Window manager for macOS

Tiled windows. No holes.

Tessera puts every window of every desktop where the layout says, and proves it by measuring what macOS actually draws. By keyboard or by mouse, with nothing to configure.

Download for macOSView the source
  • v0.2.1
  • macOS 15.2 or later
  • Apple Silicon & Intel
  • Free
  • MIT

Focus the demo and use T, A, M, R, N, W, B and the arrows (⇧ to move). Or drag windows and the split.

Why it holds

Built not to break the layout

Measures, never assumes

It compares what it asked for with the frame the window server draws. When an app resists, Tessera sees it and solves again.

Learns every window

Minimum and maximum sizes: it learns them when an app refuses the same size twice and remembers them for 30 days. Apps that stay a few points short, like terminals, keep their size.

Never loses a window

Every window it hides is written down before it moves, and comes back on quit, after a crash or when you re-tile.

With the mouse

Drag it where you want it

Drag to swap

Drop a window on another and they trade places. The target lights up before you let go.

Resize, the neighbour adapts

The height in a column, the width in a row. Whatever the tiling cannot express goes back to its place.

Drop to insert

A floating window dropped on the tiling joins it above or below the one you point at. Hold ⌥ to keep it floating.

Floating is your call

Dialogs and panels float by themselves; anything else only when you ask with ⌃⌥⇧Space.

With the keyboard

Control + Option, and nothing else

Every shortcut starts with ⌃⌥. Hold them for a moment and Tessera shows you the whole map.

⌃ ⌥ H J K L
Focus left, down, up, right (or the arrows)
⌃ ⌥ ⇧ H J K L
Move the window
⌃ ⌥ 1…9
Go to desktop 1…9
⌃ ⌥ ⇥
Back to the previous desktop
⌃ ⌥ T A M
Tiles, accordion, maximized
⌃ ⌥ F
Tessera full screen
⌃ ⌥ R
Rotate the orientation
⌃ ⌥ B
Balance sizes
⌃ ⌥ . ,
Wider, narrower (⇧ for height)
⌃ ⌥ ⇧ ␣
Float or tile the window
⌃ ⌥ P
Pause or resume

Plays well with macOS

It works with the system, not around it

  • Native desktops

    Each Mission Control desktop keeps its own tiling; ⌃⌥1…9 jumps between them.

  • Minimize and full screen

    They always work. Tessera re-tiles around them instead of fighting back.

  • Steps aside

    It pauses by itself while Stage Manager or another tiler (AeroSpace, yabai, Amethyst) is running.

  • Only what it needs

    One permission, Accessibility. It never reads your window titles, and only takes commands from programs signed by its developer.

Also from the command line
$ tessera layout monocle$ tessera workspace 2$ tessera retile$ tessera debug check# no output: no holes, no overlaps

Install

Three steps, a minute

  1. 01

    Download Tessera.dmg, open it and drag Tessera onto Applications.

    Download
  2. 02

    Open it and allow Tessera in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility. It starts by itself as soon as you do.

  3. 03

    Optional: start it at login and restart it if it ever crashes.

$ /Applications/Tessera.app/Contents/MacOS/tessera service install --binary /Applications/Tessera.app/Contents/MacOS/tessera

Status: alpha, in daily use. It tiles the main screen and leaves any other screen alone.

It's free and it'll stay that way. If it saves you time, you can leave a tip.

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