Chain Your Mac

The scrolling window manager for macOS

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Category
Window Manager
WM Type
visual
License
paid
Open Source
No
Keybindings
Yes
Scripting
Yes
Last Update
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Features

  • Scrolling window strip
  • Stacks and tabbed columns
  • Preset widths and gaps
  • Per-display strips
  • Trackpad swipe
  • Session restore
  • Per-app window rules
  • Rebindable shortcuts
  • URL scheme and CLI

About

Chain Your Mac puts every window side by side on one endless strip, the way PaperWM and niri work on Linux. Nothing overlaps, and opening one more app never shrinks the rest. You just scroll. It is a paid, closed-source app with a one-time lifetime license.

Who It's For

Chain Your Mac is for people who like the scrolling model popularised by PaperWM and niri on Linux and want it on a Mac without disabling SIP. It suits anyone who regularly opens many apps and is tired of windows shrinking or overlapping.

How It Works

Instead of dividing the screen into fixed tiles, Chain Your Mac lays every window out side by side on one endless strip and you scroll along it. Nothing overlaps or hides behind something else, and opening another app does not resize the others. Columns can hold stacked windows or be tabbed. Every display and every Space keeps its own strip, with its own focus and scroll position, and the app can be turned off for individual displays in Configuration → Displays. A trackpad swipe scrolls the strip.

Default shortcuts use Control-Option: ⌃⌥ with H/J/K/L or the arrow keys moves focus, ⌃⌥R cycles width, ⌃⌥F goes full width, ⌃⌥C centres the column, ⌃⌥] and ⌃⌥[ stack a window into the right or left column, and ⌃⌥⇧T makes a tabbed column. Shortcuts can be rebound. For automation it offers a chainyourmac:// URL scheme, Raycast script commands, and a command-line tool. There is no config file; settings live in a native settings window. The site says its engine is built on the MIT-licensed Paneru project, and the app itself is not open source.

Compared to Alternatives

Compared to yabai or AeroSpace, Chain Your Mac uses a scrolling strip rather than a fixed-division layout, and it is a paid closed-source app configured through a settings window instead of a config file. I did not verify other capability differences.

Requirements

  • macOS 13 Ventura or later
  • Apple silicon (M1 or newer); Intel Macs are not supported
  • Accessibility permission only; SIP does not need to be disabled
  • One-time $19.99 lifetime license; multi-Mac keys are $49.99 (3), $79.99 (5) and $299.99 (20). No trial is mentioned.

Getting Started

Follow the setup guide after purchase and grant Accessibility permission when prompted. Try the default ⌃⌥H/L shortcuts to move focus along the strip, and adjust shortcuts, gaps and display options in the settings window. There is a niri keybinding mapping for people coming from niri.

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