Glide

Who It's For

Glide is for macOS users coming from i3, Sway, or Hyprland on Linux who want that same dynamic tiling experience with native Spaces integration and animated transitions. It's built around i3's window management model — split containers, focus-follows-mouse, keyboard-driven layout control — while integrating with macOS Spaces so each Space has its own tiling layout. No SIP disabling is required, making it accessible without system-level configuration changes.

How It Works

Glide uses macOS's public Accessibility APIs to tile windows automatically within the focused Space. The layout model follows i3/Sway conventions: windows are placed in a container tree and split horizontally or vertically on demand. Focus-follows-mouse moves keyboard focus to whichever window the cursor is over. Multi-monitor setups get independent tiling layouts per display. Animated transitions play when windows are moved or resized, giving the tiler a more polished feel than static repositioning. The config file (documented in the GitHub README) controls keybindings, gaps, and behavior.

Compared to Similar Tools

Compared to AeroSpace (also i3-inspired, no SIP), Glide adds animated transitions and focus-follows-mouse that AeroSpace doesn't support natively. Compared to yabai (BSP + SIP partial disable for full features), Glide is i3-style only but requires no SIP changes and has smoother animations. For Linux users transitioning to macOS who prioritize the i3 mental model and don't want to touch SIP, Glide is a direct path to familiar tiling behavior.

Requirements

• macOS version: check glidewm.org for requirements
• No SIP disabling required
• Accessibility permission required
• Free and open-source

Getting Started

brew install glide

Launch Glide and grant Accessibility permission. Configure keybindings and gap settings per the documentation at glidewm.org.