komorebi for Mac: what it is and what to expect

What komorebi for Mac is

komorebi is a well-known tiling window manager for Windows. komorebi for Mac is its author's Rust port to macOS. It aims to extend the normal macOS desktop rather than replace it, and to change as little about the OS as possible.

It's young. The public Mac repo had v0.1.0 in March 2026 and v0.1.1 in May 2026. Development continues in a private repo, and nightly builds go to GitHub sponsors on the $10-a-month tier. Expect rough edges.

The feature list is long for a 0.1 release:

• Layouts: BSP, Columns, Rows, Grid, VerticalStack, RightMainVerticalStack, HorizontalStack, UltrawideVerticalStack and Scrolling.
• Layout rules that switch layout automatically based on how many windows are open.
• Stackable containers, its own workspaces, borders, animations and themes.
• A status bar (komorebi-bar) and a socket API you can subscribe to.

The Scrolling layout shows a set number of columns (three by default) and can keep the focused column centred.

The licence, in plain terms

komorebi uses the Komorebi License 2.0.0, a fork of PolyForm Strict. You can read the source, but it isn't open source in the usual sense.

• Personal use is free. You may fork it for your own use or to send changes upstream. Redistribution and hard forks aren't allowed.
• Work use needs a paid licence. The Individual Commercial Use License covers one named person, only while the subscription is paid.

You can cancel any time, but there are no refunds. You activate it with komorebic license <email>. Current terms are on the official licence page. If you'll use it on a work Mac, sort this out first.

Spaces and monitors: the part that surprises Mac users

• One Space only. komorebi runs its own workspaces, and the whole instance is tied to the macOS Space that was active when it started. Other Spaces behave as if komorebi weren't running.
• "Displays have separate Spaces" off. With more than one monitor, the docs say to turn this setting off. Most other Mac tiling tools want it on, Ribbon included.
• Mission Control. The docs suggest turning off "Group windows by application" if you use it.
• Scrolling is single-monitor. macOS has no public way to hide a window, so komorebi parks off-screen windows in screen corners. With a second monitor those would show up on it, so the Scrolling layout is limited to one display.
• Resizing. The known-issues page calls mouse resizing janky, and resizing with animations on is worse.

Installing it

brew tap lgug2z/tap
brew install lgug2z/tap/komorebi-for-mac
brew install skhd
komorebic quickstart
komorebic start --bar
skhd --config ~/.config/komorebi/skhdrc

Grant Accessibility and Screen & System Audio Recording when macOS asks. Settings live in komorebi.json (and komorebi.bar.json for the bar), you control it with the komorebic command, and hotkeys come from skhd. There's no settings window on the Mac.

komorebi for Mac vs Ribbon

Where komorebi wins: far more layouts, layout rules, a bar, scripting through its API, and it costs nothing for personal use. Where Ribbon wins: the scrolling strip works across several monitors and every Space, there's a trackpad swipe, and you set it up in a settings window instead of JSON. Ribbon costs $9.99 once and all sales are final: no refunds (see the terms), so watch the live demo first.

Coming from komorebi on Windows

• Don't expect to copy your setup across. The ideas carry over, but hotkeys on the Mac go through skhd, and macOS window and Spaces behaviour differs from Windows. Plan to rebuild your config.
• If you lived in BSP or stack layouts, komorebi for Mac is a reasonable home, or try a free Mac-native tiler like AeroSpace or yabai.
• If you used the Scrolling layout, it will feel familiar on a single display. With two or more monitors, a dedicated scrolling manager suits better: see the best scrolling window managers for Mac.
• Mapping to Ribbon: three visible columns is roughly Ribbon's 33% width preset (cycle with ⌃⌥R). komorebi's centred focused column matches Ribbon's "Centre the focused column" setting (Never, On overflow, Always). Stacks become ⌃⌥] and ⌃⌥[, and workspaces become ordinary macOS Spaces.
• Run one manager at a time. Quit komorebi before trying Ribbon, and turn "Displays have separate Spaces" back on. The setup guide lists the other settings.

If you're also weighing OmniWM or Nehir, the OmniWM alternatives page covers them. Ribbon is $9.99 for one Mac.