What's New in OmniWM 0.5.2

Changes since 0.5.1

This release adds a handful of comfort features (a way to "peek" at windows without
stealing focus, mouse and keyboard resizing in the Dwindle layout, and more choices for
the one-key Hyper trigger), makes the scrolling Niri layout noticeably smoother and more
predictable, gives OmniWM a fresh look (a launch animation, a new menu-bar icon, and
redesigned menu and supporters windows), and turns bug reporting into a friendly,
guided form. A batch of layout and animation glitches are fixed too.

✨ New Features

🔒 Focus Lock — peek at other windows without stealing focus

If you use Focus Follows Mouse (focus follows your pointer), you can now hold a key to
temporarily pause it. That lets you move your cursor across other windows — to read, scroll,
or click a button — without the focus jumping away from the window you're working in. Let go of
the key and focus-follows-mouse behaves normally again.

How to use: Settings → in the Focus Follows Mouse section → Focus Lock Modifier.
Pick a key (Option, Command, Control, or Shift — including left/right-specific variants).
Off by default, and only available when Focus Follows Mouse is turned on. No extra permissions needed.

⌨️ Left-side keys can now be your one-key Hyper trigger

The System Hyper Trigger (a single key that stands in for the full ⌃⌥⇧⌘ Hyper chord while held)
can now be a left-side modifier — Left Control, Left Option, Left Shift, or Left Command —
not just the right-side keys. Handy if you'd rather dedicate a left-hand key to Hyper.

How to use: Settings → Hotkeys → System Hyper Trigger. The dropdown now lists both
left and right variants of each modifier, alongside Caps Lock and F13–F20.

🪟 Resize windows in the Dwindle layout (mouse and keyboard)

The Dwindle layout now supports resizing the focused window two ways:

• With the mouse: hold the resize modifier (Option by default) and right-drag a tiled
  window to grow or shrink it, with the split adjusting live as you drag.
• With the keyboard: two new commands, Grow Focused Window and Shrink Focused Window,
  resize the focused window in steps. They figure out the direction from where the window sits, so
  there's no left/right/up/down to remember.

How to use: The mouse gesture is on by default (change the key in Settings → Mouse Resize →
Right Mouse Resize Modifier). The keyboard commands ship without a shortcut — assign one in
Settings → Hotkeys (search "Grow Focused Window" / "Shrink Focused Window"). Both are
Dwindle-layout features.

🧱 Niri column settings now rearrange the windows you already have open

In the scrolling Niri layout, changing Visible Columns or the Default Column Width used
to only affect new windows — your existing windows stayed put, even after a restart. Now those
settings immediately re-tile every open window across all your workspaces, so the slider does what
you'd expect.

How to use: Settings → Niri Layout → adjust Visible Columns or Default Column Width;
your current windows rearrange right away.

🎨 A fresh look

A short launch animation

When OmniWM starts, a brief full-screen splash now plays — it draws the "Omni" wordmark with a
soft glow and then clears to your desktop. It's quick and plays on every launch.

New menu-bar icon

The menu-bar icon is now OmniWM's own brand "O" mark instead of the generic system circle, so
it's easier to recognize. Click it for the OmniWM menu, same as before.

Redesigned menu-bar menu

The menu-bar menu's quick toggles are now a tidy grid of tiles instead of one long list — Borders,
Workspace Bar, Keep Awake, Focus Follows Mouse, Focus at Edge, Mouse to Focused, Follow Monitor, Move
at Edge, and Mouse Warp are all one click away. The everyday actions (Settings, App Rules, Report a
Bug) stay at the top, and the less-used items are grouped into Advanced, Diagnostics, and
Help & Links submenus to keep things uncluttered.

Redesigned Omni Sponsors window

The supporters window is now a resizable "hall of honor" with a gentle animated aurora backdrop and a
grid of all supporters that slowly auto-scrolls (it pauses when you hover, scroll, or interact, and
respects your system Reduce Motion setting). Cards glow on hover and link to each supporter's GitHub
profile, with reserved slots at the top for future company sponsors.

How to use: menu-bar menu → Omni Sponsors. Drag the window edges to resize it.

🐞 Bug reporting is now a friendly, guided form

Reporting a problem from inside OmniWM is much easier and clearer. Instead of a single freeform box,
you now get a guided, structured flow.

