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Quickstart

From download to one-keystroke tiling in five short steps — or skip the reading and watch the tour, it covers everything below:

1. Install​

Download Vindue_universal.dmg (Apple Silicon + Intel), open it, and drag Vindue into Applications. Launch it: a small icon appears in your menu bar and stays out of your way.

First launch

Vindue isn't Apple Developer ID-signed yet, so macOS will flag it as an unidentified developer the first time you open each release: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. The proofs below let you verify exactly what you downloaded before trusting it.

Verifying your download

Every release ships two independent proofs: shasum -a 256 Vindue_universal.dmg must match the SHA256SUMS.txt release asset, and gh attestation verify Vindue_universal.dmg --owner msukmanowsky proves the dmg was built from the tagged commit by this repo's CI (Sigstore SLSA attestation).

2. Grant Accessibility access (once)​

Moving other apps' windows uses the macOS Accessibility API. On first panel activation Vindue shows a banner naming the exact file that needs the grant:

  1. Click Grant access… — System Settings opens (and the panel dismisses so it doesn't outline System Settings itself)
  2. Remove any stale Vindue entries with "−"
  3. Add the shown file ("+" then ⌘⇧G to paste the path, or drag it from Finder) and toggle it on
  4. Re-open the panel — the grant is detected automatically

The target outline and panel placement work without the grant — only applying regions needs it.

Dev builds & unsigned releases

Ad-hoc signed builds get a new code-signing identity on every rebuild, so old Accessibility entries go stale — remove and re-add. That applies to every release until Developer ID signing + notarization land; afterwards, grant once and it persists across updates.

3. Tile your first window​

Vindue has exactly one interaction loop. Learn it in 30 seconds.

Focus any window — whatever is frontmost, on any display, is the target. Vindue snapshots it before the panel opens, so the panel itself never steals target status.

Open the panels — left-click the menu-bar icon. (Next step gives you a hotkey for this.) A grid panel appears on every display at once — centered, sized to that display's aspect ratio — with the panel on the target's display focused. Each panel header shows the target app's icon + name, and the target window is outlined in blue so you can see exactly what will move.

Drag across the grid — the selection highlights live. Release → the target window is moved/resized to that region (work area, window gaps, and screen margins applied). The panels auto-dismiss after applying.

  • Esc dismisses without applying
  • Clicking any other app's window dismisses (the panels are true modals)
  • Move or resize the target while open — the outline follows
  • To retarget without dismissing: click the app name in the header and pick from the running-apps list (with icons)

4. Give it a hotkey​

Dragging from the menu bar is fine, but the whole point is speed: bind the panels to a key combo you'll never think about.

  1. Tray right-click → Settings… (or the ⚙ button in a panel)
  2. Under Keybindings, click the Open Vindue field and press your combination — ⌘⇧Space is a good default if you're free
  3. Save (the window closes; the hotkey registers immediately)

Vindue rejects combos macOS reserves (⌘Tab, ⌘Space…) or ones that are easy to hit by accident, and tells you why on the spot. Test it: press your combo from any app — the panels open over whatever is frontmost. There is no hotkey by default, and ✕ Clear removes it again; the menu-bar icon always works.

5. Make it yours​

  • Settings… also holds grid size (1–12 × 1–12), window gaps, screen margins, shortcut management, and the API toggle
  • Bind grid regions to keys for one-keystroke layouts — see Shortcuts

Presets without dragging​

Want halves and quadrants in one keystroke? Bind them as shortcuts: while the panels are open, press an unassigned key → your next drag is saved to that key and applied in the same motion (the window moves immediately). Afterwards, pressing that key (with the panels open) snaps the target to the saved region instantly.

Nine region presets — full, left_half, right_half, top_half, bottom_half, top_left, top_right, bottom_left, bottom_right — are also available through the HTTP API and MCP tools.

Living in the menu bar​

There is no Dock icon. The menu-bar (tray) icon is home base: left-click opens the panels; right-click gives Open / Settings… / Quit. Launching Vindue again while it's running just focuses the running instance — Settings if open, otherwise the panels, like the hotkey.

Build from source​

git clone https://github.com/msukmanowsky/vindue.git
cd vindue
npm install
npm run tauri dev        # development
npm run tauri build      # release .app + .dmg

Requires macOS, Node.js 20+, Rust (stable), and Xcode command line tools.