Yabai: Turning macOS into a Tiling Window Manager

Date: 2025-11-24 Tags: macOS, Productivity, Tiling, Yabai

Introduction

macOS’s window management is… lacking. Yabai brings the power of Linux tiling window managers (like i3 or bspwm) to the Mac. It automatically arranges your windows, allowing for a mouse-free workflow.

1. The SIP Dilemma (System Integrity Protection)

To fully unleash Yabai (instant space switching, removing window shadows), you must disable parts of SIP.

Safe Route: Keep SIP on. Yabai works, but some advanced features (scripting addition) are disabled.
Power User Route: Disable SIP (csrutil disable), install the scripting addition, then re-enable SIP with debug restrictions (csrutil enable --without fs --without debug).

Warning: Disabling SIP lowers system security. Only do this if you understand the risks.

2. Installation & Configuration

Install via Homebrew:

brew install koekeishiya/formulae/yabai
brew install koekeishiya/formulae/skhd

.yabairc

Configuration lives in ~/.yabairc.

# Layout
yabai -m config layout bsp
yabai -m config window_gap 10

# Borders (Aesthetics)
yabai -m config window_border on
yabai -m config window_border_width 2
yabai -m config active_window_border_color 0xff3b82f6 # Blue
yabai -m config normal_window_border_color 0xff555555

3. Hotkeys with skhd

Yabai doesn’t handle keys. You need skhd. Config: ~/.skhdrc.

# Focus window
alt - h : yabai -m window --focus west
alt - j : yabai -m window --focus south
alt - k : yabai -m window --focus north
alt - l : yabai -m window --focus east

# Move window
shift + alt - h : yabai -m window --warp west
shift + alt - j : yabai -m window --warp south

# Float / Unfloat
alt - t : yabai -m window --toggle float

4. Workflow Integration

Spaces (Virtual Desktops)

Assign apps to specific spaces.

Space 1: Terminal (iTerm2 / Alacritty)
Space 2: Browser (Arc / Firefox)
Space 3: Communication (Discord / Slack)

Scripting

Yabai allows querying window state via JSON.

yabai -m query --windows --space | jq '.[].app'

You can build custom status bars (like SketchyBar) using this data.

Conclusion

Once you go tiling, you never go back. Yabai makes macOS feel like a true hacker’s workstation.