macOS Window Management: How I Replaced 10+ Apps with Browser + Terminal

Struggling with macOS window management? I spent 6 months frustrated with slow animations, poor snapping, and constant app switching until I discovered a workflow that replaced 10+ desktop apps with just browser and terminal tools. Wanna learn more?

Introduction to something new

Do you remember that time when you just started with new OS and felt overwhelmed with things you wanted to handle differently? It's something I was dealing with for more than 6 months now, it was exactly after I switched to a Mac-primary workflow.

Everything was slow, most processes annoyed me and I wanted a change, so I made them and my current goal is sharing them with you readers. I shaped OSX to fit my needs a lot better and I couldn't be happier.

Important distinction — I'll provide you with countless apps/software that changed my life but the primary goal of this blog is to share the idea that you don't need an application for every website you visit.

The biggest eye-opener was understanding that most of the stuff I need can be done within a browser and terminal. Having distinct applications is still required for some specific work, but most of your messaging and work can be done through the web.

Why macOS annoys me so much

I was primarily a Windows user, so I had major beef with OSX in terms of the comfort with which I had to operate application windows. I can find more reasons to blame the system but let's tackle the most annoying stuff and fix it first.

1. Default Alt-Tab functionality.

2. Menu bar click only revealing the app but not hiding it on second click - Reddit

3. Poor window snapping.

Sounds basic, right? All the stuff that most people fix within the first weeks of OSX usage, but in my experience that's not really the case. The solutions you'll find change one thing but possibly break another. It's always a game of wins and losses, that's what annoys me the most about it—you can't just win.

That's why instead of fighting the macOS window system, we can just abandon it. Why would we fix something if we can replace it with better alternatives?

I stayed with the "app for every fix" approach for a long time and, honestly, it's a terrible way of working.

macOS—what gave me "the ick"

The final straw is the default desktop switching animation. How to disable sliding animation when switching desktops on Mac - YouTube

The integrated "Settings -> Accessibility -> Display -> Reduce Motion" option changes the animation but keeps it long and annoying. I don't like multi-app workflows. My eyesight is really bad and I require "one app per screen" layout, so I switch my desktops all the time second. At some point I found a solution within Animationless desktop switch - Feature Requests - BetterTouchTool. The only issue is this...

The solution you'll find change one thing but possibly break another.

I used Sidebar to fix issue #2 but after introducing Better Touch Tool to the mix Sidebar started breaking and not displaying itself on switched screens. Frustrating, right?

I'm tired boss, enough.

I picked the red pill: Aerospace

Abandon integrated window management—you'll never need it again. Now Aerospace handles all window positions, widths, heights, layouts, and screens. No stupid animations, no lags, no bugs, only customization challenges if you need a very specific workflow that doesn't align with the core application's vision.

Instead of listing all the features it contains, let's communicate that through the tools you'd use to fix the issues before.

1. Sidebar — You don't need the "press again to hide application" feature anymore. There's just no window overlapping. If you have more than two windows on the screen, they both show on the same screen and you don't really "hide" that often. Personally, I either send them to a different screen or close them until I need them later.

2. Rectangle — Just obsolete if you use Aerospace. All the functionality is already covered.

3. Better Touch Tool — I know that this app is much more powerful than plain window navigation, but I never used it for any kind of automation. I needed it to make standard macOS navigation bearable and disable desktop switch animation; now I don't really need it.

You expected more? No? Well, maybe it's just me who thought the list would be longer before actually writing it out, but hear me out!

Removing 3 applications and installing a single one is really good for your system's health. Having additional error surface is always the worse choice. Don't forget that all applications cost money too. So you're losing not only comfort but also money.

I don't think I want to go into the depths of Aerospace window management in this post. If you're interested in hearing more about it, leave a message in the comments.

For now, I recommend checking their nikitabobko/AeroSpace GitHub page and trying it out for yourself.

Having limited number of spaces introduced a new issue

What "limited number of spaces" even means, you'd ask? Well, switching desktops is done through keyboard primarily, and unfortunately the most straight-forward way of mapping spaces to the number row actually limits us to 12 keys, which means 12 spaces is our maximum. If you use multiple screens, this means that most likely you'll have x screens dedicated to your primary screen and y to the secondary one.

