Mouseless MacOS Window Management - Yabai vs Amethyst

I used ShiftIt for years before deciding this year I wanted to take further control of my Mac using just my keyboard. In this video, I walk you through my journey from ShiftIt to Yabai to Amethyst and what I learned along the way. I will also show you my current MacOS window management setup along with the keyboard shortcuts I use.

Phase 1 (Built-in Window Management) - 0:11
Phase 2 (Shiftit) - 0:40
Trying Out Yabai - 1:42
How I use Amethyst - 2:32
My Amethyst Preferences - 5:17
Outro - 6:32

📶 Next Steps

-------------------------------

🎵 Artist Attribution
"Remember"
Music by KaizanBlu

[alankjohn]

🚨🚨 this is a rabbit hole!!

I wanted to use the mouse less when my hand started hurting


I slowly started using keyboard shortcuts for more and more thing


I started getting addicted to the speed


I started customising everything for minimum keystrokes and speed


i switched to linux when it became abundantly clear that it's wayy better for my need for speed ( tiling window managers )


I currently run dwm on arch linux with terminal apps for everything


I do node js android development with my cats and anime wallpapers

[CristianHeredia]

I wanted yabai to work, but this just works out of the box. thanks!

[wadecodez]

my setup is yabai, skhd, and sketchbar. i like it because i can override the hotkeys for mission control and switch between desktops without an slow animation. the caveat is you have to toggle a few system flags which technically make your system less secure.

[pedrodelfino]

I would definitely like to see content on Karabiner Elements!

[GeorgeLathem]

I've spent almost 3 days on trying to get Yabai to work on Monterey beta and still having issues. Wish I had checked out this window sooner

[seethruhead]

I find this key setup super weird
I've been using amethyst for years now and I love my setup

Change Tiling Mode Forward: Alt + Shift + Space
Change Tiling Mode Back: Alt + Shift + Ctrl (capslock) + Space
Shrink Main Pane: Alt Shift H
Expand Main Pane: Alt Shift L

Move Focus Counter Clockwise: Alt Shift J
Move Focus Clockwise: Alt Shift K

Swap Focused Winder Counter Clockwise: Alt Shift Ctrl J
Swap Focused Winder Clockwise: Alt Shift Ctrl K

Change Macos Space Left: Ctrl Shift J
Change Macos Space Righ: Ctrl Shift l

Inside Terminal and Nvim:

change split left: Ctrl J
change split right: Ctrl L

this way everything kind of follows a common theme

[leandrosurech]

i prefer magnet to any of these. it has built in commands for any window configuration you would want and is also accessible through the task bar for heavy mouse users.

[shopbc]

I have Karabiner Elements set up with a hyper key, but I can't find any rules to control Yabai monitors or scaling like you demonstrate. Am I missing something? Id really like to be able to do this. New video request.

[johanliebert]

thanks for your video, btw do you know how to install yabai or other twm in mac os big sur?

[DannyPeck]

I like SlideUp for tiling + Keyboard Maestro for focusing commonly used apps. Seems like a good balance, but I've recently purchased a 34" monitor which has made me revisit my tiling software (since SlideUp only does left/right regions. I kinda need a "middle" region now)

[alexblurr]

Hello,
Can you open an app with karabiner elements and at the same time move the mouse to that app?
Thank you,

[AntowaKartowa]

I just installed and launched and it split all my screens between all opened windows. Can I somehow split screen only between selected windows? And is it possible to split windows let say in three columns?

[workflowinmind]

2:00 FYI BTT is the worst piece of software. It's built on top of millions of hacks

[Fanaro]

Zoom the text on your editor, please.

[MrToup]

It is interesting, I started with Amethyst, but for me Amethyst was cumbersome. And Yabai made the cut. I wonder, what I missed.

[huipengcheng]

Actually, I want to know what’s your Obsidian’s theme. 😹

[johnw]

please re-edit the topic as ‘go through tiling window managers on mac’ something like that. Otherwise people would expect a comprehensive comparison between yabai and amethyst, which the video is NOT. Because I was misled in fact.