how to add a window switcher

If you’re a big fan of the command tab Application switcher, you might enjoy adding a window switcher to your list of keyboard hotkeys. The window switcher allows you to jump between different windows, both those of other apps and the same app with a hotkey like option tab, which sits nicely next to command tab in my muscle memory!

This is particularly useful if you have a couple of windows open in several applications, and it is much faster and neater than first using command tab and then command backtick to cycle through an app’s windows. Another advantage here is that the window switcher will include full screen and non-full screen windows in multiple spaces, which command backtick typically does not handle well, something I find particularly frustrating when using Xcode.

Adding a window switcher is easy and doesn’t require any hacking. It does require Hammerspoon, however. But if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll already have installed Hammerspoon after reading my earlier posts on it here and here and here. 🙂

With Hammerspoon up and running, adding the window switcher is just a case of cutting and pasting some code into your config file, saving it then reloading. You can use the default code in hs.window.switcher docs or use mine below. The default code is a bit ugly for my liking. Instead, I use the code below, which sets up the switcher’s ui as seen in the screenshots here with option tab and option-shift tab for shortcuts, but you can modify the appearance to suit your taste. As ever, the Hammerspoon docs are wonderfully clear and easy to follow (take a lesson, Apple!).

-- set up your windowfilter
switcher = hs.window.switcher.new() -- default windowfilter: only visible windows, all Spaces
switcher.ui.highlightColor = {0.4,0.4,0.5,0.8}
switcher.ui.thumbnailSize = 112
switcher.ui.selectedThumbnailSize = 284
switcher.ui.backgroundColor = {0.3, 0.3, 0.3, 0.5}
switcher.ui.fontName = 'System'
switcher.ui.textSize = 14
switcher.ui.showSelectedTitle = false

-- bind to hotkeys; WARNING: at least one modifier key is required!
hs.hotkey.bind("alt","tab",function()switcher:next()end)
hs.hotkey.bind("alt-shift","tab",function()switcher:previous()end)
--EOF



Adjust values such as shortcut bindings as you please, and that’s it. For two minutes work, you just added a very useful window switcher to macOS!

Enjoy! 😀

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