Window Management (Mac)

Rectangle, Magnet, Yabai, AeroSpace, Amethyst — Mac window movers and tiling WMs.

macOS-specific window management — both "snap to half" movers and full i3-style tiling. For Win/Linux see prod-window-management-win-linux. For keyboard remapping that often pairs with these see prod-keyboard-system-tweakers; for launcher integrations see prod-launchers.

Window movers (snap-to-zone, no automatic tiling)

★ ★ Rectangle — free OSS; the default Mac window mover in 2026. Replaces Spectacle (now stale). Fast, reliable, sane keybindings out of the box.
Rectangle Pro — paid; adds named layouts, app-specific defaults, mouse-drag-to-snap.
Magnet — paid one-time (~$8); the long-time Mac App Store leader; fine but Rectangle is now better and free.
Moom — paid; mouse-hover-on-green-button for quick zones; veterans love it.
BetterTouchTool — paid; window snapping is one of many things it does — see prod-keyboard-system-tweakers for the broader pitch.
HookShot — paid; multi-screen-friendly; compete with Magnet.
macOS built-in tiling (Sequoia, 2024+) — Apple finally added drag-to-side tiling. Casual users no longer need a third-party mover.

★ AeroSpace — free OSS; the rising star in 2024–26 — i3-shape on macOS, doesn't disable SIP, uses macOS Spaces. The recommendation in 2026 if you want tiling.
★ Yabai — free OSS; the most powerful Mac tiling WM but requires disabling SIP (System Integrity Protection) for full feature parity. Lost ground to AeroSpace because of the SIP requirement.
Amethyst — free OSS; xmonad-shape; older; works without SIP changes but less ergonomic than AeroSpace.
Tiles — paid; commercial mover/tiler; less powerful than the OSS options.
Lasso — paid; gesture + zone tiling; modern UI.
Loop — free OSS; radial-pie window snapping; cute and fast.

skhd — free OSS hotkey daemon; the universal pair with Yabai. AeroSpace ships its own hotkey config.
JankyBorders (borders) — free OSS; visible focused-window borders for Yabai/AeroSpace.
SketchyBar — free OSS; replaces the macOS menu bar with a tiling-WM-friendly status bar.
SimpleBar / Übersicht — older menubar replacements.
Hammerspoon — free OSS Lua automation; can implement custom tiling rules — see prod-keyboard-system-tweakers.
Karabiner-Elements — for the meta key remap that tiling WMs assume — see prod-keyboard-system-tweakers.

Yabai's full feature set — including window-shadow control, automatic float rules for system windows, and Spaces creation — requires disabling SIP, which weakens macOS security.
AeroSpace uses macOS-native Spaces (one Space per workspace) and the public Accessibility API — no SIP changes needed. The trade-off: you can't move windows between Spaces with animation-skip.
For most users in 2026 the recommendation is AeroSpace — Yabai is still the most powerful but the SIP cost is real.

Hotkey to snap to half-screen — Cmd+Opt+← and Cmd+Opt+→ cover 80% of usage. Rectangle defaults are sane.
Quarter snaps — Cmd+Opt+U/I/J/K.
Center / maximize / restore previous size.
Per-display moves — Cmd+Opt+Shift+→ to push a window to the next monitor.
Named layouts for "I'm in coding mode" vs "I'm in writing mode" — Rectangle Pro / Moom / BTT.

Monitor disconnect / reconnect scrambles window positions — Rectangle has "restore previous size" memory; Yabai/AeroSpace handle this natively.
External display + lid closed is fine on macOS but window positions can drift — use a layout-saving tool like Stay (paid) or Moom layouts.
macOS Spaces are per-display — confusing if you don't know it; AeroSpace abstracts this with workspace names.

Default Mac mover in 2026, free: Rectangle.
Already on Mac App Store and want a one-time license: Magnet (or Rectangle Pro).
You want i3-style tiling without disabling SIP: AeroSpace.
You want maximum tiling power and accept SIP off: Yabai + skhd.
You hate mover hotkeys and want gestures: BetterTouchTool.
macOS Sequoia user, casual needs: the built-in side-tiling is now enough — try it before installing anything.