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.

Install Star on GitHub

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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.

01Intentional placement

Every split and new tab asks exactly which app or window belongs in its new pane.

02BSP tiling

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

03Virtual tabs

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

04Modal keys

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

05Command palette

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

06Workspace navigator

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

07Floating & zoom

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

08Organize by app

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

09Event-driven

No background polling — reacts to Accessibility window events with ~0% idle CPU.

10Stubborn 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 restores your saved workspace. With no saved workspace, it opens a picker for the first pane; choose exactly which app or window belongs there. New windows remain unmanaged until you explicitly attach them with w in Pane mode. To intentionally import a busy desktop, use 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 explicitly placed 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.