So glad that this exists!
- barelysapient 3y ago
  Completely agree. It has its faults; but paired with skhd [1] it makes the mac usable for me. 1. https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd
Nevin1901 3y ago
In my personal experience, tiling window managers only work when you have a lot of screen real estate. I tried using yabai on a 13 inch m2 air, but I ended up going back to my normal workflow of just alt tabbing between windows. Most apps don’t let you see enough content when they are tiled (because of gui elements such as sidebar etc). I do love the “focus on hover” feature of yabai though. I wish macOS had that natively.
- SamBam 3y ago
  I have the same problem. I would love a tiling manager that allowed you to "full screen" the app into the tile of your choice. By that, I mean the app would snap to the edges and lose all the chrome that is normal present. So your browser window, for instance, would lose the borders and url bar until you moused to the top of the tile.
  - Nevin1901 3y ago
    Not a tiling window manager, but the arc browser does this very well.
- shortrounddev2 3y ago
  Do you not use a monitor at a desk?
  - Nevin1901 3y ago
    No, I work on an m2 MacBook Air with a trackpad and the built in keyboard
    - shortrounddev2 3y ago
      Are you mobile, usually?
- jwells89 3y ago
  On a 27” monitor running at 2560x1440 1x/2x tiling is better than on a small screen, but it still winds up awkwardly sizing windows from time to time. In most cases I find it easier to just let windows overlap, which results in the same information visibility but lets windows retain proper sizing. I could see tiling working if I lived in minimal-chrome apps like Terminal and Sublime, but I don’t, and so floating with occasional tiling works better for me.
bsnnkv 3y ago
Yabai, and chunkwm before it, and kwm before that, are probably the most important pieces of software that fundamentally changed how I interact with computers. I moved over from macOS to Windows and WSL full time back in 2020 and eventually ended up writing my own tiling window manager for Windows, which I never would have done had I not had the experience of using yabai on macOS. I don't think it's a exaggeration to say that my experience with this one piece of software completely changed my trajectory as a software developer for the better.
jeffwiederkehr 3y ago
I love yabai and use it every day. It’s the only Mac OS is tolerable for me vs Linux with a WM. I am sad though that you lose a good chunk of functionality without disabling SIP, which isn’t allowed for work devices
tuananh 3y ago
it's either yabai or amethyst. some may find amethyst more user friendly
very_good_man 3y ago
ShiftIt still working basically fine for me after a decade: https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt
ilikejam 3y ago
All I want (for christmas) is an 'Always on top' opton for windows on macos. I'd pay real actual money, as I suspect would many others.
- CharlesW 3y ago
  https://github.com/jslegendre/AfloatX https://github.com/jslegendre/AfloatX
- harlanlewis 3y ago
  Piqued my interest so I just went looking, this relatively recent reddit thread lists a few relevant options: https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/q1pgos/keep_a_window_on_top_m1_mac/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/q1pgos/keep_a_window_o... I hope one works out!
  - ilikejam 3y ago
    BetterTouchTool works, but it's not pretty - rounded corners end up with blue backgrounds and windows shrink slightly when defocussed. No joy with the rest.
rubyissimo 3y ago
everytime I get a new computer it takes me 5 seconds to remember that I can't live without sizeup. But I can never remember the name of the app because it's just ctr-opt-cmd-left in my head.
joeyagreco 3y ago
Interesting. I've been using Rectangle for MacOS and it's worked fine so far for me. Will keep this in mind if I ever want to switch.
poidos 3y ago
I like rectangle [0]. It fits my needs well enough without requiring disabling SIP. I especially like the “repeated key presses resize a window on the same side” feature, so I can get cycle the size of the window on the right side of the screen from 1/2->1/3->2/3 easily. I miss i3 sometimes and this ain’t an identical replacement but it gets the job done! Turns out I don’t move my windows all that often anyways. [0]: https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/
- aaronkjones 3y ago
  This sounds similar to BetterSnapTool, which I have been using happily for several years.
- hans-dampf 3y ago
  +1 for rectangle. was using spectacle before.
- teaearlgraycold 3y ago
  I also use it and the free version is plenty for my needs
  - Erratic6576 3y ago
    Rectangle is free and open source software, there are no strings attached that I know of
    - Bagged2347 3y ago
      There is pro version you can buy if you want to support the dev and get a few extra features. https://rectangleapp.com/pro https://rectangleapp.com/pro Rectangle makes much more sense to me on Mac than a tiling window manager like yabai. I tried to use it but it just felt kludgy and I went back to Rectangle. Suits my needs just fine.
- Icathian 3y ago
  On the occasions I'm using MacOS, this is what I reach for too. It works quite well, I agree.
j45 3y ago
Reading the issues with Yabai losing windows and needing a restart.. Rectangle is another oss option: https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle I bought Moom long before rectangle came out, both are pretty decent.
misiti3780 3y ago
magnet is where it's at.
OsrsNeedsf2P 3y ago
I spent more than a year bending over backwards with tools like Amethyst, but ultimately it was too much of a hassle and I ended up going back to my Thinkpad. The ecosystem on MacOS just costs more and never _quite_ works for customizability
zacte 3y ago
Personally I've been so hooked to Raycast it's taken over my tiling manager needs too now.
- CharlesW 3y ago
  I love Raycast for this too. For new and current Raycast users who haven't seen this capability, you have to enable the Window Management extension. https://www.raycast.com/extensions/window-management https://www.raycast.com/extensions/window-management
  - swah 3y ago
    Related, I was avoiding hotkeys in Raycast for a longtime but they help a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBgVaQscIWg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBgVaQscIWg
vidarh 3y ago
I use Yabai on my work laptop and I'm not very impressed. Maybe I've just been spoiled by my Linux setup, which has had years of tuning, but it feels like a poor imitation of a tiling wm. I get that OS X makes it harder to fully control the experience the way you can under X, but still..
thomasfl 3y ago
Good job by Åsmund Vikane and the rest of the team.
joshring 3y ago
I'll have to try this out. Currently use Amethyst + Hammerspoon scripts for my window tools. Like others in this thread, Amethyst occasionally loses track of all windows and requires a restart (esp after monitor (dis)connection). Amethyst does a decent job at the layouts I care about. I primarily use AwesomeWM in linux on my personal computers which has the amazing super key drag/resizing behavior for windows. I use Hammerspoon to replicate this behavior[0][1] and it works quite well. Eventually I want to replace Amethyst and just do everything in Hammerspoon as it seems quite plausible to do window layouting with it. Will give Yabai a try as well in the meantime. [0]: https://github.com/RingOfStorms/setup/blob/master/home/config/hammerspoon/AwesomeWM.lua https://github.com/RingOfStorms/setup/blob/master/home/confi... [1]: https://share.joshuabell.link/ezgif-1-ef0d3e0728.gif https://share.joshuabell.link/ezgif-1-ef0d3e0728.gif
montebicyclelo 3y ago
I've been using Yabai + skhd for years, and found the benefits far outweigh the issues. 99% of the time it's fine, and for the 1% I just disable it temporarily. Killer feature for me (apart from windows automatically being resized to fit, which is great), is ctrl+i to switch to screen i, and ctrl+shift+i to move the current window to screen i. I tend to have 2 windows max per screen, and use Yabai to flit between screens / flit windows to different screens. (I used i3 on Linux prior to setting up Yabai, and configured shortcuts to be similar to i3.)
gkfasdfasdf 3y ago
Is there any app that has the ability to 'lower' the focus of a window on mac? E.g. on Ubuntu I used to be able to 'lower' a window's focus by middle-clicking on the title bar, i.e. hide the window behind other open windows (without minimizing it). I really miss that feature on mac.
datameta 3y ago
Yabai is an interesting japanese word with several distinct composite meanings. https://www.alexrockinjapanese.com/what-does-yabai-mean-in-japanese-a-detailed-guide/ https://www.alexrockinjapanese.com/what-does-yabai-mean-in-j... Here it is being used in one context at a beatbox battle between then World Beatbox champion Alexinho and the super innovative Soso. https://youtu.be/OjbYK4rujB0?si=SIn-uNHlh2KexsXc https://youtu.be/OjbYK4rujB0?si=SIn-uNHlh2KexsXc Yabai shout is at 3m23s
- TheRealPomax 3y ago
  It also seems wholly unrelated to anything about this app though, which is a shame, because as someone who knows Japanese, I'm not likely to install something called "yabai" in the same vein that I'm not going to install something called "whoa" or "ohshit". Hopefully that puts me in the minority.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - saagarjha 3y ago
