FazerWM
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Your First Hour with FazerWM

This is a hands-on tour. When you finish, you will navigate columns, organize workspaces, resize columns, and adjust FazerWM to your work.

💡 Before you start

Complete the Setup Assistant first. See First Launch. The assistant grants the permissions and configures your Hyper key. The steps below assume that the Hyper key works. By default, hold Right Shift+Right Option together. Or use Caps Lock if you mapped it with Karabiner.

This tutorial is for the free tier. A few bonus steps are Pro features. These steps are marked PRO. You can skip them, or you can try them during your free Pro trial. You do not have to read other pages first. The tutorial links to other pages when you want more detail.

Step 1: Meet the columns

FazerWM arranges windows in an infinite horizontal strip of columns. Try it:

  1. Open three apps. For example, open a browser, a terminal, and one other app (Notes, Finder, or any app).
  2. Each app becomes its own column. The columns sit side by side. They fill the screen with even gaps. You do not arrange them manually.
  3. Press Hyper+→ a few times. Then press Hyper+←. The focus moves from column to column. The focused window always moves fully on screen.
  4. Open a fourth window. The window appears in a new column after the focused column. The layout grows to the right without a limit.
✅ You just learned

Windows tile into columns automatically. Hyper + the arrow keys moves the focus. New windows are added after the focused column. Off-screen windows are parked. Parked windows stay open, but they are scrolled out of view.

For more detail, read Scrollable Column Tiling later.

Step 2: Stack windows in one column

A column can hold more than one window. The windows stack vertically.

  1. Focus a column. Press Hyper+LShift+→. The focused window merges into the column on the right. Now two windows share one column, one on top and one on the bottom.
  2. Press Hyper+↑ and Hyper+↓ to move the focus between the stacked windows.
  3. Press Hyper+LShift+LOption+← to pull the window back out into its own column.
💡 The modifier rule

The FazerWM modifiers always have the same meaning. Hyper alone means focus or view. Hyper+LShift means window. Hyper+LOption means column. Hyper+LCmd means display. Remember this rule, and you can guess the rest. For the full table, see Keybindings.

Step 3: Workspaces, by number

Each workspace is its own infinite strip. You get nine workspaces on each display. Any workspace is one keystroke away.

  1. Press Hyper+2. You are now on an empty Workspace 2. Your windows stay safe on Workspace 1.
  2. Open a window here. The window tiles into this workspace only.
  3. Move the window back to Workspace 1. Focus the window and press Hyper+LShift+1. This moves the window to workspace 1. To move a whole column, press Hyper+LOption+1.
  4. Press Hyper+1 to go back. Your window is there.
✅ You just learned

Hyper+1 through Hyper+9 switches workspaces. Hyper+' / Hyper+/ steps to the previous or next workspace. Hyper+LShift+n moves a window to a workspace. Hyper+LOption+n moves a column to a workspace.

Step 4: Resize without the mouse

Columns resize to four preset widths: 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%.

  1. Focus a column. Press Hyper+LOption+= to grow it a few times. Then press Hyper+LOption+- to shrink it. Each press steps to the next width. The column remembers the width.
  2. Press Hyper+F to toggle the full width. The column fills the whole tiled area. The other columns scroll away. Press Hyper+F again to restore the layout.
  3. Now use the mouse. Move the pointer to the left or right edge of a column and drag. The neighbor columns stay in place. The resized column takes or releases the space.
✅ You just learned

Grow or shrink a column with Hyper+LOption+= or Hyper+LOption+-. Use Hyper+F for the full width. Drag an edge for freeform resizing.

Step 5: The Overview

See everything at a glance. Rearrange the windows with the mouse.

  1. Press Hyper+Tab. Each workspace shrinks to a live thumbnail. The focused window is highlighted.
  2. Use the ← → ↑ ↓ keys to move the selection across all thumbnails. Press Return or Esc to focus the selected window and to close the overview.
  3. Open the overview again. Drag a window thumbnail onto a different workspace. Release the mouse button. The window moves there. Drop a window between two workspaces to start a new column. Drop a window below the last workspace to make an empty workspace.
💡 Everything still works here

All hotkeys still work while the overview is open. You can move columns, switch workspaces, or toggle the full screen. The overview refreshes right away. The overview is a live editor, not a frozen picture.

Step 6: Switch windows fast (alt-tab, FazerWM-style)

A recent-windows switcher works with the overview.

  1. Tap LOption+Tab repeatedly. Thumbnails of your most recent windows appear. Release the keys to focus a window.
  2. Hold LShift too (LOption+LShift+Tab) to go backward.
  3. To cycle only the windows of one app, use LOption+`.

Bonus steps PRO

These steps are Pro features. Try them during your free Pro trial. Or skip to the recap.

Bonus A: Tabbed columns

Stack windows as tabs instead of a top and bottom split.

  1. Focus a column with two stacked windows. Press Hyper+T. The windows change into tabs. Only the active tab is visible. An indicator shows on the left.
  2. Move the pointer over a tab to see a live thumbnail (if it is enabled). Click a tab to switch. Or use Hyper+↑ or Hyper+↓.
  3. To pull a tab back out as its own column, press Hyper+LShift+LOption+→. This extracts the tab to the right.

For more detail, see Tabbed Columns.

Bonus B: Make a window rule

Tell FazerWM to handle one app the same way each time. This example pins Safari to its own workspace and to a fixed width.

  1. Open Settings → Named Workspaces. Make a named workspace called browser.
  2. Go to Settings → Window Rules and add a rule. Under Match, click Pick App and choose Safari. Under Actions, set the workspace to browser and set the width to 80%.
  3. Quit Safari and open it again. Safari moves to browser at 80% width each time, automatically.

The rule is YAML:

windowRules:
  - name: Safari on browser
    match:
      appId: com.apple.Safari
    workspace: browser
    width: 80%

For more detail, see Window Rules and Configuration Reference for every key.

Bonus C: A trackpad gesture

Bind a 3-finger swipe so your hands stay on the trackpad. First, turn off the macOS gesture that conflicts. Open System Settings → Trackpad → More Gestures. The Gestures tab detects the conflict for you.

gestures:
  bindings:
    focusWindowLeft: 3-left
    focusWindowRight: 3-right

Save the config. It reloads automatically. A 3-finger swipe now focuses the neighbor column.

For more detail, see Trackpad Gestures.

Recap: what you can now do

Where to go next