Changelog

#Unreleased

Nothing yet.

#0.1.2

Released November 2, 2026.

#Fixes

• After waking from sleep, windows from other workspaces no longer move to the current one. Some apps rebuild their windows on wake, which mielwm took for new windows. Now a window that comes back goes back to its workspace and place.
• Menu bars that show mielwm's workspaces no longer miss those windows for up to ten seconds after waking.
• Settings has less space above the search field and above each pane, and more between the search field and the list.

#0.1.1

Released October 30, 2026.

#On screen

• Switching workspaces shows the workspace numbers at the bottom of the display for a moment, with the current one filled. Turn it off in Settings > Menu bar.
• Going to a stack, or bringing another of its windows to the front, shows a strip at the top with each window's icon and title and where you are, like "2 of 4".
• Stacks can show the edges of the windows behind the front one. Set Peek edges in Settings > Layout.
• The overview's search field, results, shortcuts sheet, key hints, toasts and the ⌥Tab switcher are drawn by macOS itself. On macOS 26 they're Apple's own Liquid glass and bend the canvas behind them.
• Settings > Appearance > Glass style picks Liquid glass, the default on macOS 26, or Frosted, the blur of earlier versions, for every panel and notice.
• The overview's search field is a capsule, like Spotlight, with the results in their own card just below it.
• The overview's panels have the continuous corners of macOS, and keys show as light capsules.
• Tidy windows from the menu bar, and other actions outside the overview, show their message on screen. Before, it only showed in the overview.
• VoiceOver says the workspace you switch to, the app selected in the ⌥Tab switcher, messages like "Tidied 4 windows", and in the overview the selected window, its app and its place among the search results.

#Workspaces and layouts

• ⌥ arrows and ⌥⇧ arrows stop at the edge of the workspace, as in AeroSpace. Turn on Settings > Layout > Focus and move past the edge to keep going into the next one.
• A new workspace-back-and-forth action goes to the workspace you were on before. It has no key by default, since ⌥Tab is the window switcher. Turn on Settings > Layout > Workspace key goes back, and the key of the workspace you're on does the same.
• Window rules can match an app's name or a window's title, so a Picture-in-Picture or splash window can float or open on a fixed workspace. They live in the config file.
• resize takes an amount and a side, like AeroSpace's resize smart +100 or resize width -50.
• Close and minimize the focused window from a shortcut or the command line. Neither has a key by default.
• Import from AeroSpace also brings over rules by app name or title, workspace-back-and-forth, close, macos-native-minimize, resize with any amount, and --auto-back-and-forth. ⌥Tab stays the window switcher.
• The top gap leaves room for a status bar only on displays that have one. Without one, external displays get the same 12 point top gap as the built-in display instead of 54. Settings > Layout > Top edge also offers Same as other edges and Custom, and a number already in your config keeps working as Custom.

#Settings and the menu bar

• The Settings window looks and reads like System Settings: a search field in the sidebar that finds panes and settings, a header on each pane, and pictures to click for the layout, the orientation, the grid style and the menu bar item.
• Settings has new panes, so each setting is where you'd look for it: Windows, Overview, Trackpad & mouse, Menu bar, AeroSpace and About. Every setting keeps its name in the config file.
• The gaps diagram is a small desktop that redraws as you type. Pointing at a gap's field lights up that gap with its size.
• Shortcuts show as light key caps, and a search field in Settings > Keyboard finds one by name.
• Settings > Trackpad & mouse sets the keys you hold to move and resize windows, and how fast the overview pans and zooms. These were in the config file only.
• On macOS 26 and later, mielwm's windows use the system's current look, with the new sidebar, grouped rows and controls.
• Settings > AeroSpace > Work with AeroSpace-compatible apps lets status bars built for AeroSpace, like Barik, show mielwm's workspaces. It works with any of them, and edits Barik's config only when there is one.
• The menu bar item can show all workspaces, the current one only, or the icon. Turning on Work with AeroSpace-compatible apps switches All workspaces to the icon.
• The menu lists each workspace with windows, with its apps' icons and a check on the current one. Click one to go there.
• The menu warns when secure input is on, since mielwm's shortcuts don't work while it is.
• About mielwm in the menu opens Settings > About, with the version and links to the website, docs, changelog and source.
• The welcome window lists its two permissions the way Privacy & Security does, with a badge on each one you allowed.

