Tessera

macOS tiling window manager

Tile any app, entirely from the keyboard.

tmux/Zellij workflows — tabs, splits, panes, a command palette, and modal keys — for arbitrary macOS apps, by puppeting their windows through the Accessibility API.

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Fig. 01 | Split → tab → move → stack, from the keyboard

01 / Install

Install via Homebrew.

A single command sets up the tap and the background agent.

$ brew tap pa/tessera
$ brew trust pa/tessera
$ brew install tessera
$ brew services start tessera

brew trust is a one-time consent step Homebrew requires for any third-party tap; without it the install stops with “untrusted tap”. Then grant System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → Tessera, and keep Stage Manager off. It's a menu-bar agent — look for the ▚ glyph (no Dock/Applications icon).

02 / What it does

A window manager that gets out of your way.

Tessera is a menu-bar agent (look for the ▚ pill — it shows your tab position and active mode). It never takes over your Mac; it just arranges windows when you ask.

01BSP tiling

Split any focused window right or down, with configurable padding.

02Virtual tabs

Independent workspaces; a tab can stack windows in monocle mode.

03Modal keys

Zellij-style Pane / Tab / Resize modes with a live, context-aware hint bar.

04Command palette

Fuzzy-find and launch apps, or focus any open window.

05Workspace navigator

A searchable tree of tabs, panes, and windows with app icons.

06Floating & zoom

Pop a window out to float, or zoom a pane to fill the screen.

07Organize by app

One command lays every open window out as one tab per app.

08Event-driven

No polling — reacts instantly to window events; ~0% idle CPU.

09Stubborn apps

Toggles AXEnhancedUserInterface so Chromium/Electron apps actually tile.

03 / Keyboard reference

Default prefix is `⌃⌥⌘`.

Everything is rebindable in Settings (⌘, or the menu bar).

Global shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`⌃⌥⌘R` / `⌃⌥⌘D`	Split focused window right / down
`⌃⌥⌘H` / `⌃⌥⌘J` / `⌃⌥⌘K` / `⌃⌥⌘L`	Focus left / down / up / right
`⌃⌥⇧⌘H` / `⌃⌥⇧⌘J` / `⌃⌥⇧⌘K` / `⌃⌥⇧⌘L`	Move window between panes
`⌃⌥⌘T` / `⌃⌥⌘]` / `⌃⌥⌘[`	New tab · next / previous tab
`⌃⌥⇧⌘P`	Command palette
`⌃⌥⇧⌘W`	Workspace navigator
`⌃⌥⌘P`	Pause / resume Tessera (stays live while paused)
`⌃⌥⌘⌫`	Reset tiling (un-manage everything)

Pane mode — `⌃P`

Key	Action
`r` / `d`	Split right / down
`h` `j` `k` `l`	Focus pane (or move a floating window)
`⇧` + `hjkl`	Swap window with neighbour
`n` / `p`	Cycle focus through all windows
`f`	Full-screen (zoom) the pane
`w`	Attach / float / re-tile the focused window
`s`	Toggle stacked (monocle) layout
`c`	Change the pane's window (palette)

Tab mode — `⌃T`

Key	Action
`n`	New tab
`h` / `l`	Previous / next tab
`⇧h` / `⇧l`	Move window to previous / next tab
`m` … `⏎`	Move window to tab # (a number past the end creates it)

Resize mode — `⌃R`

Key	Action
`h` / `l`	Narrower / wider
`k` / `j`	Taller / shorter

In any mode the menu-bar hint bar shows only the keys that apply right now. ⏎ / esc exits a mode.

04 / Usage & configuration

Configure it, or don't.

Getting started

After granting Accessibility, Tessera lays your open windows out as one tab per app (a multi-window app's windows are stacked so you cycle them with n/p in Pane mode). Re-run anytime from the menu bar → Organize Windows by App.

Configuring shortcuts

Open Settings (⌘, when Tessera is active, or the menu-bar ▚ menu) → Hotkeys. Click any shortcut and press a new chord to rebind it; Reset to Defaults restores the built-in set. Changes apply immediately.

Tile padding

In Settings → General, drag Tile padding — a percentage of screen width applied to the outer margin and the gaps between panes, live.

05 / Not yet

What Tessera doesn't do.

Stated up front, so nothing surprises you after install.

—Multi-monitor

Not supported yet. Tessera manages the main display only — every layout, tab and pane is computed from its bounds. A second monitor isn't tiled independently, and a window adopted from another display is pulled onto the main one. Next on the roadmap; until then ⌃⌥⌘P hands every window back to macOS.

—Apps with a minimum size

A pure-Accessibility window manager can't force an app smaller than it will accept — only SIP-disabled approaches can. Such a window is anchored at its pane origin and allowed to overflow rather than faking a fit; w floats it instead.

—Stage Manager

Must be off — it hides inactive apps' windows and fights any macOS tiling manager. Tessera detects it and warns in the menu bar.

—IPC / CLI

No send-cmd or query state --json yet, so it isn't scriptable from outside. On the roadmap.