    What is it with Mac app developers and bad Japanese names, I wonder?
  - fomine3 3y ago
    As a Japanese, I just feel that "ah a foreigner adopt a weird word for a product again" and install without worrying.
steve1977 3y ago
Just for the sake of correctness, it’s not a window manager but a window management utility which extends the macOS window manager.
jknz 3y ago
Why wouldn't apple allow to remove all animations when switching desktops, without disabling SIP? https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/434555/can-you-completely-disable-desktop-switching-animation-on-macos https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/434555/can-you-com... Native keyboard shortcuts are there for all to use to switch desktops, but the fading in/out animations that last around 1s completely prevent fast desktop switches as is so useful in i3/sway.
- shortrounddev2 3y ago
  When I looked this up on an apple support forum, the replies were all basically: "Why would you want to disable this feature? Apple designers know better than you, go back to Windows"
  - nick_ 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - superkuh 3y ago
    They're not wrong. When you buy an Apple product and try to customize it you're not doing what it's made for. It's like trying to use a golf club to hit a baseball.
- babypuncher 3y ago
  this is one of my biggest annoyances about macOS. I actually want to keep the vast majority of animations, the only one I want gone is the desktop transition, because it feels so jarring. Either make the transition instant, or bring back the old behavior where the dock and desktop remain static during the slide animation.
- nbobko 3y ago
  You might want to check out AeroSpace :) https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace AeroSpace reimplements workspaces by emulating them. https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/blob/main/docs/guide.md#emulation-of-virtual-workspaces https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/blob/main/docs/guid... The result is that workspace switching is instant, and disabling SIP is not required Note: I'm the author of AeroSpace
dustingetz 3y ago
Has anyone tried this with complex layouts (e.g. 4 monitor tie fighter)? My main issue is window state is lost due to race conditions in the display identification logic, though I haven't tried dared a Sonoma upgrade yet which contains compositor upgrades
lsuresh 3y ago
As a long time XMonad user who had to switch to a mac at a new job, I first used chunkwm and then yabai. Yabai's requirement to disable SIP was a problem, and so I finally switched to Amethyst a year ago and have been quite happy with it. It gives me pretty much everything I missed from XMonad.
dansteeves68 3y ago
I guess that I just rely on MacOS layout, however random and not great, and use Moom with some hotkeys to handle the exceptions where I want 2 or 3 windows in a specific state. I did try Yabai and Amethyst for a bit, but the overhead was a bit too much to handle. What am I missing?
athorax 3y ago
The associated hotkey daemon used by yabai from the same author is equally as useful https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd
shortrounddev2 3y ago
Everyone in my company uses a company provided macbook, but I use my own Windows Desktop. When presenting stuff to my boss, I'll use windows shortcuts for tiling windows (Win + Arrow keys) and my boss said that's the one feature he thinks is missing from macOS that Windows is really good at
- imbnwa 3y ago
  Another bit is that Explorer's Save File modal does autocomplete for file names, which has the side effect of immediately alerting you that a file name is already in use before you submit, but is also massively helpful when you're naming consecutive downloads with a naming pattern. That latter case would be supercharged if Finder supported this on macOS as the global text edit bindings are more ergonomic for me than those shared between Windows and Linux.
jsf01 3y ago
For anyone looking to dip their toes into Yabai and tiling windows, I recommend the following setup. Enable full tiling only on a couple workspaces. Desktop 1 can remain in floating layout, just as though you’d never installed Yabai in the first place. Then tile Desktop 2 and as many others as you want. The one other tip I have is to have an easy hotkey for toggling full screen mode. Toggling an app into full screen mode doesn’t lose its tiled position or create a new desktop the way native Mac full screen mode does, which is especially helpful when working on a smaller monitor.
- yangikan 3y ago
  I usually have too many windows open (upwards of 20). And yabai tries to tile all of them. Is there any way to say "have a maximum of 3 windows horizontally and but for the left most tile, split vertically into two if needed"?
oaththrowaway 3y ago
I have used Yabai + skhd previously solely to allow me to "cycle" my virtual desktops. Disabling SIP to make this happen was always a fun challenge on my work Macbook. Is there an alternative at this point in time?
neilv 3y ago
For those who want to support open platforms, there are also tiling window managers for Linux and *BSD. I find XMonad is most effective for me. I sometimes also use i3wm (and there's also Sway, for Wayland). There are a few others.
rcarmo 3y ago
This still requires disabling SIP, I see. That's just not an option for me. (I have done quite a bit of research and testing on these, and keep using a mixture of Moom and Phoenix - here's my full list: https://taoofmac.com/space/apps/window_managers https://taoofmac.com/space/apps/window_managers )
- d4l3k 3y ago
  It seems to work just fine with SIP enabled. I just switched and it seems to be a lot better than Amethyst. Amethyst had a lot of issues with focus follows mouse and dropdown dialogs that seems to just work with Yabai Seems like SIP is only needed for system dialogs etc so has the same limitations as Amethyst
- ckolkey 3y ago
  Only for a limited subset of features. All the window management works with SIP.
sgt 3y ago
I've always wondered why people enjoy tiling window managers. Personally I don't really grasp it. If I work with a lot of papers and documents on a desk, I don't "tile" them, I keep them sort of organically in front of me. And whatever app I need to use should ideally be straight in front of me. But that's just me, maybe I haven't had a proper tiling experience yet and thus I haven't seen the light.
- voisin 3y ago
  If you need to work on 2+ apps simultaneously it makes sense, just like if you were copying text from one document to another on your desktop you would put them next to each other.
  - deafpolygon 3y ago
    macOS has the ability to put windows side-by-side.
  - sgt 3y ago
    I find your argument strange. Any windowing system can put two windows next to each other.
- certifiedloud 3y ago
  I switched to i3 years ago for the workspace management. I can spread different workspaces across my monitors with easy commands and full control. Every OS and linux distro I've tried has inferior workspace management compared to i3. Tiling is secondary for me.
- beautron 3y ago
  For me, it's less that I want to "tile" windows, than that I want whichever one I'm using to be fullscreen and distraction-free. I don't like visual clutter. If I'm using a program, I want it to be the only thing on my monitor. But sometimes I want to keep more than one program open, or even be switching between them. Tiling window managers let me give each program its own full screen, and quickly switch between them with a keyboard command. I love it. And then there's the exception that proves the rule: Sometimes I do want to have two programs on the same screen, side-by-side. An example would be Vim in the left 2/3rds of my screen (where I am programming), and then a browser with some documentation on the right 1/3rd. Obviously tiling managers also support this case, and I prefer them here too vs. mousing around windows into place (which still tends to leave behind windowing chrome and other visual clutter). That reminds me of another reason: I prefer keyboard to mouse. I've learned good form and technique for keyboard use, which let me use it frequently and for long periods while avoiding injury. But I just can't figure out a way to use a mouse or trackpad that isn't harmful, were it repeated enough (a vertical mouse goes a long way though). Tiling managers let me do everything using keyboard (unless the "tiled" programs themselves require mouse), whereas traditional windowing managers pretty much require mouse. I find it both more ergonomic and much faster using the keyboard.
caeruleus 3y ago
I have been using Yabai for two years now and am very happy. For me, it's stable and you can script almost anything by using event reactors. Yabai also makes working with a 15" display much more productive imho. For example, I can effortlessly and nearly instantaneously switch between browser and coding spaces by pressing hyper + w / hyper + c (I'm using Karabiner Elements to map capslock to hyper). Since it's a common misconception, you do NOT need to disable SIP if you don't care about some features (noticeably, disabling those nasty space switch animations). For an overview of features that require SIP to be partially disabled: https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai/issues/1863 https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai/issues/1863 Also in general, the wiki on GitHub is very well-written.
