AeroSpace

What it is for

AeroSpace is an i3-like tiling window manager for Mac: you split Finder beside Terminal, keep a tree of tiles, and the app is Free / MIT OSS. Use it when the job is a tile you start at a public $, not when you need Magnet’s App Store $4.99 snap only.

Soft-note: Free / MIT at nikitabobko/AeroSpace. Public beta / pre-1.0. Distinct from Magnet, Rectangle, and Raycast.

What makes it unique: the cover is AeroSpace’s official horizontal tiles (Finder on AeroSpa.xcodeproj, Terminal echo hello world, plus the guide’s Horizontal tiles tree) from h_tiles.png — not a wordmark. The Finder + Terminal split itself is ops of the tile.

Key features

• Tree tiling — horizontal / vertical containers (cover still; guide). One desk. Cover Finder + Terminal sit here.
• i3-inspired commands — focus / move / join in a tree (guide). Commands, not a Pro tile.
• Emulated workspaces — AeroSpace’s own spaces, not native macOS Spaces (README). A workspace, not a $0 meter.
• Plain-text config — default-config.toml / dotfiles (README). A file, not Get started.
• CLI + manpages — first-class CLI with shell completion (README). A CLI, not Enterprise.
• No SIP disable — tiling via Accessibility, not a kernel patch (README). Accessibility, not SSO.

Download / Install are CTAs (not desks). Free / MIT stay in Pricing. There is no AI extra to drop.

Who it's for

Best fit: Mac users who will stay on Free / MIT while they tile a first Finder + Terminal split — then keep it at $0, not Magnet $4.99 first unless they want App Store snap quarters, and not if they need a finished 1.0 (this is public beta).

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace (LICENSE.txt MIT; SPDX MIT) plus the guide.

• AeroSpace — Free / MIT OSS. Public beta until 1.0 (README: expect breaking changes).
• No paid SKU. Do not invent an AeroSpace $.

Limitations / costs

• Public beta / pre-1.0. Breaking config changes are in scope until 1.0.
• Accessibility-based tiling. Grant Accessibility; this is not a SIP-off kext.
• A tiling WM, not Magnet’s $4.99 snap quarters. For that App Store snap see Magnet.
• OSS MIT. We link the verified repo.

Alternatives

• Magnet — an App Store snap when you want $4.99 once for halves / thirds / quarters, not AeroSpace’s i3 tree.
• Rectangle — a Free OSS snap when you want $0 Snap Areas (Top Left), not a tiling WM.
• Raycast — a launcher + window commands when you want Free $0 / Pro $10, not a dedicated tiling tree.

Official tutorial

Official Nikita Bobko channel video (linked from the README as “YouTube 91 sec Demo”): AeroSpace tiling window manager for macOS Demo (oEmbed author: Nikita Bobko; author_url @nikita-bobko). First-party demo; the tiled Finder + Terminal still is the cover. We searched @nikitabobko (200, title Nikita Bobko), @nikita-bobko (200), @AeroSpace (200, title aerospace — not this product), and @AeroSpaceWM (404). We do not embed Josean Martinez’s guide (-FoWClVHG5g) — third-party, even though the README links it.

Written path: AeroSpace Guide plus github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace.

Website

https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is AeroSpace’s official horizontal-tiles still (Finder AeroSpa.xcodeproj + Terminal echo hello world + tree diagram) from nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/assets/h_tiles.png. Dollars checked on LICENSE.txt (Free / MIT; no paid SKU; public beta). Tutorial oEmbed author: Nikita Bobko (@nikita-bobko). GitHub: nikitabobko/AeroSpace (MIT).

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.