I've never really had an issue with having a lot of applications. I always thought. Why bother having everything within the browser if an application has more comfort, and in some cases that's still indeed true. The browser has its own limitations and sometimes the UI for specific stuff can differ, e.g. Discord screen sharing, Telegram web. But I felt no discomfort and didn't notice any limitations for the period I've been using everything in the browser.

As you guessed, having a dedicated app for everything quickly bloated my spaces

Let's list my default coding workflow when I just installed Aerospace.

Spaces 1 to 8 (included) — Primary screen. Spaces 9 to 12 (included) — Second screen.

Screen 1 —

1. Zen Browser (surfing, developing)

2. Terminal (kitty with tabs)

3. Zed or Windsurf (IDE depending on workflow)

4. DbGate (Database manager)

5. Marta File Manager or Finder

6. OrbStack (Docker)

7. NordPass (Password Manager)

8. Spark (Mail Client)

Badaboom Badabam—all your spaces are GONE

Let's check out the second screen too~

Screen 2 —

1. Zen Browser (surfing, developing) *Yeah, we need browser on different screens often

2. Discord

3. Telegram

4. Youtube Music (I used the dedicated app to have better controls over the volume)

And all the spaces are busy already. If I need a new app, what should I do? Buy a numpad and get my hands off the keyboard each time? Nah, sounds lame.

What if we abandon all the apps and put them into the browser? We already have 2 spaces dedicated to zen, so why not use them to the max extent?

But what about the apps that can't be replaced with the browser?

Well, it depends. Sometimes you need to make a sacrifice, sometimes accept the fact that it's inevitable and the app should stay. Let's analyze how I replaced the "edgy" ones.

• Kept the IDE and DB Manager in place. They're workflow-specific and don't bloat the system all the time. It's a fair sacrifice for what you get, and there's no real alternatives in the web.

• File manager? I thought I'd have to stick with the fact that most of the time it's an uncomfy experience without vim hotkeys, but then I found Yazi. A file manager CLI with vim keybinds and all the required functionality. I haven't used it for months yet, so I guess something will come up in the future, but we'll see. For now it's acting as a nice replacement for Finder. Keep the file manager in terminal so the space is free most of the time. Return to basics if terminal can't do that (most likely you just don't know how)

• You can easily eliminate a dedicated OrbStack instance by just running it headless, e.g. orb start. Then control it through the terminal. You won't have the UI in server environment anyway.

• Spark is an amazing mail client, but it felt overkill having it run all the time despite the fact that I open it every couple of days. The biggest killer feature is a unified inbox that includes all my emails, but sadly they don't have a web version yet. So I had to make a sacrifice... Searched for a while and the closest I found is Shortwave. No unified inbox, but quick switch between them and good enough UI. Sadly they have a limit to displaying only less than 90-day old emails (for free users), which can be tragic for most heavy mail users. Happily, I'm not one, so I switch to Gmail or phone's Spark client to find older emails.

Other apps migrated to my browser successfully, and now I have one instance of the browser/terminal in each of the screen, and my workflow is still as comfortable as before and even better. By using Vimium in my browser, it's possible to do minor operations on all the apps without getting my hands off the keyboard. This is the closest to a "mouse-independent" workflow that I want to achieve one day.

A big difference right? I'd say that having a tab for every application is even more convenient because:

1. If you want to go offline, you can just "unload" the tab. This keeps the application in the same spot but frees the RAM, practically leaving the page so it removes any notifications.

2. No app updates! You don't need to have annoying update messages because everything is up-to-date by default.

3. Now you can access the apps that don't have a desktop application in one place with the "cooler" ones. This means that your Google Calendar is finally getting some love.

The productive Aerospace workflow results

I don't have the numbers. I didn't really measure my old & new workflows to create a diagram or something. Let's just stick to feelings.

No more stupid long animations, no more application hoarding. Everything is in place, accessible, easy to keep in mind, and no unnecessary computer bloat.

My development speed went up not only because of the actual "window management" but also because this workflow allows me to keep my hands on the keyboard a lot more and my overall computer comfort skyrocketed.

What are your thoughts?

This workflow works for me, but it's fresh, sometimes not tested enough. If you're ahead count this message as an invitation to share your experiences in the comments section!

• What apps could you never replace with browser versions? Why?

• Are you trying to avoid mouse as much as possible? If not—why?

• How much time you spend configuring your workflow? What do you think about the process? It's a procrastination form or a step towards better future?

Drop your thoughts below~

And if you try this workflow, share your experience!