certifiedloud 3y ago
If you come from i3 you'll probably find Aerospace[1] to be more what you're after. [1]https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace
- idle_zealot 3y ago
  Thank you for recommending this. Time for round three of attempting a tiling setup on my mac (after Amethyst and Yabai disappointed).
  - certifiedloud 3y ago
    Same path I took. I'm liking Aerospace so far. I just snagged the "i3-like" config from their docs and it feels like home. Not quite as snappy as i3, but very workable.
  - hanslovsky 3y ago
    I have tried amethyst and yabai. I stuck with yabai but I'll gladly try another option. will definitely have a look at aerospace!
- strus 3y ago
  This is great, thank you!
rewgs 3y ago
I've tried Yabai multiple times but always bounced off. It's just a little too buggy, a little too opinionated. I've never found a window management system I've actually truly liked. On Linux, I've tried em all, and though in theory I love tiling window managers, but for me automatic tiling with the option to go floating on a per-window basis just ultimately ends up annoying me -- I prefer the reverse. On Windows, PowerToys/FancyZones is as close to my preferred method as possible, but then I'm, you know, using Windows. This past week I've come up with what is I think my perfect, dream solution: - Caps Lock is tapped for Escape, held for Cmd+Ctrl+Opt (i.e. "Hyper" or whatever). I'm a Neovim user, so Caps Lock has been mapped to Escape forever already. - Tapping both Shift keys simultaneously engages Caps Lock for the rare times in which I actually need it. - Window snapping is handled entirely with Hammerspoon. I have commands for absolute positions (e.g. half, one third, two thirds, quarters), but also can define grids and call them with key commands, and then use another command to snap all windows or just the focused window to the nearest grid box. It's all defined with code, and thus lives with my dotfiles, and is just a `brew install` and symlink away from totally setting up on a brand new machine. Also, I set my tmux prefix to Control+p, which I map to Command in my iTerm profile. So, opening up a new tmux "window" (i.e. tab) is Command+t. Navigating to the next "window"/tab is Control+Tab. And so on. Basically it just feels like a browser. This way, whether I switch terminals, or am ssh-ing into a machine, as long as I have my tmux config, those key commands are set. It's an amazing setup, can't recommend it enough.
gdcbe 3y ago
Tbh if there was an app that would allow me to move between spaces on all my monitors at once, instead of each monitor to be done one by one, then that would be sufficient for my needs.
- edanm 3y ago
  There's a setting for that. I don't remember it but something like separate spaces for displays.
trenchgun 3y ago
Just use Hammerspoon
verdverm 3y ago
Are there recommended 3rd party enhancing apps for cmd-tab? I'm looking for something that shows all windows for an app, per app, and maybe doesn't switch the app to finder when you cancel the cmd-tab
- Tyr42 3y ago
  Witch? It's been a while since I used it.
- ferriswil 3y ago
  I use AltTab [0] for this. I find using a mac without it horrendous. [0]: https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/
  - verdverm 3y ago
    oh wow, you can have multiple "alt-tabs" and set what they show thanks for the link!
nestock 3y ago
I hope there will be support for current Sonoma versions soon
gigatexal 3y ago
I would love to do this and maybe move back to MacOS but ... this seems like a lot of faffing about for something that was not designed to be done and something that is constantly at risk of being nerfed by some future update or security thing such as Apple disabling the SIP disablement ability or something along those lines. But in Linux the choose-your-own-adventure that is the pluggable desktop model is that something like sway or i3 or other tiling window manager or a plugin for Gnome for example is much more in line with how the system was meant to be used and is very much not trying to shoehorn something in if any of that makes sense. Of course the dev(s) that put this together and it's other projects are hackers in the truest form and their efforts are to be applauded. I'll continue to show them praise but keep using i3/sway on Linux for the time being. (funny enough tiling window managers was why I left MacOS for Linux.)
SJetKaran 3y ago
I've been using Yabai for 2+ years now, super happy that it exists!
chatmasta 3y ago
I'm still using Slate, with a .dmg that was built nearly a decade ago and by some miracle continues to work. I pray that each new OS update won't be the one to break it, because I really don't want to migrate the config for ten years of muscle memory to something new...
- datagram 3y ago
  I didn't realize Slate was that old! I've only been using it for about... 8 years... Jokes aside, I love Slate's programmability. I configured mine to behave like WinSplit Revolution, since that's what I was used to.
user3939382 3y ago
I like to keep the right 10% or so visible so I can see (and manipulate) the first column of file icons on my desktop behind my otherwise maximized/tiled apps. I haven’t been able to find a window manager that can handle this customization.
- hobofan 3y ago
  Amethyst[0] has options for screen padding. [0]: https://ianyh.com/amethyst/ https://ianyh.com/amethyst/
  - user3939382 3y ago
    Thanks! Are you a fan of hobos?
- handsclean 3y ago
  You may have already considered this, but dragging desired folders into the last section of the dock accomplishes some of the same things.
pizzalife 3y ago
Personally I only see the benefit of tiling for terminals. And in macOS, iTerm2 performs tiling perfectly. I just swipe to my iTerm workspace with tiled terminals and tab between other apps that are fullscreen.
beckhamc 3y ago
I wish I had the ability to toggle PiP for any open window, while I am in full screen mode. For instance, I have both Chrome and Emacs side by side full screen and I can use a hotkey to drop down my iTerm window over both of them. (Basically like a Quake terminal but that feature is specific to iTerm).
creakingstairs 3y ago
I cannot use my mac without Yabai because the forced transition delay between spaces is extremely annoying for me.
replete 3y ago
Window management becomes a whole other thing with really large monitors. I recently got a UHD 43" and to make the most of it I designed a custom grid but struggled to find an optimal solution. BetterSnapTool with custom snap zones works but is a bit clunky. Lasoo has the exact imagined solution I wanted (keystroke > grid representation appears at mouse pointer > drag window size) but doesn't yet support custom grids. I've requested the feature but not exactly hopeful. I could see that yabai could be a solution but haven't committed to a proper setup. Anyone else using a single large monitor? FancyZones on Windows (PowerToys feature) looks pretty good, but I got sick of autoupdate BS random driver breaks (common linux thing) and went full mac. My custom grid for 4K 43" snap zones in case anyone's interested: - diagram: https://imgur.com/a/axTw1tI https://imgur.com/a/axTw1tI - 3840x2160 1:1 grid: https://imgur.com/a/pUSoafG https://imgur.com/a/pUSoafG
- ryansouza 3y ago
  I still use Moom with keyboard shortcuts
wdb 3y ago
I am pretty happy with Swish (https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/ https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/) Use can make gestures to snap/tile windows. Pretty cool when you have a trackpad or Magic Trackpad worth the $12
lazerlapin 3y ago
I have used yabai for a long time now and never had any big issue. It's a set up once and forget solution and honestly I'm surprises I don't see more comment like that. One thing for sure: you got to give it a fair shot to really appreciate what it does to your user experience.
ianyh 3y ago
Hey, Amethyst dev here. Love seeing this on the front page. I’ve seen a few comments mention it here and there, but I’m swooping in with my semi-regular reminder that you don’t need to disable SIP to use yabai. It’s a great bsp window manager out of the box, with some optional—and admittedly very cool—extra features that require maneuvering around SIP. (Also, minor apology to Amethyst users because I haven’t managed to get much time to work on it recently.)
vietvu 3y ago
Is it working now? I used for about half a year until MacOS Sonoma when it breaks and I had enough. MacOS is just not built for customization, it's frustrating.
joshstrange 3y ago
My personal favorite app/software in this space is Phoenix [0]. It's more of a "build your own tiling/window manager" but I find it enjoyable to work with. I have my config written in TS and then I just run `tsc` to compile to JS which it uses. I have one hotkey I hit to put all my windows where I want them (aware of which setup I'm plugged into, home, laptop-only, remote office) on various monitors and then I have hotkeys to arrange/resize/move my windows around. The best part is if there is something I want to do I can just add it (add a modifier or a new hotkey combo). After having that freedom it's hard to consider using anything off-the-shelf even though many of them are quite good from what I can tell. [0] https://github.com/kasper/phoenix https://github.com/kasper/phoenix
pomatius 3y ago
Lol just use Linux already

