Guided setup

The first time you open Layout, a guided setup takes you through seven steps. Nothing moves on your screen while you go through them: Layout only starts managing windows if you activate it at the last step.

Go at your own pace. Continue moves to the next step, Back returns to the previous one, and you can click any step’s name at the top to jump to it. Layout saves where you are, so if you quit in the middle, the setup reopens at the same step. The Accessibility permission isn’t saved with your progress: Layout asks macOS each time.

1. Welcome

A short overview of what Layout does. Click Customize my Mac to start.

2. Accessibility

Layout needs the Accessibility permission to move and resize your windows and to handle its shortcuts.

1. Click Open settings. Layout asks macOS for the permission, and System Settings opens at Privacy & Security › Accessibility.
2. Turn on Layout in the list. If it’s missing, click + and add Layout.app. Show Layout.app reveals the app in the Finder.
3. Come back to Layout. The step checks the permission on its own; Check again checks it right away.

To continue without the permission, click Set up later. The step then stays unchecked, and the last step reminds you. See Accessibility permission for details.

3. Your workspace

Pick a starting layout for the workspace the step names (Code, the first time): Stacked, chosen from the start, Editor + preview, Duo, or Debug. You assign apps to its zones later, in the editor.

This step also sets the Spacing: the gap between windows and along the screen edges. See Layouts and zones.

4. Work context

This step shows what a workspace can bring back besides its windows: the project’s latest chat in Claude and Codex, a Slack channel or any link an app opens, your app in the Simulator, and the project folder and tabs in your editor and browser. There’s nothing to set here: you set it up later in each workspace’s Work context. See Work context.

5. Your keyboard

Replace ⌘ Tab makes ⌘Tab go through the recent windows of the current workspace instead of your apps. It’s off by default. ⌥Tab, which switches workspaces, works either way while Layout is active.

The step also lists four shortcuts to start with. If you change them later in Settings › Shortcuts, it shows yours:

Action	Shortcut
Switch workspace	⌥Tab
Go to workspace 1…9	⌃⌥1…9
Open command palette	⌃⌥Space
Float a window	⌃⌥F

See Switchers and Keyboard shortcuts.

6. Menu bar

Show the Layout bar turns the Layout bar on or off. It’s on by default. Below it, the step explains how to have macOS hide its own menu bar automatically, with a button, Open macOS Menu Bar settings, that opens System Settings for you. That change is optional, and you make it yourself. See Layout bar.

7. Ready to go

The last step sums up your choices (layout, spacing, ⌘ Tab switcher, and Layout bar) and checks the three conditions Layout needs to activate:

Check	Ready when it reads	Otherwise
Accessibility	Allowed	Permission needed
Display	One display detected	One display required
Window manager	No conflict detected with AeroSpace	Quit AeroSpace

When all three pass, click Activate Layout to start managing windows, or Explore while paused to open the editor without moving anything.

When a check fails, fix it: grant the permission, disconnect the other displays, or quit AeroSpace. The checks update on their own. Review permissions takes you back to the Accessibility step. You can still finish the setup with Explore while paused.

Layout checks these conditions again every time it activates, so passing them once isn’t enough if something changes later.

Explore while paused

Explore while paused closes the setup and opens the editor with Layout paused. You can create workspaces, choose layouts, and assign apps, and your windows stay where they are.

When you’re ready, click Activate Layout in the “Layout is paused.” banner at the top of the editor, or choose Activate from the Layout menu bar icon. If the permission is still missing, the banner shows Set up access instead, which reopens the setup at the Accessibility step.

Run the setup again

Open Settings, and in the About tab click Review… next to Guided setup. The setup starts over from the first step. Your workspaces and settings stay as they are, unless you change them in the steps: picking a starting layout replaces the layout of the workspace selected in the editor, and the spacing control changes the spacing everywhere.