{"slug": "rectangle", "name": "Rectangle", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "Open-source macOS app for snapping and resizing windows with keyboard shortcuts.", "recommenders": 12, "commenters": 13, "warners": 0, "score": 11.16, "rising": 0.05, "first": "2026-01-11", "latest": "2026-09-22", "why": "Recommended as a must-install macOS window manager that snaps windows to screen halves or full screen with keyboard shortcuts, and as a clear improvement over macOS's native snapping.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 12, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 0, 4, 0, 1, 2, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Must-have install", "Keyboard snapping"], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "icon": true, "domain": "rectangleapp.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://rectangleapp.com/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Rectangle"], "verdict": [{"text": "Recommended as a must-install macOS window manager", "cites": [{"id": 745342416, "item_id": 46583901, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583901", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using https://rectangleapp.com and would not be able to use MacOS without it.", "excerpt": "Not sure if it replaces everything, but I have been using https://rectangleapp.com and would not be able to use MacOS without it.", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 760795360, "item_id": 47549710, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47549710", "by": "otikik", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this.", "excerpt": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this. I use only a few keypresses (maximize window, move to one of the halves of the screen horizontally) but that is enough. My mouse very rately interacts with the borders of any window, or those buttons. I had to click on the green one that you mentioned in order to see what it did (yuck). [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}, {"id": 778308006, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 778331115, "item_id": 48645694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48645694", "by": "unmanageduck", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Window management: Rectangle", "excerpt": "Package manager: Nix(alternative to homebrew) https://nixos.org/download/#nix-install-macos Package management: Nix-darwin https://github.com/nix-darwin/nix-darwin Browsers: - Librewolf https://librewolf.net - Tor https://www.torproject.org - Orion https://orionbrowser.com Video downloader: Yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp Video/audio player: Mpv https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv Video editor: LosslessCut http", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}]}, {"text": " that snaps windows to screen halves or full screen with keyboard shortcuts", "cites": [{"id": 763343728, "item_id": 47708983, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47708983", "by": "probabletrain", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use https://rectangleapp.com/ and enjoy it.", "excerpt": "I use https://rectangleapp.com/ and enjoy it. I have shortcuts to move windows to the left/right half of the screen, and cycle between monitors. This, combined with native cmd+tab and cmd+` is enough for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows-like window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Native Instant Space Switching on macOS"}, {"id": 760773008, "item_id": 47548313, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47548313", "by": "freetime2", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management.", "excerpt": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management. I only use three shortcuts: full screen, left half of the screen, and right half of the screen. My editors and Chrome are always running in one of these modes. But for other apps where interactions tend to be brief like Finder, Messages, Notes, Music, etc - yeah I don't usually expand them to full screen. [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}, {"id": 745342688, "item_id": 46583918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583918", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "excerpt": "Nice - I didn't know about that one! I just found out today that hovering over the green traffic light icon shows an arrange menu... but the \"maximize\" option there leaves some padding on all sides of the window - weird. I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}]}, {"text": ", and as a clear improvement over macOS's native snapping.", "cites": [{"id": 795748451, "item_id": 49734278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734278", "by": "SmasherEpilepti", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rectangle: Far better than the MacOS's native snapping, which is half-assed.", "excerpt": "Homebrew/nix: The most obvious one. MacOS just has no good package manager. It's even worse than Windows, which is also pretty bad, but at least on Windows you can install an app and manage it in a central \"Add and Remove Programs\" view, and they've standardized an installer format that cares about and manages versions and upgrades. Middle Click: This is a galling one. Rectangle: Far better than the MacOS's native sn", "context": "uses macOS at work, prefers KDE/Gnome", "use_case": "window snapping", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review"}, {"id": 796804593, "item_id": 49800287, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49800287", "by": "someguyiguess", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "excerpt": "They have one built in now and have had third party ones for over a decade. I used SizeUp to tile windows in Mac OS in 2013. Now the OS has it built in but I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "context": "", "use_case": "tiling windows on macOS", "switched_from": "SizeUp", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 791119328, "item_id": 49444958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49444958", "by": "Lio", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.", "excerpt": "I like Linux and used it as my daily driver for a long time but I find I\u2019m addicted to macOS\u2019 ctrl-scroll zoom feature as my eyesight deteriorates. I\u2019ve not found anything that works as smoothly for Gnome. So I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.", "context": "former daily Linux user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}]}, {"text": " It suits macOS users who would rather move windows with a few keypresses than with the mouse.", "cites": [{"id": 745342688, "item_id": 46583918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583918", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "excerpt": "Nice - I didn't know about that one! I just found out today that hovering over the green traffic light icon shows an arrange menu... but the \"maximize\" option there leaves some padding on all sides of the window - weird. I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 760795360, "item_id": 47549710, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47549710", "by": "otikik", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this.", "excerpt": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this. I use only a few keypresses (maximize window, move to one of the halves of the screen horizontally) but that is enough. My mouse very rately interacts with the borders of any window, or those buttons. I had to click on the green one that you mentioned in order to see what it did (yuck). [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}, {"id": 760773008, "item_id": 47548313, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47548313", "by": "freetime2", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management.", "excerpt": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management. I only use three shortcuts: full screen, left half of the screen, and right half of the screen. My editors and Chrome are always running in one of these modes. But for other apps where interactions tend to be brief like Finder, Messages, Notes, Music, etc - yeah I don't usually expand them to full screen. [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Must-have install", "summary": "Commenters list it among the first apps they install and say they could not use macOS without it.", "quotes": [{"id": 745342416, "item_id": 46583901, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583901", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using https://rectangleapp.com and would not be able to use MacOS without it.", "excerpt": "Not sure if it replaces everything, but I have been using https://rectangleapp.com and would not be able to use MacOS without it.", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 760795360, "item_id": 47549710, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47549710", "by": "otikik", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this.", "excerpt": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this. I use only a few keypresses (maximize window, move to one of the halves of the screen horizontally) but that is enough. My mouse very rately interacts with the borders of any window, or those buttons. I had to click on the green one that you mentioned in order to see what it did (yuck). [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}, {"id": 778308006, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}]}, {"label": "Keyboard snapping", "summary": "A few shortcuts for halves, full screen and moving between monitors cover most window management.", "quotes": [{"id": 763343728, "item_id": 47708983, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47708983", "by": "probabletrain", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use https://rectangleapp.com/ and enjoy it.", "excerpt": "I use https://rectangleapp.com/ and enjoy it. I have shortcuts to move windows to the left/right half of the screen, and cycle between monitors. This, combined with native cmd+tab and cmd+` is enough for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows-like window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Native Instant Space Switching on macOS"}, {"id": 760773008, "item_id": 47548313, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47548313", "by": "freetime2", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management.", "excerpt": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management. I only use three shortcuts: full screen, left half of the screen, and right half of the screen. My editors and Chrome are always running in one of these modes. But for other apps where interactions tend to be brief like Finder, Messages, Notes, Music, etc - yeah I don't usually expand them to full screen. [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}, {"id": 745342688, "item_id": 46583918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583918", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "excerpt": "Nice - I didn't know about that one! I just found out today that hovering over the green traffic light icon shows an arrange menu... but the \"maximize\" option there leaves some padding on all sides of the window - weird. I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}]}, {"label": "Beats native snapping", "summary": "Seen as better and more capable than macOS's built-in window snapping.", "quotes": [{"id": 795748451, "item_id": 49734278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734278", "by": "SmasherEpilepti", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rectangle: Far better than the MacOS's native snapping, which is half-assed.", "excerpt": "Homebrew/nix: The most obvious one. MacOS just has no good package manager. It's even worse than Windows, which is also pretty bad, but at least on Windows you can install an app and manage it in a central \"Add and Remove Programs\" view, and they've standardized an installer format that cares about and manages versions and upgrades. Middle Click: This is a galling one. Rectangle: Far better than the MacOS's native sn", "context": "uses macOS at work, prefers KDE/Gnome", "use_case": "window snapping", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review"}, {"id": 796804593, "item_id": 49800287, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49800287", "by": "someguyiguess", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "excerpt": "They have one built in now and have had third party ones for over a decade. I used SizeUp to tile windows in Mac OS in 2013. Now the OS has it built in but I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "context": "", "use_case": "tiling windows on macOS", "switched_from": "SizeUp", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 778426530, "item_id": 48651658, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48651658", "by": "speedgoose", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "AltTab and Rectangle to have more features to manage windows.", "excerpt": "Homebrew to get a package manager that is not managed by Apple and its many restrictions and high fees. AltTab and Rectangle to have more features to manage windows. Ghostty can replace Terminal.app though I think it leaks memory. Zen Browser is Firefox with an Arc inspired interface. It's slow and heavy but it blocks ads and trackers a bit better than Chromium based browsers, or Safari.", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}]}, {"label": "Fixes macOS UX", "summary": "Former Linux users say it fills gaps in macOS window handling.", "quotes": [{"id": 791119328, "item_id": 49444958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49444958", "by": "Lio", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.", "excerpt": "I like Linux and used it as my daily driver for a long time but I find I\u2019m addicted to macOS\u2019 ctrl-scroll zoom feature as my eyesight deteriorates. I\u2019ve not found anything that works as smoothly for Gnome. So I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.", "context": "former daily Linux