It’s all too common these days to see people trying to make their Linux distro feel more like Windows, but what about the reverse? Windows 11 could learn a thing or two from the desktop environments offered by Linux, and one of the most popular is a tiling window manager. You don’t need to play with PowerToys; a simple GitHub repo is all you need to get a fantastic, customizable tiling window manager in Windows 11, and I couldn’t be happier with my new setup.

What is Komorebi, and why would you use it?

Windows tiling managers give you a new way to organize your digital desktop

There are plenty of window managers to make Windows 11 better, and they all work in different ways. Some replicate Win 11’s snapping behavior with better control, but Komorebi is different. Tiling window managers take all the windows you have open and automatically flow them into pre-determined positions, based on how many you have open.

It’s a different maxim for productivity: no newly opened window will be hidden behind another (at least until you’ve filled all the preset spots). While it’s great on laptops, where you also get a nice menu bar at the top of your screen for monitoring performance metrics, it’s a game-changer on ultrawides, super-ultrawides, and larger screens. Being able to have everything in view is good for my brain, as I often forget what I have open or accidentally close things without looking properly, and I’m far more productive with a tiling window manager.

One quick thing before you install Komorebi, you’ll need to run the following command in an elevated command window, so you can use longer file paths:

Set-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem' -Name 'LongPathsEnabled' -Value 1

I used WinGet to install the window manager, but you could use Scoop if you have that installed. And Komorebi also works on macOS, in case you were wondering (but you’ll have to be a GitHub sponsor for the beta of that).

winget install LGUG2Z.komorebiwinget install LGUG2Z.whkd

That gets a basic install with default settings available, which can be started from your command prompt with:

komorebic start --whkd --bar

Then the following command made it persistent, so that Komorebi would load every time I start Windows:

komorebic enable-autostart --whkd --bar --ffm

If you were wondering why it’s different, the –ffm enables the focus-follows-mouse implementation, which I found much easier to deal with when I wasn’t using keyboard commands to navigate.

Komorebi

Installing Komorebi takes seconds

Configuring it could take a lifetime

Getting the basic Komorebi install up was quicker than I expected, but since the configuration files are JSON-based, getting things to how I want them will take time and some tweaking. And honestly, that’s fine. I expect tools with such deep customization to take more time to get how I like, and JSON isn’t my strong suit. The GitHub pages have really well-done documentation, which even a noob like me can follow along.

I’m enjoying having my windows auto-resize as I open or drag them

If you’ve never used a tiling window manager, it’s kinda magical watching new apps move to the next open spot, while existing ones are resized according to the rules. I still need to figure out a few things in terms of what layout I’m going to end up with, but my basic window arrangement is two side-by-side zones on my left ultrawide, and three zones on the ultrawide to my right, so I can have one reference window and a couple of chat apps open at all times.

I like it so much that I’m going to install it on my Mac when I start using it more, because even with the new changes, I still don’t like macOS’s window management. I’ve never really been satisfied with Windows, either, but at least snapping works in W11.

I can see myself spending hours tweaking things and adding more features

So, Komorebi can make my desktop more beautiful and help me be productive, but there’s one big feature I love. It has proper multi-monitor support, so I can setup different tiling rules for each of my monitors, which it will remember even if the monitor gets turned off, unplugged, or moved to another computer. So, you can plug in a monitor to a laptop, set up work windows on the monitor, and when you unplug that cable again, Komorebi will cache the windows from that monitor until the next time you plug it back in.

No more having to close things down or worry about tons of tabs when you unplug your laptop, just some sane caching behavior that makes my workflow much easier to manage.

And I love that it’s easily keyboard-navigatable

Ever realize just how much time you’re spending every day moving your hand from a typing position to your mouse, and back again? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I first realized, and anything that makes me reach for the mouse is an instant productivity drain for me.

But I don’t need to with Komorebi, because it sets you up with a hotkey manager when you install it (that can be changed to AHK if you want), and now I can bounce through app windows in Windows just as quickly as I can in Linux.

I haven’t worked all the kinks out (yet)

This is going to be a work in progress, because there are so many options to change, tweak, and optimize that the initial stages will significantly cut into my productivity. But that’s okay, because I can already see how it’ll benefit my workflow and how I like to compartmentalize work and other tasks.

I can set individual apps to never tile, if I want them to stay full-screen for example, like media players or photo editors.

{ "ignore_rules": [ { "kind": "Title", "id": "Media Player", "matching_strategy": "Equals" } ]}

I can also set specific rules for each monitor that’s attached to my computer, which is absolutely the killer feature for me. I often have work open on one monitor, and a mix of communications tools on the other, some for work, some for personal use, and being able to set the tiling for the communications monitor so that the tiles never make the chat windows unreadable is fantastic.

I also find it easier to read and task-switch when the app windows have a boundary around them, which the Windows 11 snapping tool never does, and I don’t like having app windows touching.

I’m enjoying exploring what an auto-tiling window manager can do

Komorebi is the first tiling window manager I’ve used on Windows 11, although I have used several along the way on Linux machines. I’ve always liked being able to navigate with the keyboard, and spend a large percentage of my time in the Terminal, and Komorebi helps make Windows a little bit better behaved if I don’t want to use my mouse. It’s not quite *my *peak layout yet, but I’m sure it will be after another few weeks of tweaking.