Tile Me

Tile Me is a lightweight native macOS menu bar app for tiling and organizing windows. It uses Swift, SwiftUI, and macOS Accessibility APIs to move the focused window into recursive split-tree layouts across one or more displays.

Project Overview

Tile Me is built for a menu bar-first workflow:

• assign layouts per display
• move the focused window into a chosen tile
• maximize the focused window
• move windows between displays
• trigger actions from native global shortcuts or the menu bar
• keep settings local, compact, and efficient

The codebase stays split into clear native layers:

• TileMe/App: app startup, release experience, menu bar wiring, and workflow coordination
• TileMe/UI: menu bar UI, welcome/onboarding UI, preferences UI, and shared SwiftUI components
• TileMe/Domain: recursive layout engine, display logic, workspace assignment logic, and shortcut models
• TileMe/Infrastructure: Accessibility control, hotkey registration, persistence, and system integrations

Features In v1.0.5

• native macOS menu bar app with a restrained Settings window
• built-in preset families: 1x2, 2x1, and grids from 2x2 through 5x5
• recursive split-tree layout engine ready for uneven and nested layouts
• per-display layout assignment, copy, and mirror behavior
• focused-window tiling, maximize, and next-display actions
• directional tile traversal and direct tile shortcuts with visible-frame-aligned grid movement and corrected offset-display Accessibility coordinate conversion
• lightweight GitHub release update checks with browser handoff
• local persistence for layouts, assignments, and shortcuts
• first-run welcome, quick start help, and Accessibility onboarding

Permissions

Tile Me requires Accessibility permission on macOS before it can inspect or move another app's windows.

Without this permission, you can still:

• open the app
• inspect display assignments
• configure layouts
• edit shortcuts

With permission enabled, Tile Me can:

• inspect the focused window
• move or resize supported windows
• apply tile, maximize, and display-move actions from the menu bar or global shortcuts

Enable permission in:

• System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility

Tile Me includes direct buttons to request access, open the right System Settings pane, and refresh permission status.

Quick Start can be reopened later from Help / Quick Start… in the menu bar or from Settings. Update checks can be triggered later from the menu bar or Settings.

Install Tile Me

1. Download the DMG.
2. Open it.
3. Drag Tile Me to Applications.
4. Open Tile Me from Applications.

If macOS blocks the app:

Because this release is not signed and notarized, macOS may warn that Tile Me is from an unidentified developer. If you trust the release source:

1. Try to open Tile Me once.
2. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security.
3. Scroll to the Security section.
4. Click Open Anyway for Tile Me.
5. Confirm that you want to open it.

Future signed and notarized releases may improve the first-open experience.

Build From Source

Requirements:

• macOS with Xcode installed
• command-line access to xcodebuild

The included scripts automatically use the standard Xcode developer directory when it is available.

Build:

./Scripts/build.sh

Run:

./Scripts/run.sh

This builds the app and opens Tile Me.app.

Test:

./Scripts/test.sh

Package a release build:

./Scripts/package-release.sh

Known Limitations

• v1.0.5 ships built-in layouts only; there is no dynamic freeform tiling editor yet
• nested uneven layouts are supported by the engine, but not yet exposed as user-editable presets in the UI
• dense layouts up to 5x5 are supported, but some macOS app windows may clamp or resist very small tile sizes
• some macOS windows cannot be moved or resized through Accessibility APIs
• fullscreen-style behavior is implemented as visible-frame maximize placement in v1.0.5

Troubleshooting

• If Accessibility looks enabled in System Settings but Tile Me still reports trusted=false when run from Xcode, test the built Tile Me.app directly from Finder and approve that exact binary in Accessibility. Xcode-launched builds may require separate approval entries.

Support

• Open Support… from the menu bar or Settings for release help, feedback, and support links.
• Support development on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/moontheripper
• Report bugs or send feature requests by email: mailto:[email protected]
• Optional GitHub links for advanced users:
  • Project: https://github.com/moontheripper/Tile-Me
  • Issues: https://github.com/moontheripper/Tile-Me/issues

Roadmap

• v1.1.0 is planned to introduce dynamic custom and freeform tiling on top of the existing recursive split-tree engine