Best alternatives to Tessera in 2026

If you've used a terminal multiplexer like tmux or Zellij, you already know the appeal: splits, tabs, and modal keyboard shortcuts that let you arrange and jump between panes without touching the mouse. Tessera takes that exact workflow and applies it to macOS as a whole, so your browser, editor, and Slack window get the same tiling treatment your terminal panes already have. Tessera is a free, open-source (MIT) window manager built in Swift for macOS 15+ on Apple silicon, running as a lightweight menu-bar agent. It uses binary-space-partition (BSP) tiling with configurable padding, virtual tabs that act as independent workspaces, Zellij-style modal key modes (^P, ^T, ^R), a fuzzy-find command palette and workspace navigator, floating windows, full-screen zoom, and session restore. It works via macOS's Accessibility API, and specifically disables a setting called AXEnhancedUserInterface during window resizes to make it play nicely with apps that otherwise resist being tiled by third-party tools — installable via Homebrew or built from source, requiring Accessibility permissions and Stage Manager turned off.