--- title: Nehir: a tiling window manager for macOS | daily.dev description: Nehir is a scrolling tiling window manager for macOS inspired by the Niri Wayland compositor's column layout paradigm. Windows are arranged in horizontally... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/nehir-a-tiling-window-manager-for-macos-wxuuvgzfv twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Nehir: a tiling window manager for macOS | daily.dev og:description: Nehir is a scrolling tiling window manager for macOS inspired by the Niri Wayland compositor's column layout paradigm. Windows are arranged in horizontally... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/nehir-a-tiling-window-manager-for-macos-wxuuvgzfv og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/wXuUvgzfV.png og:image:alt: Nehir: a tiling window manager for macOS og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Nehir: a tiling window manager for macOS **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 9 min read · 13 upvotes · 3 comments ## Summary Nehir is a scrolling tiling window manager for macOS inspired by the Niri Wayland compositor's column layout paradigm. Windows are arranged in horizontally scrolling columns, with features including workspace management, configurable window borders, a workspace bar, focus-follows-mouse, multi-monitor support, overview mode, a command palette, per-app layout rules, IPC via Unix socket, and TOML-based split configuration. It is an opinionated fork of OmniWM, narrowed to a single Niri-style layout engine. Installation is available via Homebrew or from source using mise. A developer mode with trace capture and runtime debugging tools is included for troubleshooting. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is Nehir and how does its window layout work on macOS? Nehir is a scrolling tiling window manager for macOS that arranges windows in columns which scroll horizontally, directly porting the interaction model from Niri, a scrollable tiling Wayland compositor. It includes automatic overflow tabbing when stacked windows can't fit at minimum heights, multiple workspaces, configurable window borders, a per-monitor status bar, and an IPC socket controlled via the nehirctl CLI tool. _Developers evaluating window managers can track new macOS tiling tools like Nehir on daily.dev._ ### How is Nehir related to OmniWM? Nehir is an opinionated fork of OmniWM, a general-purpose macOS tiling window manager, reusing its macOS window-management engine but narrowing it to a single Niri-style scrolling-column layout engine and dropping backward-compatibility baggage. Notable changes include split TOML configuration files, required layout animation (no toggle), configurable gesture scroll snap, and built-in runtime debugging and trace-capture tools. _Anyone comparing macOS tiling window manager forks can follow projects like Nehir and OmniWM on daily.dev._ ### How do I install Nehir on macOS? After its first release is published, Nehir can be installed via the guria/tap Homebrew tap using 'brew tap guria/tap' followed by 'brew install --cask nehir'. It requires Accessibility permissions granted under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility, or it can be built and installed locally using mise run package:release or mise run install. _Developers setting up new macOS tiling workflows can keep tabs on tools like Nehir via daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 17 comments across lobsters (as of 2026-09-14). **TL;DR:** Commenters are generally receptive to the scrolling tiling WM concept, with one active user praising Nehir as a focused, sane fork; the main friction is a philosophical debate about tiling WMs in general and a practical complaint about the lack of screenshots or videos on the project page. **Sentiment:** 55% positive · 30% mixed · 15% skeptical **The case for** - One commenter actively uses Nehir and praises it as a focused, stable fork after bad experiences with OmniWM and AeroSpace. - The scrolling/column layout paradigm (à la Niri/PaperWM) is appreciated by those who find traditional tiling too cramped with only a few windows. - Keyboard-driven workspace switching is highlighted as a major productivity win once muscle memory is established. **The pushback** - No screenshots or videos on the project page make it hard to evaluate before installing, which may deter potential users. - Multi-monitor support is questioned, with concerns that the recommended virtual monitor arrangement breaks normal mouse-based cross-display interaction. - Several commenters report bugs and rough edges in the broader macOS tiling WM ecosystem (AeroSpace, Paneru, OmniWM), raising implicit questions about Nehir's stability. **By community** - lobsters (mixed): Mostly a philosophical discussion about tiling WMs in general, with one enthusiastic Nehir user, some multi-monitor skepticism, and a pointed request for screenshots/videos before committing to install. **Hottest debate:** Whether requiring a non-standard virtual monitor arrangement to support keyboard-driven multi-monitor workflows is an acceptable trade-off or a fundamental usability regression for mouse users. **Open questions** - How does Nehir compare to Paneru in terms of stability and multi-monitor support? - Will the project maintain a focused scope and avoid the feature-creep issues that plagued OmniWM? - Are there plans to add screenshots or demo videos to the project page? **Highlights** > Nehir is my current window manager. I started my journey in alternative WMs on AeroSpace for a year or more, and it's excellent, but the lure of having a Niri-like scrolling window manager became too strong. Once it added Sequoia support, I used OmniWM for a number of months, but the pace of the project (partially fueled by LLM and partially by never saying no) just became untenable. Finally, when it removed Sequoia support, I had to move on. I found Nehir, which is a sane and focused fork and I'm loving it so far a few weeks in. > — [incanus on lobsters · 2 