Hyprland for Mac: 6 Closest macOS Options by Layout

Hyprland doesn't run on macOS, and it can't. It's a Wayland compositor, which means it is the thing that draws every window on a Linux desktop. On a Mac, Apple's WindowServer does that job, and nobody gets to swap it out. So every "Hyprland for Mac" is a regular Mac app moving other apps' windows around through the Accessibility API. That's fine. You just have to know which part of Hyprland you actually miss.

For most people it's the layout. Hyprland ships four (dwindle, master, scrolling and monocle), and each has a reasonable Mac stand-in. The blur, the gradient borders and the shader tricks mostly stay on Linux.

Pick by the layout you used

Dwindle: HyprMac or OmniWM

Dwindle is Hyprland's default. Each new window splits the focused tile along its longer side, so the screen spirals down: half, quarter, eighth.

HyprMac is the most literal copy we've found, and it's under active development (v0.20.1 on 30 October 2026). It turns Caps Lock into a "Hypr" key. Hypr + arrows moves focus, Hypr + Shift + arrows swaps, Hypr + 1–0 picks one of ten workspaces, and Hypr + K shows every binding. Config is a Settings window that saves JSON, not a hyprland.conf. Like AeroSpace, its workspaces are its own. Windows on a hidden workspace are parked, so Mission Control won't show them as separate desktops.

brew trust --cask zacharytgray/hyprmac/hyprmac
brew install --cask zacharytgray/hyprmac/hyprmac

OmniWM is the better pick if you're already on macOS 26 Tahoe with Apple silicon. It does dwindle on one workspace and niri-style scrolling on the next, which is the most Hyprland-like mix on a Mac. It also has a command palette, scratchpads, an overview and an omniwmctl CLI. The catch is the requirements: macOS 26 only, plus Input Monitoring and "Displays have separate Spaces". We compare it with our own app in Ribbon vs OmniWM.

yabai has done BSP on the Mac longer than either. It uses real Spaces and has a deep CLI. Expect to write a shell config and pair it with skhd. A handful of features, like animations, opacity and moving Spaces, need SIP partly off (yabai on Mac).

Manual trees: AeroSpace

If your Hyprland config leaned on manual split control and you also know i3, AeroSpace will feel close. You decide split directions instead of letting a tree spiral. It's TOML-configured, never needs SIP changes, and emulates its own workspaces. It's still labelled public beta (v0.21.3-Beta) and isn't notarized. More in Ribbon vs AeroSpace.

Master: Amethyst

Hyprland's master layout keeps one big window with the rest stacked beside it. That's xmonad's idea, and Amethyst is the xmonad of the Mac. Tall and Wide are the closest layouts. It's free, has a proper preferences window, and runs on old macOS versions too. Amethyst on Mac, compared.

Scrolling: this is where we come in

Hyprland added a scrolling layout. niri and PaperWM built whole desktops around it. If that's what you ran, a dwindle tool will feel wrong, because the screen keeps getting divided.

Ribbon is a scrolling window manager. Windows line up as full-height columns on a strip that runs past the screen edge. New windows join the strip and nothing else shrinks. Specifically:

• Widths: ⌃⌥R cycles a column through ¼, ⅓, ½, ⅔, ¾ and full. The list is preset_column_widths in ~/.config/ribbon/ribbon.toml if you want different stops.
• Moving around: ⌃⌥←/→ to focus, ⌃⌥⇧←/→ to swap, ⌃⌥1–9 to jump. Or swipe with three fingers. Option + two-finger scroll also works.
• Stacks: ⌃⌥S stacks a window into the column on its left, like a niri column with two windows.
• Gaps: 8 pt by default, adjustable from 0 to 64 in Settings.
• Prefer vim keys? One setting switches every chord to ⌃⌥H/J/K/L.

Where Ribbon falls short for a Hyprland user:

• No dwindle mode.
• No workspace overview.
• No scratchpad.
• No blur or animated borders. Only an optional focus border and dimming of the other windows.
• The CLI (ribbonctl) sends commands, but it can't query window state the way hyprctl can.
• No free trial. It's a one-time licence.

If those matter more than the strip itself, OmniWM or HyprMac will suit you better. For the other free scrolling options, see niri for Mac and PaperWM.spoon.

The eye candy you won't get

Hyprland draws its own frames, so it can blur behind windows, animate them with spring curves and paint gradient borders. Mac window managers can't touch another app's pixels without private APIs. yabai's opacity and animations, for example, are among its SIP-off features. Expect plain macOS windows with, at most, a coloured border drawn over them. Beauty-first users tend to be disappointed by this. Layout-first users usually don't care.