302 points by CathalMullan 3y ago

Is there an auto-tiling window manager that just enforces tiling without using keyboard shortcuts? Like if I drag a window with mouse, it snaps it in a tile. I think I saw this in popOS. Does yabai support this?

dabeeeenster 3y ago

https://www.hammerspoon.org/ https://www.hammerspoon.org/ is amazing. Not quite the same as Yabai but I cant live without it!

twp 3y ago
You can configure Hammerspoon so a hot key combination puts a window in a defined section of the screen. For example, I use Ctrl+Alt+H to put the current window in the left half of the screen, Ctrl+Alt+L for the right half, Ctrl+Alt+Enter for full screen, etc. This makes arranging your windows very fast. Full config: https://github.com/twpayne/dotfiles/blob/21d0edcebaeebf0d90e8cb44abec6c3f66745ced/home/dot_hammerspoon/init.lua#L79-L121 https://github.com/twpayne/dotfiles/blob/21d0edcebaeebf0d90e...
- lkuty 3y ago
  I use Magnet for that. But could probably put those key combinations into my hammerspoon config.
dbalatero 3y ago
I have an alpha guide I wrote on scripting macOS with Hammerspoon if anyone's interested! There's probably some editing issues and I've been meaning to move it to the actual domain/clean it up to release, but it's got good info in it now: https://learn-hammerspoon-0x8080.netlify.app/ https://learn-hammerspoon-0x8080.netlify.app/ I have a chapter on window management as part of the guide.
ckolkey 3y ago
Integrating hammerspoon as the keybinding manager for yabai is a perfect match. You can treat yabai as an api for window management, and script some pretty cool things, like sending the current window to a new space, and either keeping focus or not, swapping windows, all kinds of fun stuff.
joshstrange 3y ago
Phoenix [0] is another option in this space if you want to write JS/TS instead of Lua. I just commented about it here [1]. [0] https://github.com/kasper/phoenix https://github.com/kasper/phoenix [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38487077 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38487077

