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acsandmann edited this page Aug 4, 2026 · 7 revisions

Rift

a fast, animated tiling window manager for macos

CI Matrix

What is Rift?

Rift is a tiling window manager focused on versatility and performance. It combines keyboard-driven layouts with native macOS behavior, including support for Displays have separate Spaces, trackpad workspace gestures, and fullscreen on one display while working on another.

It is designed to feel responsive and practical rather than prescriptive: choose a traditional tree, bsp, master-stack, scrolling, or stack layout, then tune the behavior to match the way you work.

Install Rift

Homebrew

brew install acsandmann/tap/rift

Install and start Rift as a per-user launchd service:

rift service install
rift service start

macOS may ask for Accessibility permission. Grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, then restart the service:

rift service restart

To try Rift without installing a service, run:

rift

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/acsandmann/rift.git
cd rift
cargo build --bins --release
./target/release/rift

Or install the locally built binary as a service:

cargo run --bin rift --release service install
cargo run --bin rift --release service start

Tip

in order for rift to begin managing windows it must first be activated by pressing Alt + Z which is the default key combination for the toggle_space_activated

First steps

  1. Start Rift using Homebrew or a source build.
  2. Grant Accessibility permission when macOS requests it.
  3. Activate the current Space with ⌥ Z.
  4. Create a configuration at ~/.config/rift/config.toml.
  5. Reload and experiment with layouts, gaps, keybindings, and workspace behavior.

Copy the default configuration as a starting point:

mkdir -p ~/.config/rift
cp rift.default.toml ~/.config/rift/config.toml

If you installed Rift through Homebrew, use the copy of rift.default.toml from the repository or start with only the settings you want to customize.

Explore the wiki

Start here Go deeper
Quick Start — installation and first launch Configuration reference — every setting, layout, and keybinding
App rules — automatically place, float, focus, or ignore windows CLI reference — query, control, subscribe, and persist layouts
Integrations — SketchyBar, Rust, Lua, and Mach IPC clients Project README — features, status, and community
Issue tracker — bugs, ideas, and fixes
Useful commands 
# Inspect Rift's current state
rift-cli query workspaces
rift-cli query windows
rift-cli query displays

# Control windows and workspaces
rift-cli execute window focus left
rift-cli execute workspace switch 2

# Watch for workspace changes
rift-cli subscribe mach workspace_changed

See the full CLI reference for all query, execute, subscription, service, and layout-persistence commands.

Community

Rift is developed in the open. Join the Rift Matrix room for discussion, configuration help, and announcements, or open an issue when you find a bug or have an idea.

Make your windows fit the way you think.

Clone this wiki locally