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Comment by barefeg | Hacker News Reader

Kind of off topic, but has tiling managers for macOS improved in the last few years? I remember I tried one solution (I can’t remember the name now) which worked OK but it was a little buggy some times. Ever since I just use the standard window manager and try to manage with cmd + tab, cmd + `, and gestures to change spaces.

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Amethyst is my tiling manager of choice for macOS: https://ianyh.com/amethyst/

It was a little buggy when Ventura dropped, but it gets frequent updates and has stabilized in the past few months.

I’ve been using BetterSnapTool for years. Can’t recommend it enough. It takes a bit to configure your zones, but it’s so versatile and easy to use. I have dozens of shortcuts to divide my screen into 3rds, quarters, 6 or 8 equal zones…

https://folivora.ai/bettersnaptool

+1 for BetterSnapTool. I've had it for years, one of the first things I install on any new Mac. It's always "just worked" for me, zero issues.

BST is part of BetterTouchTool, which is invaluable on its own.

https://github.com/kasper/phoenix

This let’s you have complete control over tiling.

I have a config for that with window hints and progressive resizing: https://taoofmac.com/space/apps/phoenix

I use skhd and yabai, and it's quite okay. Not as great as i3 under linux, but much better than OSX's defaults for sure.

I love what yabai is trying to do, but it does really suck for no fault of its own.

Which parts of it suck in particular? From the videos I've seen so far it's quite useable but requires configuring tons of stuff, possibly disabling SIP, animations are a bit jaggy (mainly due to macos not providing proper non-blocking apis to certain things), no proper master stack layout etc. But all in all looks pretty useable.

Planning to switch to it now, because all the other options (like using no tiling manager at all, or Amethyst) seem to suck even more.

It's just slow and full of jank like what you listed. Disabling SIP is mandatory if you don't want to feel like you need to blow your brains out. (Another issue is that many windows can't be resized at all on macOS, yet yabai allocates the full space for them and puts them in the top-left corner.)

Don't get me wrong, none of this is an issue with yabai, just with macOS. If I were forced to use macOS for work I'd use yabai too. But I've arranged my life so I never have to touch macOS professionally.

And Rectangle. I really like it’s Window Throw method in the Pro version.

The problem with the built-in methods is that they use spaces and split them for windows. That locks you into that space just as full-screen view does.

I’ve used Magnet for ages. It’s pretty expensive now though—I think it was only a couple of dollars when I bought it. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/magnet/id441258766?mt=12

Have been using Moom for ages, and still sticking with it for now! Works well!

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