xwowsersx 3y ago

Funny to see this at the top of HN after just having uninstalled Yabai. I used Yabai for about 6 weeks. I was so thrilled about having a proper tiling window manager for Mac. I invested a lot of time setting up skhd and fine-tuning my configuration for the most intuitive hotkeys. The problem ultimately, however, is that Yabai just doesn't work well enough. It'll regularly just lose track of windows altogether, which requires restarting Yabai. This and other bugs happened frequently enough that it outweighed the benefits of Yabai. I'd be more than willing to try another tiling window manager on Mac if there's one out there that truly works. Related, I started checking out Stage Manager and it's pretty bad in my experience - obviously it's the opposite of a keyboard driven TWM, but I'm willing to try anything that helps me maximize the limited screen space I have. I'm all ears if anyone has had better experiences with other tools on Mac.

cedws 3y ago
Nothing out there quite works like i3 because they all politely ask the actual window manager to set the position/size of windows. i3 controls the position and size of windows.
lowmagnet 3y ago
I just use Grid, it already has shortcuts (I don't like that Yabai doesn't) and it's pretty easy to get used to.
daggersandscars 3y ago
This may not be what you’re looking for, but I use Mizage’s Divvy on Mac & Windows and configure Gnome to match on Linux. It can be keyboard or mouse driven — I exclusively use custom keyboard shortcuts.
- ebiester 3y ago
  I used to use Divvy (and have a paid copy), but I've moved to Rectangle which also does everything I need and is open source. It doesn't have the same "drag" mouse capabilities that Divvy does, but I don't end up using that too often.
- 3y ago

galoisscobi 3y ago

Coming from i3wm on Linux, I cannot use macOS without yabai. So glad that this exists!

barelysapient 3y ago
Completely agree. It has its faults; but paired with skhd [1] it makes the mac usable for me. 1. https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd

Nevin1901 3y ago

In my personal experience, tiling window managers only work when you have a lot of screen real estate. I tried using yabai on a 13 inch m2 air, but I ended up going back to my normal workflow of just alt tabbing between windows. Most apps don’t let you see enough content when they are tiled (because of gui elements such as sidebar etc). I do love the “focus on hover” feature of yabai though. I wish macOS had that natively.

SamBam 3y ago
I have the same problem. I would love a tiling manager that allowed you to "full screen" the app into the tile of your choice. By that, I mean the app would snap to the edges and lose all the chrome that is normal present. So your browser window, for instance, would lose the borders and url bar until you moused to the top of the tile.
- Nevin1901 3y ago
  Not a tiling window manager, but the arc browser does this very well.
shortrounddev2 3y ago
Do you not use a monitor at a desk?
- Nevin1901 3y ago
  No, I work on an m2 MacBook Air with a trackpad and the built in keyboard
  - shortrounddev2 3y ago
    Are you mobile, usually?
jwells89 3y ago
On a 27” monitor running at 2560x1440 1x/2x tiling is better than on a small screen, but it still winds up awkwardly sizing windows from time to time. In most cases I find it easier to just let windows overlap, which results in the same information visibility but lets windows retain proper sizing. I could see tiling working if I lived in minimal-chrome apps like Terminal and Sublime, but I don’t, and so floating with occasional tiling works better for me.

bsnnkv 3y ago

Yabai, and chunkwm before it, and kwm before that, are probably the most important pieces of software that fundamentally changed how I interact with computers. I moved over from macOS to Windows and WSL full time back in 2020 and eventually ended up writing my own tiling window manager for Windows, which I never would have done had I not had the experience of using yabai on macOS. I don't think it's a exaggeration to say that my experience with this one piece of software completely changed my trajectory as a software developer for the better.

jeffwiederkehr 3y ago

I love yabai and use it every day. It’s the only Mac OS is tolerable for me vs Linux with a WM. I am sad though that you lose a good chunk of functionality without disabling SIP, which isn’t allowed for work devices

tuananh 3y ago

it's either yabai or amethyst. some may find amethyst more user friendly

very_good_man 3y ago

ShiftIt still working basically fine for me after a decade: https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt

ilikejam 3y ago

All I want (for christmas) is an 'Always on top' opton for windows on macos. I'd pay real actual money, as I suspect would many others.

CharlesW 3y ago
https://github.com/jslegendre/AfloatX https://github.com/jslegendre/AfloatX
harlanlewis 3y ago
Piqued my interest so I just went looking, this relatively recent reddit thread lists a few relevant options: https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/q1pgos/keep_a_window_on_top_m1_mac/ https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/q1pgos/keep_a_window_o... I hope one works out!
- ilikejam 3y ago
  BetterTouchTool works, but it's not pretty - rounded corners end up with blue backgrounds and windows shrink slightly when defocussed. No joy with the rest.

rubyissimo 3y ago

everytime I get a new computer it takes me 5 seconds to remember that I can't live without sizeup. But I can never remember the name of the app because it's just ctr-opt-cmd-left in my head.

joeyagreco 3y ago

Interesting. I've been using Rectangle for MacOS and it's worked fine so far for me. Will keep this in mind if I ever want to switch.

poidos 3y ago

I like rectangle [0]. It fits my needs well enough without requiring disabling SIP. I especially like the “repeated key presses resize a window on the same side” feature, so I can get cycle the size of the window on the right side of the screen from 1/2->1/3->2/3 easily. I miss i3 sometimes and this ain’t an identical replacement but it gets the job done! Turns out I don’t move my windows all that often anyways. [0]: https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/

aaronkjones 3y ago
This sounds similar to BetterSnapTool, which I have been using happily for several years.
hans-dampf 3y ago
+1 for rectangle. was using spectacle before.
teaearlgraycold 3y ago
I also use it and the free version is plenty for my needs
- Erratic6576 3y ago
  Rectangle is free and open source software, there are no strings attached that I know of
  - Bagged2347 3y ago
    There is pro version you can buy if you want to support the dev and get a few extra features. https://rectangleapp.com/pro https://rectangleapp.com/pro Rectangle makes much more sense to me on Mac than a tiling window manager like yabai. I tried to use it but it just felt kludgy and I went back to Rectangle. Suits my needs just fine.
Icathian 3y ago
On the occasions I'm using MacOS, this is what I reach for too. It works quite well, I agree.

j45 3y ago

Reading the issues with Yabai losing windows and needing a restart.. Rectangle is another oss option: https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle https://github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle I bought Moom long before rectangle came out, both are pretty decent.

misiti3780 3y ago

magnet is where it's at.

