🖥️
A memory per monitor setup
Separate layouts for every combination of displays, recognised by the monitors themselves — resolution, scaling and arrangement included.
For macOS · Free beta
Your windows, carried home.
Window Hands remembers where every window lives on every monitor setup. When one shows up in the wrong place, tiny cartoon hands fly in, grab its corners and pull it right back.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon · Free · No account, no tracking
Unplug. Replug. Rearrange everything. Again.
Every time you dock, undock, present on a projector or wake your Mac at the office, macOS shoves your windows onto whatever screen is left — and forgets where they were. Window Hands doesn't.
How it works
- 1
Remembers
Learns where each window lives for each combination of displays — home desk, office, projector. Only spots you actually keep a window in for 30 seconds or more count.
- 2
Notices
Waits for a newly opened window to settle on its own. It never blocks a launch, never fights an app and never touches a window you're dragging.
- 3
Brings it back
Sends just the right crew: one hand for a corner, two for an edge, four for a trip across monitors — and the window always lands exactly where it belongs.
Small hands, big brain
A playful face on top of a careful window memory.
🗂️
Knows your projects
Two editor windows for two projects? Each gets its own spot, recognised from the project or document name in the title.
🧠
Learns, doesn't guess
Pinned spots win, then where you closed it, then your habits — weighted with a 14-day half-life. Quick temporary moves are ignored.
🙋
Takes a hint
Move a window away right after it was restored and the hands back off. Keep doing it and they stop pulling and just take notes. Apps that fight back win.
✋
Grab means stop
Grab the window mid-pull and the hands let go, shrug and fly off. ⌃⌥⌘Z undoes a restore, ⌃⌥⌘P pins a window where it is.
🔌
Unflappable
Monitor unplugged mid-pull, a swipe to another Space, lid closed — the hands pause, wait for things to settle and pick up where they left off.
🔒
Private by design
No network, no account, no analytics. Everything stays on your Mac, and effect plugins never see window titles or app names.
🎭
Nine effects, or surprise me
Classic hands, cat paws, a crane, balloons, a window that walks home, a gem-studded gauntlet… with sounds, adjustable speed, or a random one each time. Prefer it plain? Switch the hands off.
Coming soon On the workbench
📌
Pop-up & window rules
Show it once — “this app's dialogs always go here” — and it holds on every monitor setup. Video calls open on the laptop, chat lives on the right third.
🧩
Named layouts
One shortcut for “Coding”, “Meeting” or “Writing” — a team of hands moves your open windows into place, and you can undo it.
🤫
Quiet, automatically
Quiet mode already skips the hands, and follows macOS Reduce Motion. Next: it switches itself on while you share your screen or present.
⚡
Shortcuts & Raycast
A local command interface: a URL scheme, Apple Shortcuts actions and a Raycast extension to apply a layout or pin a window.
🤖
AI assistants, on your terms
An optional local MCP server so Claude, Cursor or VS Code can arrange your windows. Off by default, nothing leaves your Mac, and every move is visible and undoable.
🛍️
Plugin marketplace
Signed community effects, seasonal packs and creators you can support.
🪟
Windows 11
The same brain and the same plugins, in development for Windows 11.
📈
Hand mileage
“This month your hands carried 1,284 windows — 3.2 km.” Shareable cards included.
🐾
Your own character
Turn a photo of your cat into the paws that tidy your desk.
Go on, mess it up.
Drag the window anywhere or resize it from its corner, then let go. The dashed outline is where it lives. Grab it mid-pull to see the hands let go.
You're still the boss
Cute doesn't mean pushy. Pick how much help you want, per Mac or per app.
- Pull backThe default: hands bring windows home automatically.
- No handsPrefer it plain? The window just glides home along a dashed outline.
- Quiet modeNo hands, no animation: windows just move. Also on whenever macOS Reduce Motion is.
- Just take notesKeep learning, never move anything.
- Exclude appsSome apps are better left alone.
- ⌃⌥⌘PPin the current window's spot.
- ⌃⌥⌘ZUndo the last restore — the hands carry it back.
Trust, built in
Window Hands needs the Accessibility permission to move windows. Here's what it does with it — and what it doesn't.
🏠
Stays on your Mac
Memories live in a local database. The app makes no network connections at all.
🧪
Sandboxed plugins
Effects run in a tiny JavaScript sandbox — no files, network or processes, with strict time and memory limits.
🛟
Always lands
Plugins decide how, never where. If one misbehaves, the classic hands finish the job.
🔏
Signed & notarized Coming soon
Notarized releases and cryptographically signed official plugins, so you know what you're running.
Coming soon
Make your own hands
Soon you'll be able to design a pair of hands that's truly yours — your cat's paws, your team's mascot, your own doodles — and have them carry your windows home. We're building the tools right now.
Where it's heading
No dates, just direction. Watch the GitHub repository to follow along.
Now
- macOS beta with scene-aware memory
- 9 effects, sounds, quiet mode, undo & pins
- Open plugin SDK, docs and a live playground
Next
- Pop-up & window rules: “this app's dialogs always go here”
- Named layouts: “Coding”, “Meeting”, “Writing”
- Notarized releases with auto-update
- Signed plugins & an English app UI
Later
- Shortcuts, URL scheme & Raycast
- An optional local MCP server for AI assistants
- Plugin marketplace & community creators
- Windows 11
Questions
Is it free?
Yes — the beta is free. The plan is to keep the core (remembering and restoring your windows) free, and perhaps offer a Pro version with extras later.
Is it open source?
The plugin SDK, the docs, the official plugins' code and this website are open source (MIT) on GitHub. The app itself is free but closed source.
Why does it need the Accessibility permission?
macOS only lets an app see and move other apps' windows with Accessibility access. Window Hands uses it for exactly that, and nothing leaves your Mac.
macOS says it can't verify the app. What now?
The beta isn't notarized by Apple yet. After dragging it to Applications, open it once, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click “Open Anyway” (on macOS 14 and earlier you can also right-click the app and choose Open). Then grant the Accessibility permission when asked. It needs a Mac with Apple silicon for now.
Won't the animation get old?
You can speed it up, pick a calmer effect, switch the hands off for a plain dashed-outline glide, turn on quiet mode (no animation at all — it also follows macOS Reduce Motion), choose “just take notes”, or exclude apps.
Why isn't it on the Mac App Store?
It relies on a macOS API the App Store doesn't allow, so it's distributed directly from GitHub instead.
Spaces, full screen, Stage Manager?
Windows on other Spaces are handled when you switch to them; full-screen and minimised windows are left alone. Swiping away mid-pull pauses the hands until you come back.
Windows or Linux?
The brain is cross-platform Rust and plugins already run anywhere. A Windows 11 version is in development. Linux isn't planned for now: Ubuntu's default desktop is Wayland-only, which doesn't let outside apps move other apps' windows.
Can I make my own hands?
Soon! Designing your own hands is on its way — the plugin system that powers every effect here is already running. Community submissions will go through review and signing once the marketplace opens.