#Windows stay where they belong

• Closing, minimizing or hiding the focused window keeps you on the same workspace. The most recent window on screen takes focus.
• An app that resizes its own window, like an Electron app restoring its size, no longer shifts the split between tiles. Only dragging an edge does.
• A tiled window you drag away goes back to its tile when you let go, every time.
• A window from another workspace that its app keeps putting back on screen is tucked away again after a short wait.
• A window whose app refuses its tile size settles at the size it wants, instead of being resized again each time the app reports a move.
• With displays of different widths, a display never shows part of the workspace next to it.
• Switching workspaces no longer flashes the old windows over the new ones, and no longer leaves windows behind when their apps are slow to answer. A move an app misses gets sent once more.
• mielwm reads every app's window list again every 10 seconds and when you switch to an app. A window that opened while its app was busy gets picked up, and a closed window no longer leaves an empty tile.
• Apps that start slowly or turn into regular apps later get their windows managed. Windows that open as a dialog and become normal windows later get tiled.
• Apps already hidden when mielwm starts no longer hold empty tiles.
• After the Mac wakes from sleep, windows go back to their tiles on their own.
• After a restart, windows find their places even when their title changed, like a browser tab.
• Leaving macOS full screen, like a full screen video, no longer flashes two desktops side by side.
• Quitting while an app is busy no longer leaves its windows in a screen corner. The watcher brings them back after mielwm exits.

#Fixes

• After you click the desktop, a dialog or an app mielwm leaves alone, window keys like ⌥T no longer act on the last window you used.
• After Esc closes the overview, the window you were on keeps the keyboard.
• Closing the welcome window no longer leaves the menu stuck on Waiting for permissions. Without Accessibility, mielwm stays paused, and Resume mielwm opens the window again.
• If Restart mielwm in the welcome window can't start the new copy, mielwm stays open instead of quitting.
• The menu keeps warning that shortcuts need the Accessibility permission after the config file changes.
• Settings > Windows shows and keeps a workspace rule for a workspace past 9, like com.x=12.
• A display plugged in, removed or rearranged while mielwm starts is picked up at once.
• Pausing or quitting mielwm while you type or click can no longer crash it.
• Key caps look the same everywhere. The ones in desktop toasts were too faint on glass.
• Counts read "1 window" and "1 floating app", not "1 windows". Text uses straight quotes and plain hyphens, like ⌘1-9.
• Messages and search results show the keys that work there: ⌘1 to ⌘9 for search results and ⌘⇧Z to redo in the overview.
• mielwm refresh also reads every app's window list again.

#Performance

• mielwm uses about 40 MB less memory at rest. It keeps the desktop picture once instead of twice.
• The overview uses about half the CPU while your windows sit still, and switching workspaces uses less too.
• The aerospace command that status bars run many times a second uses about a third less CPU per call.
• Holding ⌃⌥ to drag a window no longer starts the overview's window pictures. With the default ⌃⌥G, the overview can take up to 0.12 seconds longer to open while it gets fresh pictures.

#0.1.0

Released October 27, 2026. The first release.

#Workspaces and layouts

• Workspaces 1 to 9 sit side by side on one endless canvas. ⌥1 to ⌥9 go to one, and ⌥⇧1 to ⌥⇧9 move the focused window there.
• Each workspace tiles its windows, stacks them at full size, or lets a window float where you put it.
• Gaps of 8 points between windows and 12 around the edge by default, like AeroSpace, with a separate top gap for displays other than the built-in one.
• Workspace rules send an app's windows to a fixed workspace, and floating apps always float.
• Fill, fullscreen and pin for the focused window, plus grow, shrink and swapping tiles.
• Works across several displays. The workspace you go to opens on the display under the pointer.

#The overview

• ⌃⌥G zooms out to every window as a live picture, through a curved lens that bends the edges of the canvas.
• Type to search window titles and app names, then Return to go or ⇧Return to bring the window to you.
• Pan, zoom, frame a window, tidy floating windows onto a grid, and undo or redo moves.
• A minimap of the whole canvas, and a sheet listing every key with ⌘/.

#Keyboard, trackpad and mouse

• AeroSpace's default keys wherever AeroSpace has the same action.
• ⌥Tab goes back to the last window, or shows a recent-windows switcher while you hold ⌥.
• Three-finger swipes switch workspaces, with a click you can feel on Force Touch trackpads.
• ⌃⌥ with a drag moves or resizes any window, and a middle-button drag pans the canvas.

#Settings and the menu bar

• A Settings window with General, Layout & workspaces, Keyboard, Appearance and Advanced panes.
• A shortcut recorder that catches conflicts with other actions and with macOS's own shortcuts.
• A live preview of the overview on the Appearance pane, with accent colors, lens strength, background and grid.
• The menu bar shows which workspaces have windows. Pause hands every window back to macOS until you resume.
• Every setting lives in ~/.config/mielwm/config.json, which reloads as soon as you save it and lists its errors in the menu.

#AeroSpace and Barik

• Import from AeroSpace reads your gaps, layout, rules and key bindings. The first launch imports the gaps, layout and rules on its own.
• mielwm notices a running AeroSpace and offers to quit it.
• Work with Barik lets Barik's menu bar show mielwm's workspaces, with no change to Barik.

#Windows stay safe

• Quitting, pausing or logging out puts every window back on a screen. After a crash, a small watcher does the same.
• Windows come back to their places on the canvas after a restart.
• mielwm --unpark brings every window back by hand, if all else fails.

#Install and performance

• A signed DMG. Every release is signed with the same identity, so macOS keeps your permissions across updates.
• The mielwm command controls the running app from a terminal or a script.
• About 0.01% of one CPU core and 90 MB of memory at rest.