Getting Started

This section covers everything you need to install tarmac, grant it the required permissions, and start tiling your windows.

Overview

tarmac runs as a background daemon on macOS. Once started, it:

  1. Discovers all open windows across all monitors
  2. Arranges them in a BSP (binary space partition) layout
  3. Listens for keyboard shortcuts to focus, swap, resize, and manage windows
  4. Accepts IPC commands over a Unix socket

Requirements

  • macOS 12 (Monterey) or later. Tested on Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, and Tahoe.
  • Apple Silicon or Intel Mac
  • Accessibility permissions (required for window manipulation)
  • Rust toolchain if building from source

Quick install

The fastest way to get started:

curl -fsSL https://tarmac.musicsian.com/install.sh | bash

Or via Homebrew:

brew tap gardesk/tap
brew install ers
brew install tarmac

See Installation for all installation methods.

After installing, grant Accessibility permissions and run tarmac. See First Run for details.