Autumn is a scriptable window manager for macOS that lets you orchestrate your desktop layout entirely in JavaScript, replacing point-and-click window juggling with a programmable, repeatable system.
What is Autumn?
Autumn is a lightweight macOS window management tool driven by a JavaScript scripting engine. Instead of dragging windows by hand or memorizing a fixed grid of keyboard shortcuts, you write ordinary JS files that describe exactly how your workspace should behave — which app snaps where, how screens are divided, and what triggers a re-layout. Think of it as a tiny Node-flavoured runtime that lives in your menu bar and watches your window events.
The project is open-source and actively maintained, distributed as a native macOS application. Because the entire configuration surface is plain JavaScript, any developer already fluent in the language can be productive in minutes without learning a proprietary DSL.
What does Autumn do best?
Autumn shines at developer-defined, code-first window automation. Where apps like Magnet give you a palette of preset zones and nothing more, Autumn lets you write conditionals, loops, and callbacks — real logic — so your layout rules can be as nuanced as your workflow demands.
- Event-driven layouts: fire functions when apps launch, focus shifts, or displays connect.
- Multi-monitor choreography: scripted rules that survive a display being plugged or unplugged.
- Reusable layout profiles: switch between a deep-work config and a communication config with a single keystroke, because both are just function calls.
- No GUI required: every rule lives in version-controlled text files — perfect for dotfiles repos.
I've been running Autumn alongside a terminal-heavy setup for weeks and the thing I keep coming back to is how composable it feels. My morning script fires automatically, tiles VS Code and a browser on the left display, and pushes Slack to a narrow column on the right — all without me touching a mouse.
Is Autumn free?
Yes — Autumn is completely free to download and use. The source code is publicly available and there is no paid tier, subscription, or in-app purchase. It is distributed both as a direct download from the developer's GitHub Pages site and via Homebrew Cask, making installation straightforward for developers already using either channel.
Who should use Autumn?
Autumn is built for developers and power users who are comfortable writing JavaScript and want their window management to feel like a first-class part of their toolchain rather than an afterthought. If you already keep a dotfiles repo, version-control your shell configs, and prefer text files over preference panes, Autumn fits naturally into that philosophy.
It is probably overkill for someone who just wants to snap windows into halves or thirds quickly — for that use-case, Magnet, Rectangle, or even macOS's own Stage Manager are lower-friction choices. But if you've ever wished you could write an if (screen.count === 2) branch in your window layout, Autumn is the tool you've been waiting for.
Front-end developers, full-stack engineers, and any Mac user who lives in a text editor will get the most value here. It's also a natural fit for people who already use Hammerspoon but find Lua an awkward detour from their daily JavaScript.
How does Autumn compare to Hammerspoon?
Hammerspoon is the incumbent heavyweight: enormously capable, Lua-powered, with a massive community and years of documentation. Autumn occupies a narrower, sharper niche — JavaScript instead of Lua, a leaner API surface, and a lower barrier to entry for the web-developer crowd. Hammerspoon can automate practically anything on your Mac; Autumn focuses specifically on window and workspace management and does that job with less ceremony.
Other alternatives worth naming: Rectangle Pro for a polished GUI-driven approach, Moom for drag-to-snap veterans, and Raycast's window management extension if you're already deep in that ecosystem. None of them offer a scriptable JS layer.
What are the best Autumn alternatives?
The closest scripting-first alternative is Hammerspoon (Lua). For GUI-first users: Rectangle (free, open-source, dead simple), Magnet (paid, polished, App Store), and Moom (paid, feature-rich, keyboard- and mouse-driven). If you want zero configuration, macOS Sequoia's built-in tiling is now surprisingly capable for basic needs. Autumn's unique angle — JavaScript scripting, event hooks, composable profiles — has no direct equivalent in the current market.
