alt-tab-macos

alt-tab-macos brings the power of Windows' "alt-tab" window switcher to macOS.

Installation

Download the latest release and extract it in your Applications folder. If macOS refuses to run the application because it's from an unidentified developer, right-click the application, choose Open then click Open in the prompt that appears.

Compatibility

From macOS 10.12 to 10.15

Localization

The app is currently available in: English, Français, Deutsch, Español, 日本語

Contribute your own language easily!

Usage

• Press ⌥ option + ⇥ tab to shows the thumbnails.
• Hold ⌥ option and press ⇥ tab to select the next thumbnail.
• Hold ⌥ option and press ⇧ shift + ⇥ tab to select the previous thumbnail.
• Release ⌥ option to switch focus to the window.

Extra:

• You hover and click with the 🖱️ mouse.
• You cycle with ⇦ left arrow and ⇨ right arrow.
• You can cancel with ⎋ escape.

Configuration

• Change the shortcut key, switch to a Windows theme and more, using the Preferences window.
• If you like scriptable/portable configuration, you can edit ~/Library/Preferences/alt-tab-macos.json.

Contributing

• CONTRIBUTING.md gives an overview of the project for newcomers who want to contribute.
• Come discuss with us on the Discord server.
• Suggest an enhancement or discuss an issue on github.

Alternatives

Before building my own app, I looked around at similar apps. However, none was completely satisfactory so I rolled my own. Also, the almost-good-enough apps are not open-source.

Alternative	Differences
HyperSwitch and HyperDock	Closed-source. Thumbnails are too small. App icon is on top of the thumbnail
WindowSwitcher	7$. Thumbnails are small and blurry. App icon is on top of the thumbnail
Switch	Open Source. Thumbnails are small. Very little customization. Latest release is from 2016
Witch and Context	10-15$. Closed-source. Focus on text. No thumbnails
Built-in MissionControl	No keyboard support
⌘ command + ⇥ tab	Only shows apps, not windows (note: can press down to see window of selected app)
⌘ command + `	Cycles through tabs and windows, but only of the same app. Only cycling, no direct access

Building the project locally

This project has minimal dependency on Xcode-only features (e.g. InterfaceBuilder, Playgrounds). You can build it using 2 commands:

• pod install to fetch the dependencies with CocoaPods
• xcodebuild -workspace alt-tab-macos.xcworkspace -scheme Release to build the .app

Note that on debug builds, to avoid having to re-check the System Preferences > Security & Privacy permissions on every build, we use a code-signing certificate. You can generate one on your local machine in one step by running scripts/generate_selfsigned_codesign_certificate.sh.

If you want to contribute a PR, please run npm install once. It will add the pre-commit hook to ensure that your commits follow the convention and will pass the PR.

Screenshots

1 row

2 rows

Windows theme