Amethyst0.25.0

Amethyst automatically places open Mac windows into a structured tiled layout, so users can work with several applications without positioning each window by hand. Designed along the lines of xmonad, it gives keyboard-oriented users a defined way to manage windows during coding, writing, research, and other multi-application work.

Users can cycle through several window layouts and disable individual layouts when they should not appear in the rotation. The default Tall layout puts one main window in a full-height pane on the left and stacks the remaining windows in a right-hand pane, splitting either pane into equal rows when necessary. A reversed Tall arrangement places the main pane on the right, while its rotated form puts the main pane across the top and the remaining pane below, splitting into columns when needed.

Another layout keeps a pinned main window visible while showing one swappable secondary window, adapting between horizontal and vertical tiling according to screen orientation. Amethyst also provides a three-column arrangement with the main pane on the left and additional panes in the middle and on the right. Its commands largely follow xmonad key combinations and use two modifier combinations, mod1 and mod2, with optional mod3 and mod4 combinations.

On macOS 10.15 or later, this System Tools utility supports Intel and Apple Silicon Macs; version 0.25.0 is freeware. For predictable keyboard navigation between Spaces, users should disable Mission Control’s default setting that automatically rearranges Spaces by most recent use, since it can cause Spaces to change places.