15 Free and Open-source Wm Apps for macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon)
1- Amethyst
Automatic tiling window manager for macOS à la xmonad.
Amethyst is a free open-source app that enables macOS control their app windows sizes, locations, layouts, and spaces. It has dozens of pre-build shortcuts, and several different layouts.
Read about Amethyst 's features, license, platforms, and more.
2- appgrid
macOS window manager with Vim–like hotkeys
macOS window manager with Vim–like hotkeys
Read about appgrid 's features, license, platforms, and more.
3- Assembl
An effortless window manager for macOS
Assembl is a free and open-source app that quickly helps you organize and resize your app windows.
Read about Assembl 's features, license, platforms, and more.
4- Cerebro
Desktop Search Assistant
Cerebro is a multi-platform desktop app that helps the user to search their machine or the internet with no more than a few clicks.
The app is created by Alexandr Subbotin a Russian developer, who also created several useful plugins. Later then, the app attracted many developers who supply it with more plugins and support.
If you are a macOS user, You can notice the similarity with the built-in search app Spotlight search, which indexes all of your files and improve search and access to everything.
Cerebro is similar to Spotlight, but with more extended functions, and a rich plugin set. Like Spotlight, you can use it to access your installed apps and search Google directly without opening any browser.
Cerebro is more than just a search tool, it is a productivity booster that can help you do more.
Read about Cerebro 's features, license, platforms, and more.
5- Hammerspoon
Staggeringly powerful macOS desktop automation with Lua
Hammerspoon is a tool for powerful automation of macOS. At its core, Hammerspoon is just a bridge between the operating system and a Lua scripting engine. What gives Hammerspoon its power is a set of extensions that expose specific pieces of system functionality, to the user.
Read about Hammerspoon 's features, license, platforms, and more.
6- PaperWM.spoon
Tiled scrollable window manager for MacOS. Inspired by PaperWM.
Read about PaperWM.spoon 's features, license, platforms, and more.
7- Quicksilver
macOS launcher
Quicksilver is a fast and free macOS productivity application that gives you the power to control your Mac quickly and elegantly. Quicksilver learns your habits, making your everyday chores simple and efficient.
Quicksilver is a launcher utility app for macOS which gives you the ability to perform common, every-day tasks rapidly and without thought. An introduction to Quicksilver's abilities include:
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Accessing applications, documents, contacts, music and much, much more.
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Browsing your Mac's filesystem elegantly using keywords and 'fuzzy' matching.
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Managing content through drag and drop, or grabbing selected content directly.
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Interacting with installed applications through plugins.
Quicksilver gives you quick access to all your important things. With only a few keystrokes, you can get to your applications, files, contacts, bookmarks, music, etc. Don't get distracted though; although Quicksilver finds and launches things quickly and extremely well, it's more about doing, not finding.
Read about Quicksilver 's features, license, platforms, and more.
8- Rectangle WM
Move and resize windows on macOS with keyboard shortcuts and snap areas
Rectangle is a window management app written in Swift, based on Spectacle. It enables users to customize dozens of actions, such as screen layouts and window positions, and all shortcuts associated with them.
Read about Rectangle WM 's features, license, platforms, and more.
9- ShiftIt
Managing windows size and position in OSX
ShiftIt is an application for OSX that allows you to quickly manipulate window position and size using keyboard shortcuts. It intends to become a full featured window organizer for OSX. It is a complete rewrite of the original ShiftIt by Aravindkumar Rajendiran which is not longer under development.
Read about ShiftIt 's features, license, platforms, and more.
10- Slate
A window management application (replacement for Divvy/SizeUp/ShiftIt)
Slate is a window management application similar to Divvy and SizeUp (except better and free!). Originally written to replace them due to some limitations in how each work, it attempts to overcome them by simply being extremely configurable. As a result, it may be a bit daunting to get configured, but once it is done, the benefit is huge.
Read about Slate 's features, license, platforms, and more.
11- Sol
macOS App launcher, focused on ease of use and speed.
Sol is an app launcher, focused on ease of use and speed.
It is aimed to be a replacement for Alfred, Spotlight and Raycast without too much configuration.
Read about Sol 's features, license, platforms, and more.
12- Tiles
Free Tiling Window Manager for macOS
Tiles is a free Tiling Window Manager for macOS.
Read about Tiles 's features, license, platforms, and more.
13- ueli
A keystroke launcher for Windows and macOS
ueli is a free useful tool that boosts your productivity on Windows and macOS.
Read about ueli 's features, license, platforms, and more.
14- yabai
A tiling window manager for macOS based on binary space partitioning
yabai is a window management utility that is designed to work as an extension to the built-in window manager of macOS. yabai allows you to control your windows, spaces and displays freely using an intuitive command line interface and optionally set user-defined keyboard shortcuts using ↗ skhd and other third-party software.
The primary function of yabai is tiling window management; automatically modifying your window layout using a binary space partitioning algorithm to allow you to focus on the content of your windows without distractions. Additional features of yabai include focus-follows-mouse, disabling animations for switching spaces, creating spaces past the limit of 16 spaces, and much more.
Read about yabai 's features, license, platforms, and more.
15- Zazu App
open-source launcher for hackers
Zazu App is a fully extensible and open source launcher for hackers, creators and dabblers. It comes with sane defaults to make it useful out of the box. But everything can be changed to fit your needs. Don't let others tell you the best way to be productive, configure it to be perfect for you.
Zazu was created to be a fully open source alternative to Alfred, but also be completely plugin based. You can remove any functionality you don't like, so if you hate the built in calculator, just get a new one!
Read about Zazu App 's features, license, platforms, and more.