✨ BetterTabbing

⚡ A fast, keyboard-driven CMD+TAB replacement for macOS with window-level switching and fuzzy search.

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🚀 Features

• 🪟 Window-level switching — Switch to specific windows, not just apps
• 🔍 Fuzzy search — Type to filter apps and windows instantly
• ⚡ Quick switch — Fast CMD+TAB style switching without UI delay
• 💎 Liquid Glass UI — Native macOS 26 glass effect
• ⌨️ Configurable shortcut — Use ⌥TAB (default) or replace system ⌘TAB

📦 Installation

💾 Download

Grab the latest release from Releases.

🔨 Build from source

git clone https://github.com/user/BetterTabbing.git
cd BetterTabbing
./build-app.sh

🔐 Permissions

BetterTabbing requires:

• ♿ Accessibility — For window management and switching
• ⌨️ Input Monitoring — For global keyboard shortcuts

Grant these in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

⌨️ Usage

Shortcut	Action
⌥TAB	🎯 Open switcher (or ⌘TAB if configured)
TAB	⬇️ Next app
⇧TAB	⬆️ Previous app
`	➡️ Next window in selected app
⇧`	⬅️ Previous window
Return	🔍 Activate search
Escape	❌ Dismiss
Release modifier	✅ Confirm selection

🏗️ Architecture

BetterTabbing/
├── Sources/
│   ├── App/
│   │   ├── BetterTabbingApp.swift    # Entry point, MenuBarExtra
│   │   ├── AppDelegate.swift         # Event handling, window management
│   │   └── AppState.swift            # Observable state
│   │
│   ├── Core/
│   │   ├── EventTap/
│   │   │   ├── KeyboardEventTap.swift    # CGEventTap for global shortcuts
│   │   │   └── ModifierKeyTracker.swift  # Modifier key state
│   │   ├── WindowManagement/
│   │   │   ├── WindowEnumerator.swift    # CGWindowList enumeration
│   │   │   └── WindowCache.swift         # Lock-free caching layer
│   │   ├── Accessibility/
│   │   │   └── AXWindowHelper.swift      # AXUIElement window operations
│   │   └── Permissions/
│   │       └── PermissionManager.swift   # Permission checks
│   │
│   ├── Services/
│   │   ├── WindowSwitcher.swift      # Window activation via AX API
│   │   └── FuzzyMatcher.swift        # Search scoring
│   │
│   ├── Models/
│   │   ├── ApplicationModel.swift    # App representation
│   │   ├── WindowModel.swift         # Window representation
│   │   └── UserPreferences.swift     # Settings persistence
│   │
│   └── UI/
│       ├── SwitcherWindow/
│       │   ├── SwitcherPanel.swift       # NSPanel overlay
│       │   ├── SwitcherView.swift        # Main SwiftUI view
│       │   ├── AppGridView.swift         # App icon grid
│       │   ├── WindowListView.swift      # Window list
│       │   └── SearchResultsListView.swift
│       └── Components/
│           ├── GlassBackground.swift     # macOS glass effect
│           ├── AppTileView.swift         # Individual app tile
│           └── WindowRowView.swift       # Window row

Key Components

KeyboardEventTap — Intercepts global keyboard events via CGEvent.tapCreate(). Handles modifier tracking, quick-switch detection (< 120ms), and shortcut dispatch.

WindowCache — Lock-free read path for UI responsiveness. Background prefetch on activation. In-place reordering after switch for accurate MRU order.

WindowEnumerator — Uses CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo for fast enumeration, enriched with AXUIElement titles via parallel fetching.

SwitcherPanel — NSPanel subclass with .nonactivatingPanel style. Appears on all spaces, doesn't steal focus during keyboard navigation.

FuzzyMatcher — Scores matches by consecutive character bonuses. Returns SearchResult objects that can target specific windows.

Data Flow

KeyboardEventTap
      │
      ▼ (Combine PassthroughSubject)
AppDelegate.handleShortcutEvent()
      │
      ├─► WindowCache.prefetchAsync()     (background)
      │
      └─► SwitcherPanel.showWithCachedData()
                │
                ▼
          AppState (ObservableObject)
                │
                ▼
          SwitcherView (SwiftUI)

⚡ Performance

• ⚡ < 50ms window enumeration (parallel AX fetching)
• 🔓 Lock-free reads from cache during UI updates
• ⏱️ 120ms quick-switch threshold — releases before timer = no UI
• 🚀 Instant hide — no animations on dismiss

📋 Requirements

• 🍎 macOS 26+
• 🦉 Swift 5.9+

📄 License

MIT