user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 796804593, "item_id": 49800287, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49800287", "by": "someguyiguess", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "excerpt": "They have one built in now and have had third party ones for over a decade. I used SizeUp to tile windows in Mac OS in 2013. Now the OS has it built in but I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "context": "", "use_case": "tiling windows on macOS", "switched_from": "SizeUp", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}]}, {"label": "Free", "summary": "Praised for being free while outperforming Linux window managers one commenter tried.", "quotes": [{"id": 796804593, "item_id": 49800287, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49800287", "by": "someguyiguess", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "excerpt": "They have one built in now and have had third party ones for over a decade. I used SizeUp to tile windows in Mac OS in 2013. Now the OS has it built in but I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "context": "", "use_case": "tiling windows on macOS", "switched_from": "SizeUp", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "SmasherEpilepti", "context": "uses macOS at work, prefers KDE/Gnome", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734278", "date": "2026-09-16"}, {"by": "Lio", "context": "former daily Linux user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49444958", "date": "2026-08-26"}, {"by": "otikik", "context": "macOS user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47549710", "date": "2026-03-27"}, {"by": "paustint", "context": "macOS user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583918", "date": "2026-01-11"}], "tags": ["for macOS users", "for keyboard-driven workflows", "for multi-monitor setups", "Spectacle/SizeUp replacement"], "use_cases": ["window management", "window management on macos", "tiling windows on macos", "window snapping", "windows-like window management on macos"], "compared": [{"slug": "homebrew", "name": "Homebrew", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "spectacle", "name": "Spectacle", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "stats", "name": "Stats", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "alttab", "name": "AltTab", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "karabiner-elements", "name": "Karabiner-Elements", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "aerospace", "name": "AeroSpace", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "monitorcontrol", "name": "MonitorControl", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 759160592, "item_id": 47447537, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47447537", "by": "Waseemkhalo", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "That\u2019s why I built Rectangle. An AI shopping agent and researcher for tech & electronics", "excerpt": "You\u2019re probably overpaying for everything you buy online. Not because you\u2019re careless, but because it\u2019s impossible to check every site. The same product can vary 10\u201330% across retailers. The internet made shopping convenient. It never made it optimal. That\u2019s why I built Rectangle. An AI shopping agent and researcher for tech & electronics: - Ask anything about a product. - Compare across hundreds of retailers. - Add ", "context": "", "use_case": "AI shopping price comparison", "switched_from": "", "story": "You're probably overpaying for everything you buy online"}, {"id": 755640640, "item_id": 47227540, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47227540", "by": "Waseemkhalo", "date": "2026-03-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So I built Rectangle.", "excerpt": "When was the last time you walked into Best Buy, had a real question, and immediately found someone who could help you make the right decision? Exactly... Shopping for tech today usually means standing in the aisle researching on your phone, opening 12 tabs, reading endless reviews, maybe going home, watching comparison videos, and still wondering if you missed something or overpaid. So I built Rectangle. Rectangle i", "context": "", "use_case": "AI shopping for consumer electronics", "switched_from": "", "story": "Consumer Electronics AI-Shopping Agent"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643848", "title": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46579864", "title": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47547009", "title": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797982", "title": "I said no and Apple said yes", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49732036", "title": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49433292", "title": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 4}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 796804593, "item_id": 49800287, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49800287", "by": "someguyiguess", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "excerpt": "They have one built in now and have had third party ones for over a decade. I used SizeUp to tile windows in Mac OS in 2013. Now the OS has it built in but I find Rectangle to be superior. And it\u2019s free and much better than any window manager I\u2019ve tried in any Linux Distro.", "context": "", "use_case": "tiling windows on macOS", "switched_from": "SizeUp", "story": "I said no and Apple said yes"}, {"id": 795748451, "item_id": 49734278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734278", "by": "SmasherEpilepti", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rectangle: Far better than the MacOS's native snapping, which is half-assed.", "excerpt": "Homebrew/nix: The most obvious one. MacOS just has no good package manager. It's even worse than Windows, which is also pretty bad, but at least on Windows you can install an app and manage it in a central \"Add and Remove Programs\" view, and they've standardized an installer format that cares about and manages versions and upgrades. Middle Click: This is a galling one. Rectangle: Far better than the MacOS's native sn", "context": "uses macOS at work, prefers KDE/Gnome", "use_case": "window snapping", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review"}, {"id": 791119328, "item_id": 49444958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49444958", "by": "Lio", "date": "2026-08-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.", "excerpt": "I like Linux and used it as my daily driver for a long time but I find I\u2019m addicted to macOS\u2019 ctrl-scroll zoom feature as my eyesight deteriorates. I\u2019ve not found anything that works as smoothly for Gnome. So I keep going back to macOS with Rectangle to solve its UX issues.", "context": "former daily Linux user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apple introduces M6 and M5 Ultra"}, {"id": 789750496, "item_id": 49359406, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49359406", "by": "RALaBarge", "date": "2026-08-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use