OsrsNeedsf2P 3y ago

I spent more than a year bending over backwards with tools like Amethyst, but ultimately it was too much of a hassle and I ended up going back to my Thinkpad. The ecosystem on MacOS just costs more and never _quite_ works for customizability

zacte 3y ago

Personally I've been so hooked to Raycast it's taken over my tiling manager needs too now.

CharlesW 3y ago
I love Raycast for this too. For new and current Raycast users who haven't seen this capability, you have to enable the Window Management extension. https://www.raycast.com/extensions/window-management https://www.raycast.com/extensions/window-management
- swah 3y ago
  Related, I was avoiding hotkeys in Raycast for a longtime but they help a lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBgVaQscIWg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBgVaQscIWg

vidarh 3y ago

I use Yabai on my work laptop and I'm not very impressed. Maybe I've just been spoiled by my Linux setup, which has had years of tuning, but it feels like a poor imitation of a tiling wm. I get that OS X makes it harder to fully control the experience the way you can under X, but still..

thomasfl 3y ago

Good job by Åsmund Vikane and the rest of the team.

joshring 3y ago

I'll have to try this out. Currently use Amethyst + Hammerspoon scripts for my window tools. Like others in this thread, Amethyst occasionally loses track of all windows and requires a restart (esp after monitor (dis)connection). Amethyst does a decent job at the layouts I care about. I primarily use AwesomeWM in linux on my personal computers which has the amazing super key drag/resizing behavior for windows. I use Hammerspoon to replicate this behavior[0][1] and it works quite well. Eventually I want to replace Amethyst and just do everything in Hammerspoon as it seems quite plausible to do window layouting with it. Will give Yabai a try as well in the meantime. [0]: https://github.com/RingOfStorms/setup/blob/master/home/config/hammerspoon/AwesomeWM.lua https://github.com/RingOfStorms/setup/blob/master/home/confi... [1]: https://share.joshuabell.link/ezgif-1-ef0d3e0728.gif https://share.joshuabell.link/ezgif-1-ef0d3e0728.gif

montebicyclelo 3y ago

I've been using Yabai + skhd for years, and found the benefits far outweigh the issues. 99% of the time it's fine, and for the 1% I just disable it temporarily. Killer feature for me (apart from windows automatically being resized to fit, which is great), is ctrl+i to switch to screen i, and ctrl+shift+i to move the current window to screen i. I tend to have 2 windows max per screen, and use Yabai to flit between screens / flit windows to different screens. (I used i3 on Linux prior to setting up Yabai, and configured shortcuts to be similar to i3.)

gkfasdfasdf 3y ago

Is there any app that has the ability to 'lower' the focus of a window on mac? E.g. on Ubuntu I used to be able to 'lower' a window's focus by middle-clicking on the title bar, i.e. hide the window behind other open windows (without minimizing it). I really miss that feature on mac.

datameta 3y ago

Yabai is an interesting japanese word with several distinct composite meanings. https://www.alexrockinjapanese.com/what-does-yabai-mean-in-japanese-a-detailed-guide/ https://www.alexrockinjapanese.com/what-does-yabai-mean-in-j... Here it is being used in one context at a beatbox battle between then World Beatbox champion Alexinho and the super innovative Soso. https://youtu.be/OjbYK4rujB0?si=SIn-uNHlh2KexsXc https://youtu.be/OjbYK4rujB0?si=SIn-uNHlh2KexsXc Yabai shout is at 3m23s

TheRealPomax 3y ago
It also seems wholly unrelated to anything about this app though, which is a shame, because as someone who knows Japanese, I'm not likely to install something called "yabai" in the same vein that I'm not going to install something called "whoa" or "ohshit". Hopefully that puts me in the minority.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- saagarjha 3y ago
  What is it with Mac app developers and bad Japanese names, I wonder?
- fomine3 3y ago
  As a Japanese, I just feel that "ah a foreigner adopt a weird word for a product again" and install without worrying.

steve1977 3y ago

Just for the sake of correctness, it’s not a window manager but a window management utility which extends the macOS window manager.

jknz 3y ago

Why wouldn't apple allow to remove all animations when switching desktops, without disabling SIP? https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/434555/can-you-completely-disable-desktop-switching-animation-on-macos https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/434555/can-you-com... Native keyboard shortcuts are there for all to use to switch desktops, but the fading in/out animations that last around 1s completely prevent fast desktop switches as is so useful in i3/sway.

shortrounddev2 3y ago
When I looked this up on an apple support forum, the replies were all basically: "Why would you want to disable this feature? Apple designers know better than you, go back to Windows"
- nick_ 3y ago
  [flagged]
- superkuh 3y ago
  They're not wrong. When you buy an Apple product and try to customize it you're not doing what it's made for. It's like trying to use a golf club to hit a baseball.
babypuncher 3y ago
this is one of my biggest annoyances about macOS. I actually want to keep the vast majority of animations, the only one I want gone is the desktop transition, because it feels so jarring. Either make the transition instant, or bring back the old behavior where the dock and desktop remain static during the slide animation.
nbobko 3y ago
You might want to check out AeroSpace :) https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace AeroSpace reimplements workspaces by emulating them. https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/blob/main/docs/guide.md#emulation-of-virtual-workspaces https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/blob/main/docs/guid... The result is that workspace switching is instant, and disabling SIP is not required Note: I'm the author of AeroSpace

dustingetz 3y ago

Has anyone tried this with complex layouts (e.g. 4 monitor tie fighter)? My main issue is window state is lost due to race conditions in the display identification logic, though I haven't tried dared a Sonoma upgrade yet which contains compositor upgrades

lsuresh 3y ago

As a long time XMonad user who had to switch to a mac at a new job, I first used chunkwm and then yabai. Yabai's requirement to disable SIP was a problem, and so I finally switched to Amethyst a year ago and have been quite happy with it. It gives me pretty much everything I missed from XMonad.

dansteeves68 3y ago

I guess that I just rely on MacOS layout, however random and not great, and use Moom with some hotkeys to handle the exceptions where I want 2 or 3 windows in a specific state. I did try Yabai and Amethyst for a bit, but the overhead was a bit too much to handle. What am I missing?

