asmvik/yabai

yabai is a window management utility for macOS that automatically arranges your application windows using a method called binary space partitioning. Instead of manually resizing and dragging windows around the screen, yabai divides your available screen space into a tiling layout: when you open a new window, it automatically slots into the layout alongside existing windows, each taking up an equal share of the space. This is similar to how some Linux tiling window managers work, brought to the Mac. The program extends macOS's built-in window management rather than replacing it. You control it through a command-line interface, and can pair it with a keyboard shortcut tool to trigger actions with key presses, moving focus between windows, shifting windows around the layout, moving them to different virtual desktops (called Spaces), or creating additional Spaces beyond macOS's usual limit. Additional capabilities include focus-follows-mouse (the window under your cursor becomes active without clicking), disabling macOS's window animation transitions, and, if you disable a macOS security feature called System Integrity Protection, more advanced control over window behavior through a scripting addition injected into the system. yabai is written in C and requires macOS Big Sur (11.0) or later on Intel machines, or Monterey (12.0) or later on Apple Silicon. It needs Accessibility permission to control windows, and optionally Screen Recording permission for window animations. A developer or power user who wants a keyboard-driven, distraction-free workspace with automatically tiled windows would use it.