rift
rift is a tiling window manager for macOS that focuses on performance and usability.
features
- multiple layout styles
- tiling (i3/sway-like)
- binary space partitioning (bspwm-like)
- floating (independent window frames with optional stacks)
- master-stack (dwm-like)
- scrolling columns (niri-style)
- stack (accordion)
- menubar icon that opens a menu for switching workspaces, changing layouts, and accessing quick rift controls
click to see the menu bar icon
- save and restore layouts from the menu bar or CLI, with reusable layouts listed from a configurable folder
click to see the menu
- niri-style mission control for viewing workspaces and dragging windows between them
- focus follows the mouse with auto raise
- does not require disabling SIP
- native macOS tab support
- performant animations (as seen in the demo)
- switch to next/previous workspace with trackpad gestures (just like native macOS)
- hot reloadable configuration
- mach port based IPC for communicating with rift from third-party programs (sketchybar, etc)
- works with "Displays have separate Spaces" enabled (unlike all other major WMs)
quick start
Get up and running via the docs:
community
Join #rift:matrix.org for discussion, support, and development.
support
If rift is part of your daily workflow, consider sponsoring its development.
motivation
Aerospace worked well for me, but I missed animations and the ability to use fullscreen on one display while working on the other. I also prefer leveraging private/undocumented APIs as they tend to be more reliable (due to the OS being built on them and all the public APIs) and performant. for more on why rift exists and what rift strives to do, see the manifesto
credits
Rift began as a fork (and is licensed as such) of glide-wm but has since diverged significantly. It uses private APIs reverse engineered by yabai and other projects. It is not affiliated with glide-wm or yabai.