• Open it from the menu: menu-bar menu → Report a Bug… (also in Settings).
• First-time walkthrough: the first time you open it, a short 4-step guide explains the flow —
  record a trace, reproduce the bug, describe it, and submit. You can re-open the guide anytime.
• Structured fields instead of a blank page: a Category dropdown (Tiling, Focus, Multi-monitor,
  Window placement, Crash, Performance, Visual), a short "what happened", and optional "what you
  expected", "steps to reproduce", and "affected apps". You can also note the active layout and
  whether it's a regression (used to work, never worked, or unsure) with the last known-good version.
• Optional one-tap recording: start a diagnostic trace right from the form, reproduce the bug,
  then stop and save — it captures what's happening so hard-to-repeat bugs are far easier to fix.
• Optional on-device AI polish: turn your rough notes into a clean, well-structured report. It runs
  on your Mac — nothing is sent to the internet — and you review the suggestion before applying it.
• You stay in control of what's shared: when you submit, OmniWM builds a diagnostics .zip
  (logs, your settings, any trace, system info), reveals it in Finder so you can see exactly what's
  inside, and opens a pre-filled GitHub issue in your browser. You attach the zip and post it
  yourself — OmniWM never touches GitHub on your behalf.
• Your draft is saved automatically as you type and survives quitting or restarting OmniWM.

🛠️ App Rules editor, rebuilt

The App Rules editor (which decides how specific apps are tiled, floated, or sent to a workspace) is
clearer and harder to get wrong.

• Staged editing with Save / Revert: your edits are held as a draft and only take effect when you
  click Save. You can Revert to undo, and you'll be warned about unsaved changes before
  switching rules or closing the window.
• Rules must actually do something: a rule that only matches windows but has no effect can no
  longer be saved — you'll see a clear prompt to set a layout, a workspace, or a minimum size. (Any
  old "do-nothing" rules simply won't be applied.)
• Clearer validation: minimum width/height must be positive numbers, broad "AX role only" matchers
  prompt you to add a real identifier (bundle ID, app name, or title), and a rule uses one title match
  at a time (a regex wins over a plain substring).
• The Bundle ID field is now editable on existing rules, so you can correct which app a rule targets.

🩹 Smoother and more reliable

• Tabbed columns behave properly. Windows dragged into or out of a tabbed column no longer jump
  around, and tabbed columns no longer split apart when you switch tabs or scroll.
• Tab switching and scrolling are smoother. Only the active tab animates each frame, so motion is
  cleaner and your Mac does less work.
• Smoother Niri scrolling. Sliding between columns/workspaces in the Niri layout no longer causes
  the brief stutter or freeze some setups would hit during fast scrolling.
• No more column-height flicker. Navigating left/right between columns no longer makes heights
  briefly snap to an even split.
• Windows stay on screen while animating. A window growing from one to two stacked windows no
  longer dangles off the bottom edge mid-animation.
• Focus won't get stranded on an empty monitor. Pressing a directional focus key at the edge of
  your windows only crosses to a neighboring monitor if that monitor actually has windows.

🔧 Under the hood

• More reliable handling of windows that get replaced (e.g. an app swapping one window for another),
  with less unnecessary churn.
• Hardened drawing of the focus border, plus validation of border settings.
• Added internal diagnostics and timing instrumentation to make future performance issues easier to
  track down.
• Removed dead legacy code paths that current macOS no longer needs.
• Fixed an architecture check in the release packaging so the universal (Apple Silicon + Intel) build
  is assembled correctly.

⚠️ Quick heads-up for existing users

• App rules that don't do anything no longer apply. Open Settings → App Rules and make sure each
  rule sets a layout, a workspace, or a minimum size.
• The menu-bar icon looks different — it's now OmniWM's "O" brand mark.
• A short launch animation plays on every start.
• Grow/Shrink Focused Window have no default shortcut — assign one in Settings → Hotkeys if you
  want them.
• New features are off by default (Focus Lock is Off; the new left-side Hyper options only apply
  if you pick one).

Release Integrity

• OmniWM-v0.5.2.zip contains the Developer ID signed, notarized, and stapled OmniWM app.
• OmniWM-v0.5.2.zip SHA-256: e67c57926ad5cd577f06dfc2a000621fda7136fb4ae6e8977eb5c06265841f3e
• GhosttyKit.xcframework-v0.5.2.zip SHA-256: b85a87af371c8cf83a4629dffd14d2beeb6160cd0233d177d034d0505d856771