one called Rectangle", "excerpt": "The author mentions a few apps to control window positions. I use one called Rectangle, is there any benefit the other options might have that I am missing?", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "CapsLock Enhancement"}, {"id": 778426530, "item_id": 48651658, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48651658", "by": "speedgoose", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "AltTab and Rectangle to have more features to manage windows.", "excerpt": "Homebrew to get a package manager that is not managed by Apple and its many restrictions and high fees. AltTab and Rectangle to have more features to manage windows. Ghostty can replace Terminal.app though I think it leaks memory. Zen Browser is Firefox with an Arc inspired interface. It's slow and heavy but it blocks ads and trackers a bit better than Chromium based browsers, or Safari.", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 778411624, "item_id": 48650726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48650726", "by": "treetalker", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "- Rectangle", "excerpt": "- Alfred (launch bar extraordinaire) - Keyboard Maestro (automation) - TextSoap (clean text with various cleaners [regex etc] that can be saved and invoked on selected text, entire files, or batches of files throughout the system) - Klack is fun to add typing sounds (helps me stay in the zone) - Dark Noise for background noise (stay in the zone) \u2014 although MacOS has some background noise generation built in now - 1Bl", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 778331115, "item_id": 48645694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48645694", "by": "unmanageduck", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Window management: Rectangle", "excerpt": "Package manager: Nix(alternative to homebrew) https://nixos.org/download/#nix-install-macos Package management: Nix-darwin https://github.com/nix-darwin/nix-darwin Browsers: - Librewolf https://librewolf.net - Tor https://www.torproject.org - Orion https://orionbrowser.com Video downloader: Yt-dlp https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp Video/audio player: Mpv https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv Video editor: LosslessCut http", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 778308006, "item_id": 48644250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644250", "by": "CobaltFire", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/)", "excerpt": "Heres my list: Transnomino (https://www.transnomino.com/) StillColor (https://github.com/aiaf/Stillcolor) SublimeText (https://www.sublimetext.com/) Homebrew (https://brew.sh/) VLC (https://www.videolan.org/) Macs Fan Control (https://crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control) Rectangle (https://rectangleapp.com/) NetBird (https://netbird.io/) Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 763343728, "item_id": 47708983, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47708983", "by": "probabletrain", "date": "2026-04-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use https://rectangleapp.com/ and enjoy it.", "excerpt": "I use https://rectangleapp.com/ and enjoy it. I have shortcuts to move windows to the left/right half of the screen, and cycle between monitors. This, combined with native cmd+tab and cmd+` is enough for me.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows-like window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Native Instant Space Switching on macOS"}, {"id": 760795360, "item_id": 47549710, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47549710", "by": "otikik", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this.", "excerpt": "rectangle [1] is pretty much essential for me because of this. I use only a few keypresses (maximize window, move to one of the halves of the screen horizontally) but that is enough. My mouse very rately interacts with the borders of any window, or those buttons. I had to click on the green one that you mentioned in order to see what it did (yuck). [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}, {"id": 760773008, "item_id": 47548313, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47548313", "by": "freetime2", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management.", "excerpt": "I use Rectangle [1] for window management. I only use three shortcuts: full screen, left half of the screen, and right half of the screen. My editors and Chrome are always running in one of these modes. But for other apps where interactions tend to be brief like Finder, Messages, Notes, Music, etc - yeah I don't usually expand them to full screen. [1] https://rectangleapp.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)"}, {"id": 745342688, "item_id": 46583918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583918", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "excerpt": "Nice - I didn't know about that one! I just found out today that hovering over the green traffic light icon shows an arrange menu... but the \"maximize\" option there leaves some padding on all sides of the window - weird. I swear by https://rectangleapp.com/ - same outcome but with keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse.", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 745342416, "item_id": 46583901, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583901", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using https://rectangleapp.com and would not be able to use MacOS without it.", "excerpt": "Not sure if it replaces everything, but I have been using https://rectangleapp.com and would not be able to use MacOS without it.", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 745341664, "item_id": 46583854, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46583854", "by": "paustint", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use https://rectangleapp.com which has been a lifesaver.", "excerpt": "I use https://rectangleapp.com which has been a lifesaver. I only use the following three shortcuts and disable the rest: cmd+option+f = maximize to fill entire screen cmd+option+ctrl+left/right = move window to other monitor on left/right I occasionally use cmd+option+left/right if I need to have two windows side-by-side on the same monitor. MacOS window sizes have always felt weird to me - no easy way to maximize w", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "window management on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}, {"id": 745294624, "item_id": 46580914, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46580914", "by": "DevKoala", "date": "2026-01-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using Rectangle and Spectacle before it.", "excerpt": "I have been using Rectangle and Spectacle before it. Wanting to resize windows like in this article isn't natural to me anymore.", "context": "", "use_case": "window management", "switched_from": "Spectacle", "story": "The struggle of resizing windows on macOS Tahoe"}]}