Ribbon vs OmniWM: two ways to get niri-style scrolling on a Mac

The short version

If you're on macOS 26 Tahoe with an Apple silicon Mac and you like tinkering, try OmniWM first. It costs nothing, it's actively developed, and it has things Ribbon doesn't, such as an overview, its own workspaces and a second layout mode.

If your Apple silicon Mac runs Ventura, Sonoma or Sequoia, OmniWM won't install, and Ribbon will. (Neither runs on Intel Macs.) Ribbon is also the calmer choice if you want a scrolling strip and nothing else: it works inside the Spaces you already use, and every option is a switch in a settings window.

What they have in common

Both apps borrow the core idea from niri and PaperWM:

• Windows sit in columns on a strip that is wider than your screen.
• Opening a window adds a column. The other windows keep their size.
• You move focus with the keyboard or a trackpad swipe, and the strip slides.
• Several windows can share one column, and a column can show its windows as tabs.
• Neither needs System Integrity Protection turned off. Both use the Accessibility permission.

If the idea itself is new to you, start with what a scrolling window manager is.

OmniWM in brief

OmniWM is a GPL-2.0 open-source window manager. You choose a layout per workspace: a niri-style scrolling layout, or a Hyprland-style "dwindle" layout that splits the screen like a binary tree. On a portrait monitor the scrolling layout turns vertical, which is a nice touch.

On top of tiling it ships a long list of extras: an overview with window thumbnails and search, a workspace bar, scratchpads, a command palette, a window switcher, a drop-down terminal and more. You set it up in a settings window or in ~/.config/omniwm/settings.toml, which reloads live. Install it with brew install --cask omniwm.

Things to know before you switch:

• macOS 26 Tahoe or later, Apple silicon only. Intel Macs aren't supported.
• Its own workspaces. OmniWM wants "Displays have separate Spaces" on and recommends one macOS Space per display, then manages workspaces itself. Windows on other macOS Spaces are left alone.
• The overview's thumbnails need the Screen Recording permission.
• It won't manage windows while another window manager is running, so you can't run it alongside Ribbon or Paneru.

Ribbon in brief

Ribbon does one layout, the scrolling strip, and tries to make it feel like part of macOS. You get a settings window where every option has a control, a trackpad swipe that moves the strip with your fingers and settles on a column, stacks and tabbed columns, a strip indicator you can click to jump, and one strip per display and per Space. Shortcuts are Control + Option plus one key, like ⌃⌥→ to focus right and ⌃⌥R to cycle widths.

Its window engine is built on Paneru, an MIT-licensed open-source project, with a native SwiftUI app on top. It runs on macOS 13 Ventura and later on Apple silicon (M1 or later). It costs $9.99 once for one Mac. All sales are final, so the live demo is the way to try it first.

Side by side

Where OmniWM is the better choice

• You want free and open source. That's a real advantage, and OmniWM is a serious project, not a toy.
• You want more than a strip. A BSP layout on one workspace and scrolling on another, an overview, scratchpads: OmniWM has them and Ribbon doesn't.
• You came from niri and miss workspaces. OmniWM's workspaces behave more like niri's than macOS Spaces do.

Where Ribbon is the better choice

• You're not on Tahoe. This is the deciding point for many people. On Apple silicon, Ribbon supports every macOS release from Ventura on.
• You use macOS Spaces and want to keep them. Ribbon gives each Space its own strip, so Mission Control, full-screen apps and your Space-switching swipe work as before.
• You want a smaller app. Ribbon is a window manager and nothing more. Fewer features means fewer settings to learn.
• You want someone to email. Ribbon is a paid product with direct support from the developer.

Trying both

Because they don't run at the same time, quit one before starting the other. If you're on Tahoe, an easy test is to spend a week with OmniWM, then watch Ribbon's live demo and decide whether the simpler, Spaces-based approach suits you better. If you're on an older macOS, the choice is Ribbon or a script-based tool like PaperWM.spoon. The full field is in the best scrolling window managers for Mac, and the OmniWM alternatives page covers the options for older Macs.