OmniWM

OmniWM is a free, open-source tiling window manager for Apple Silicon Macs. It arranges application windows with scrolling Niri-style containers or Dwindle binary-tree layouts, selected per workspace, and provides keyboard navigation, multi-monitor routing and optional local command-line automation. It suits people managing many windows and building keyboard-driven workflows.

Features

• Choose scrolling-container or Dwindle tiling layouts per workspace.
• Navigate, resize, reorder and move windows with configurable shortcuts.
• Organize workspaces across multiple monitors through the Workspace Bar.
• Configure application rules for tiled or floating windows and initial placement.
• Find windows, launch applications and search files through the command palette.
• Use optional Overview previews, scratchpads, a Quake terminal and clipboard history.
• Automate supported actions using the bundled omniwmctl CLI and local IPC.

Install and requirements

Install with brew install --cask omniwm, or extract the official release ZIP and move OmniWM.app to Applications. The cask also links the bundled omniwmctl command into Homebrew's bin directory. OmniWM requires Apple Silicon and macOS 26 Tahoe or later; Intel Macs and earlier macOS releases are unsupported. Windows and Linux are not supported application platforms. Current documentation identifies some optional features, including Hidden Bar concealment, as requiring macOS 27 or later, rather than extending the core tiling minimum to every feature.

Before starting, enable Displays have separate Spaces in System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Mission Control. Log out and back in if you changed that setting. OmniWM pauses window management when it is disabled. The publisher recommends one native Space per display with OmniWM workspaces for the clearest behavior; windows on inactive native Spaces remain controlled by macOS until that Space becomes active.

Permissions and security

Accessibility and Input Monitoring are required at launch: they allow discovering, focusing, moving and resizing windows, and receiving global input shortcuts. These are broad control permissions; grant them only to a trusted copy of the application and review them in macOS settings.

Screen Recording is optional and enables capture-derived visuals such as Overview thumbnails, drag previews and captured menu-bar glyphs. Tiling still works without it, with reduced visual previews and wallpaper fallback behavior. Full Disk Access is optional and used for Hidden Bar; it is not required for basic tiling. Current documentation distinguishes this feature's additional system requirement from ordinary window management.

Official releases are Developer ID signed and Apple notarized, and the publisher says System Integrity Protection can remain enabled. Do not disable SIP to perform an ordinary official installation. OmniWM uses selected private Apple APIs as well as public frameworks; future macOS changes can affect compatibility.

Conflicts, configuration and automation

Do not run another resident window manager simultaneously. OmniWM checks for competing managers such as AeroSpace, Amethyst, yabai, Nehir and others and refuses to start window management until a detected conflict exits. The cask itself lists no additional formula dependency or explicit conflicting-cask entry; the application's runtime conflict checks are a separate constraint.

The ordinary release includes the app and its CLI; a source build has separate development requirements. Optional terminal, bar and community integrations are not interchangeable dependencies for basic tiling. Keep omniwmctl and custom IPC clients aligned with the app version: 0.7.5 changes IPC protocol to 18 and moves the default socket to Library/Application Support/com.barut.OmniWM/ipc.sock inside the user's home folder, with an authentication secret beside it. Protect that secret and authorize only trusted local automation. Shell commands configured for automation can execute code with the user's access.

Settings are stored in ~/.config/omniwm/settings.toml. Back up configuration before testing newer builds or downgrading: 0.7.4 migrates it to schema 4 and keeps a pre-v4 backup, while rewriting removes comments. Scratchpad labels persist, but the current documentation says window membership lasts only for the running process. Native fullscreen and application minimum sizes can constrain management behavior.

Clipboard history is optional and off by default; enable it only if retaining copied data fits your privacy needs. Diagnostic reports can contain settings, app/window titles and title-based rules. Review a report before attaching it publicly. The app can prepare a GitHub issue but does not obtain your GitHub login; reporting is separate from local operation.

Cost, accounts and updates

OmniWM is free and licensed under GPL-2.0-only. Donations are optional, and no purchase, subscription or account is required for local window management. Bundled components have their own notices. Optional AI-assisted issue-report rewriting in current documentation requires macOS 27, enabled Apple Intelligence and an available local model; manual reporting remains available without it.

Local window arrangement does not need a cloud account. The default update check contacts GitHub at most once per day on launch; updates are manual rather than automatically downloaded or installed. Quit the app before replacing its bundle, then relaunch it and recheck permissions if needed. Canary builds can regress and should not be confused with the catalog's stable version.

The official 0.7.5 ZIP is 19,837,372 bytes according to HTTP HEAD metadata; installed storage and state/configuration usage differ.

Sources: Official project, Installation, Requirements and limitations, 0.7.5 release, License.