athorax 3y ago

The associated hotkey daemon used by yabai from the same author is equally as useful https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd

shortrounddev2 3y ago

Everyone in my company uses a company provided macbook, but I use my own Windows Desktop. When presenting stuff to my boss, I'll use windows shortcuts for tiling windows (Win + Arrow keys) and my boss said that's the one feature he thinks is missing from macOS that Windows is really good at

imbnwa 3y ago
Another bit is that Explorer's Save File modal does autocomplete for file names, which has the side effect of immediately alerting you that a file name is already in use before you submit, but is also massively helpful when you're naming consecutive downloads with a naming pattern. That latter case would be supercharged if Finder supported this on macOS as the global text edit bindings are more ergonomic for me than those shared between Windows and Linux.

jsf01 3y ago

For anyone looking to dip their toes into Yabai and tiling windows, I recommend the following setup. Enable full tiling only on a couple workspaces. Desktop 1 can remain in floating layout, just as though you’d never installed Yabai in the first place. Then tile Desktop 2 and as many others as you want. The one other tip I have is to have an easy hotkey for toggling full screen mode. Toggling an app into full screen mode doesn’t lose its tiled position or create a new desktop the way native Mac full screen mode does, which is especially helpful when working on a smaller monitor.

yangikan 3y ago
I usually have too many windows open (upwards of 20). And yabai tries to tile all of them. Is there any way to say "have a maximum of 3 windows horizontally and but for the left most tile, split vertically into two if needed"?

oaththrowaway 3y ago

I have used Yabai + skhd previously solely to allow me to "cycle" my virtual desktops. Disabling SIP to make this happen was always a fun challenge on my work Macbook. Is there an alternative at this point in time?

neilv 3y ago

For those who want to support open platforms, there are also tiling window managers for Linux and *BSD. I find XMonad is most effective for me. I sometimes also use i3wm (and there's also Sway, for Wayland). There are a few others.

rcarmo 3y ago

This still requires disabling SIP, I see. That's just not an option for me. (I have done quite a bit of research and testing on these, and keep using a mixture of Moom and Phoenix - here's my full list: https://taoofmac.com/space/apps/window_managers https://taoofmac.com/space/apps/window_managers )

d4l3k 3y ago
It seems to work just fine with SIP enabled. I just switched and it seems to be a lot better than Amethyst. Amethyst had a lot of issues with focus follows mouse and dropdown dialogs that seems to just work with Yabai Seems like SIP is only needed for system dialogs etc so has the same limitations as Amethyst
ckolkey 3y ago
Only for a limited subset of features. All the window management works with SIP.

sgt 3y ago

I've always wondered why people enjoy tiling window managers. Personally I don't really grasp it. If I work with a lot of papers and documents on a desk, I don't "tile" them, I keep them sort of organically in front of me. And whatever app I need to use should ideally be straight in front of me. But that's just me, maybe I haven't had a proper tiling experience yet and thus I haven't seen the light.

voisin 3y ago
If you need to work on 2+ apps simultaneously it makes sense, just like if you were copying text from one document to another on your desktop you would put them next to each other.
- deafpolygon 3y ago
  macOS has the ability to put windows side-by-side.
- sgt 3y ago
  I find your argument strange. Any windowing system can put two windows next to each other.
certifiedloud 3y ago
I switched to i3 years ago for the workspace management. I can spread different workspaces across my monitors with easy commands and full control. Every OS and linux distro I've tried has inferior workspace management compared to i3. Tiling is secondary for me.
beautron 3y ago
For me, it's less that I want to "tile" windows, than that I want whichever one I'm using to be fullscreen and distraction-free. I don't like visual clutter. If I'm using a program, I want it to be the only thing on my monitor. But sometimes I want to keep more than one program open, or even be switching between them. Tiling window managers let me give each program its own full screen, and quickly switch between them with a keyboard command. I love it. And then there's the exception that proves the rule: Sometimes I do want to have two programs on the same screen, side-by-side. An example would be Vim in the left 2/3rds of my screen (where I am programming), and then a browser with some documentation on the right 1/3rd. Obviously tiling managers also support this case, and I prefer them here too vs. mousing around windows into place (which still tends to leave behind windowing chrome and other visual clutter). That reminds me of another reason: I prefer keyboard to mouse. I've learned good form and technique for keyboard use, which let me use it frequently and for long periods while avoiding injury. But I just can't figure out a way to use a mouse or trackpad that isn't harmful, were it repeated enough (a vertical mouse goes a long way though). Tiling managers let me do everything using keyboard (unless the "tiled" programs themselves require mouse), whereas traditional windowing managers pretty much require mouse. I find it both more ergonomic and much faster using the keyboard.

caeruleus 3y ago

I have been using Yabai for two years now and am very happy. For me, it's stable and you can script almost anything by using event reactors. Yabai also makes working with a 15" display much more productive imho. For example, I can effortlessly and nearly instantaneously switch between browser and coding spaces by pressing hyper + w / hyper + c (I'm using Karabiner Elements to map capslock to hyper). Since it's a common misconception, you do NOT need to disable SIP if you don't care about some features (noticeably, disabling those nasty space switch animations). For an overview of features that require SIP to be partially disabled: https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai/issues/1863 https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai/issues/1863 Also in general, the wiki on GitHub is very well-written.

certifiedloud 3y ago

If you come from i3 you'll probably find Aerospace[1] to be more what you're after. [1]https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace

idle_zealot 3y ago
Thank you for recommending this. Time for round three of attempting a tiling setup on my mac (after Amethyst and Yabai disappointed).
- certifiedloud 3y ago
  Same path I took. I'm liking Aerospace so far. I just snagged the "i3-like" config from their docs and it feels like home. Not quite as snappy as i3, but very workable.
- hanslovsky 3y ago
  I have tried amethyst and yabai. I stuck with yabai but I'll gladly try another option. will definitely have a look at aerospace!
strus 3y ago
This is great, thank you!

rewgs 3y ago

I've tried Yabai multiple times but always bounced off. It's just a little too buggy, a little too opinionated. I've never found a window management system I've actually truly liked. On Linux, I've tried em all, and though in theory I love tiling window managers, but for me automatic tiling with the option to go floating on a per-window basis just ultimately ends up annoying me -- I prefer the reverse. On Windows, PowerToys/FancyZones is as close to my preferred method as possible, but then I'm, you know, using Windows. This past week I've come up with what is I think my perfect, dream solution: - Caps Lock is tapped for Escape, held for Cmd+Ctrl+Opt (i.e. "Hyper" or whatever). I'm a Neovim user, so Caps Lock has been mapped to Escape forever already. - Tapping both Shift keys simultaneously engages Caps Lock for the rare times in which I actually need it. - Window snapping is handled entirely with Hammerspoon. I have commands for absolute positions (e.g. half, one third, two thirds, quarters), but also can define grids and call them with key commands, and then use another command to snap all windows or just the focused window to the nearest grid box. It's all defined with code, and thus lives with my dotfiles, and is just a `brew install` and symlink away from totally setting up on a brand new machine. Also, I set my tmux prefix to Control+p, which I map to Command in my iTerm profile. So, opening up a new tmux "window" (i.e. tab) is Command+t. Navigating to the next "window"/tab is Control+Tab. And so on. Basically it just feels like a browser. This way, whether I switch terminals, or am ssh-ing into a machine, as long as I have my tmux config, those key commands are set. It's an amazing setup, can't recommend it enough.

