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OmniWMOmniWM

Quick Start

Install

Section titled “Install”

The fastest path is Homebrew:

Terminal window
brew tap BarutSRB/tap
brew install omniwm

Prefer Nix or a plain zip? The installation guide covers every method plus the full requirements (macOS 26+ Tahoe on Apple Silicon).

First launch

Section titled “First launch”
  1. Launch OmniWM from your Applications folder.
  2. In System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Mission Control, turn ON Displays have separate Spaces, then log out of macOS and back in for the change to take effect (skip the logout if it was already on). OmniWM pauses window management until this setting is enabled.
  3. Grant Accessibility and Input Monitoring in the launch permissions window.
  4. Optionally grant Screen Recording for capture-derived visuals such as Overview thumbnails.

Your windows now tile automatically in orientation-aware Niri containers: monitors using horizontal orientation show columns that scroll left and right, while vertical orientation shows rows that scroll up and down.

First hotkeys to try

Section titled “First hotkeys to try”
Shortcut What it does
Option + 1-9 Switch to workspace 1-9
Option + Arrow Keys Focus the window to the left / right / up / down
Option + Shift + Arrow Keys Move the focused window
Option + ` Toggle the Quake Terminal
Control + Option + Space Toggle the Command Palette
Option + Shift + O Toggle Overview

Every shortcut is customizable in Settings > Hotkeys; the complete list lives in Keyboard Shortcuts.

Where Settings lives

Section titled “Where Settings lives”

OmniWM is a menu-bar-only app: click its menu bar icon to open Settings or App Rules.

  • Enable Start at Login under Settings > General > Startup to launch OmniWM automatically when you log in.
  • Update behavior lives under Settings > General > Updates; run a manual check any time with Check for Updates... in the status bar menu.

The config file

Section titled “The config file”

Everything you set in the GUI is stored at ~/.config/omniwm/settings.toml. The file is live-reloaded when saved from an editor, so you can manage OmniWM from your dotfiles too. See Configuration.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”