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/6ohotl/nehir_tiling_window_manager_for_macos#c_5sgtvj) > Will be giving this a try, as Aerospace is super buggy and frustrating for my very simple and limited feature set. I always get frustrated however when I see a _very_ visually focused product with no screenshots/videos showing it in use! I may end up installing this and immediately end up uninstalling it due to some UI annoyance I could have immediately seen from a 5 second video clip. Alternatively, and much more likely, I would just end up never installing something initially if I didn't have a quick insight into how it would behave after I had it up and running! > — [conor on lobsters · 3 points](https://lobste.rs/s/6ohotl/nehir_tiling_window_manager_for_macos#c_hzmlc9) > The nice thing is that we can all have the paradigm that works for us. The "standard" tiling paradigm has never worked for me because I tend to have 3-5 windows open at a time and that just ends up squishing the windows too small to be useful. With overlapping windows I find that I spend too much time mousing around to move them into the desired positions for whatever I'm doing now. Since I started using PaperWM, and then niri, I've felt like I'm far less distracted with window management. I've got the movement commands committed to muscle memory now, so flipping things to where I want them is almost automatic. I also don't need to touch the mouse as much. But, and I can't stress this enough, that fits the way I work. It doesn't have to make sense to anybody else. Though, clearly, it does since there's enough fans of that model to support multiple compositors/window managers/etc. > — [jzb on lobsters · 1 points](https://lobste.rs/s/6ohotl/nehir_tiling_window_manager_for_macos#c_di4a68) > But also the aim of the whole thing is to relieve you from having to move your mouse outside of a single window, so it may be a sensible workaround for the target audience. Though the fact that that's the state of window management on Mac, is the reason why I personally will never use one, even if an employer provided the machine. > — [hjvt on lobsters · 2 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/6ohotl/nehir_tiling_window_manager_for_macos#c_tlfkxy) **Source threads** - [lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/6ohotl/nehir_tiling_window_manager_for_macos) · 9 points · 17 comments ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@gluckman** · 0 upvotes > Going to show this post some love, though I can not stand this type of window manager. Great job y'all. I would love to eventually see something more a kin to hyprland make it's way to mac. I know there are some similar, but not a feature rich yet. **@agustinbarrientos** · 0 upvotes > I'd add one panic shortcut that centers every managed window before I trust the parking logic. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Day to Day Window Management Workflows and Why I Picked niri — Nick Janetakis](https://daily.dev/posts/day-to-day-window-management-workflows-and-why-i-picked-niri-nick-janetakis-7ogcg8x7r) · Nick Janetakis · 13 upvotes · 1 comments - [I Finally Tried Niri, The New Way Of Tiling Linux Users Are Going Crazy About](https://daily.dev/posts/i-finally-tried-niri-the-new-way-of-tiling-linux-users-are-going-crazy-about-foaxkbwok) · It's Foss · 103 upvotes · 19 comments - [How Is niri This Good? Live Demo \+ Config — Nick Janetakis](https://daily.dev/posts/how-is-niri-this-good-live-demo-config-nick-janetakis-0zkbipqvy) · Nick Janetakis · 72 upvotes · 7 comments - [The Dank Case For Scrolling Window Managers](https://daily.dev/posts/the-dank-case-for-scrolling-window-managers-dli79qinq) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#swift](https://daily.dev/tags/swift), [#mac](https://daily.dev/tags/mac), [#window-manager](https://daily.dev/tags/window-manager) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/nehir-a-tiling-window-manager-for-macos-wxuuvgzfv) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Nehir: a tiling window manager for macOS","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/nehir-a-tiling-window-manager-for-macos-wxuuvgzfv","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/nehir-a-tiling-window-manager-for-macos-wxuuvgzfv"},"datePublished":"2026-08-05T11:51:36.940Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:54:18.788Z","description":"Nehir is a scrolling tiling window manager for macOS inspired by the Niri Wayland compositor's column layout paradigm. 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Great job y’all. I would love to eventually see something more a kin to hyprland make it’s way to mac. I know there are some similar, but not a feature rich yet.","datePublished":"2026-08-11T15:45:33.068Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/wXuUvgzfV#c-s3H97bsUT","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrew Glück","url":"https://daily.dev/gluckman","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--7jHKYJQ2--/f_auto/v1779811097/avatars/avatar_MYiFfZ9Be5vN7O84wHRuq?_a=BAMAMiWQ0"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I’d add one panic shortcut that centers every managed window before I trust the parking logic.","datePublished":"2026-08-12T00:44:37.457Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/wXuUvgzfV#c-oK2vyHOTr","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Agustin Barrientos","url":"https://daily.dev/agustinbarrientos","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--5ayxQnqn--/f_auto/v1788281802/avatars/avatar_wQYYVe5Tbj0NJ7C7qPoa8?_a=BAMAMicg0"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/nehir-a-tiling-window-manager-for-macos-wxuuvgzfv#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is Nehir and how does its window layout work on macOS?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Nehir is a scrolling tiling window manager for macOS that arranges windows in columns which scroll horizontally, directly porting the interaction model from Niri, a scrollable tiling Wayland compositor. 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