gdcbe 3y ago

Tbh if there was an app that would allow me to move between spaces on all my monitors at once, instead of each monitor to be done one by one, then that would be sufficient for my needs.

edanm 3y ago
There's a setting for that. I don't remember it but something like separate spaces for displays.

trenchgun 3y ago

Just use Hammerspoon

verdverm 3y ago

Are there recommended 3rd party enhancing apps for cmd-tab? I'm looking for something that shows all windows for an app, per app, and maybe doesn't switch the app to finder when you cancel the cmd-tab

Tyr42 3y ago
Witch? It's been a while since I used it.
ferriswil 3y ago
I use AltTab [0] for this. I find using a mac without it horrendous. [0]: https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/
- verdverm 3y ago
  oh wow, you can have multiple "alt-tabs" and set what they show thanks for the link!

nestock 3y ago

I hope there will be support for current Sonoma versions soon

gigatexal 3y ago

I would love to do this and maybe move back to MacOS but ... this seems like a lot of faffing about for something that was not designed to be done and something that is constantly at risk of being nerfed by some future update or security thing such as Apple disabling the SIP disablement ability or something along those lines. But in Linux the choose-your-own-adventure that is the pluggable desktop model is that something like sway or i3 or other tiling window manager or a plugin for Gnome for example is much more in line with how the system was meant to be used and is very much not trying to shoehorn something in if any of that makes sense. Of course the dev(s) that put this together and it's other projects are hackers in the truest form and their efforts are to be applauded. I'll continue to show them praise but keep using i3/sway on Linux for the time being. (funny enough tiling window managers was why I left MacOS for Linux.)

SJetKaran 3y ago

I've been using Yabai for 2+ years now, super happy that it exists!

chatmasta 3y ago

I'm still using Slate, with a .dmg that was built nearly a decade ago and by some miracle continues to work. I pray that each new OS update won't be the one to break it, because I really don't want to migrate the config for ten years of muscle memory to something new...

datagram 3y ago
I didn't realize Slate was that old! I've only been using it for about... 8 years... Jokes aside, I love Slate's programmability. I configured mine to behave like WinSplit Revolution, since that's what I was used to.

user3939382 3y ago

I like to keep the right 10% or so visible so I can see (and manipulate) the first column of file icons on my desktop behind my otherwise maximized/tiled apps. I haven’t been able to find a window manager that can handle this customization.

hobofan 3y ago
Amethyst[0] has options for screen padding. [0]: https://ianyh.com/amethyst/ https://ianyh.com/amethyst/
- user3939382 3y ago
  Thanks! Are you a fan of hobos?
handsclean 3y ago
You may have already considered this, but dragging desired folders into the last section of the dock accomplishes some of the same things.

pizzalife 3y ago

Personally I only see the benefit of tiling for terminals. And in macOS, iTerm2 performs tiling perfectly. I just swipe to my iTerm workspace with tiled terminals and tab between other apps that are fullscreen.

beckhamc 3y ago

I wish I had the ability to toggle PiP for any open window, while I am in full screen mode. For instance, I have both Chrome and Emacs side by side full screen and I can use a hotkey to drop down my iTerm window over both of them. (Basically like a Quake terminal but that feature is specific to iTerm).

creakingstairs 3y ago

I cannot use my mac without Yabai because the forced transition delay between spaces is extremely annoying for me.

replete 3y ago

Window management becomes a whole other thing with really large monitors. I recently got a UHD 43" and to make the most of it I designed a custom grid but struggled to find an optimal solution. BetterSnapTool with custom snap zones works but is a bit clunky. Lasoo has the exact imagined solution I wanted (keystroke > grid representation appears at mouse pointer > drag window size) but doesn't yet support custom grids. I've requested the feature but not exactly hopeful. I could see that yabai could be a solution but haven't committed to a proper setup. Anyone else using a single large monitor? FancyZones on Windows (PowerToys feature) looks pretty good, but I got sick of autoupdate BS random driver breaks (common linux thing) and went full mac. My custom grid for 4K 43" snap zones in case anyone's interested: - diagram: https://imgur.com/a/axTw1tI https://imgur.com/a/axTw1tI - 3840x2160 1:1 grid: https://imgur.com/a/pUSoafG https://imgur.com/a/pUSoafG

ryansouza 3y ago
I still use Moom with keyboard shortcuts

wdb 3y ago

I am pretty happy with Swish (https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/ https://highlyopinionated.co/swish/) Use can make gestures to snap/tile windows. Pretty cool when you have a trackpad or Magic Trackpad worth the $12

lazerlapin 3y ago

I have used yabai for a long time now and never had any big issue. It's a set up once and forget solution and honestly I'm surprises I don't see more comment like that. One thing for sure: you got to give it a fair shot to really appreciate what it does to your user experience.

ianyh 3y ago

Hey, Amethyst dev here. Love seeing this on the front page. I’ve seen a few comments mention it here and there, but I’m swooping in with my semi-regular reminder that you don’t need to disable SIP to use yabai. It’s a great bsp window manager out of the box, with some optional—and admittedly very cool—extra features that require maneuvering around SIP. (Also, minor apology to Amethyst users because I haven’t managed to get much time to work on it recently.)

vietvu 3y ago

Is it working now? I used for about half a year until MacOS Sonoma when it breaks and I had enough. MacOS is just not built for customization, it's frustrating.

joshstrange 3y ago

My personal favorite app/software in this space is Phoenix [0]. It's more of a "build your own tiling/window manager" but I find it enjoyable to work with. I have my config written in TS and then I just run `tsc` to compile to JS which it uses. I have one hotkey I hit to put all my windows where I want them (aware of which setup I'm plugged into, home, laptop-only, remote office) on various monitors and then I have hotkeys to arrange/resize/move my windows around. The best part is if there is something I want to do I can just add it (add a modifier or a new hotkey combo). After having that freedom it's hard to consider using anything off-the-shelf even though many of them are quite good from what I can tell. [0] https://github.com/kasper/phoenix https://github.com/kasper/phoenix

pomatius 3y ago

Lol just use Linux already