Workspace, window and agent switchers

Layout has five switchers. Focus Agent, ⌃⌥Tab by default, selects agent sessions across projects. ⌥Tab moves between workspaces and is always available while Layout is active. ⌃⌥. lists the windows of General, the workspace that holds every window no other workspace took, then your wildcard apps. ⌘` lists the windows of the app in front, from every workspace. ⌘Tab moves between the windows of the current workspace, if you turn it on.

The workspace, app, current-window and agent switchers work like the macOS app switcher: hold the modifier, press the key to move, and release the modifier to open your choice. General’s switcher stays open after you release its shortcut; press Return or click a row to open your choice.

Switch workspaces with ⌥ Tab

Hold ⌥ and press Tab. A panel lists your workspaces: the ones you used most recently first, then the ones you haven’t visited yet. The first press selects the workspace you were in before the current one, so a quick ⌥Tab takes you back and forth between two workspaces.

While you hold ⌥:

• Tab or ↓ selects the next workspace; ⇧Tab or ↑ the previous one.
• → shows the windows of the selected workspace, so you can pick one. ← goes back to the list of workspaces.
• Esc cancels.

Release ⌥ to switch. If you picked a window, Layout switches to its workspace and focuses it; otherwise it focuses the workspace’s most recent window.

Each workspace in the list shows the icons of its apps: the apps its layout assigns first, then any other app that has a window in it, except the wildcard apps only called in there, which belong to another workspace or none. A grey icon is an app of the layout that has no window there yet. A red dot on an icon means the app shows a badge in the Dock. The current workspace is marked “Active”. Empty workspaces are listed too, so you can switch to one before it has any window. You can also click a workspace to see its windows, and click a window to open it.

General isn’t in the list: it has a switcher of its own. When you’re in General, the first press selects the workspace you used last.

⌥Tab works whenever Layout is active, even if you don’t use the ⌘Tab replacement. ⌥⇧Tab starts the switcher going backward.

Reach General’s windows

General holds the windows no other workspace took: every window already open when Layout first starts or after a restart of your Mac, the ones you open while you’re in General, and the windows Layout can’t place when it opens again. A window you remove from its only workspace goes there too, and so do those of a section you delete. Your wildcard apps’ windows also wait there, out of sight. Rather than a row in ⌥Tab, it has a switcher of its own.

Press ⌃⌥., from any workspace. A panel opens immediately and stays open when you release the keys, even after a quick press. It lists General’s windows, most recently used first, then your wildcard apps: their window wherever it is, or the app’s name with No window open. From another workspace, the first press selects General’s most recent window; in General, the window you used before the current one, as ⌘Tab does. Selecting a row doesn’t open it yet.

While the panel is open:

• Tab or ↓ selects the next window; ⇧Tab or ↑ the previous one.
• You can also press ⌃⌥. again to step forward, with ⇧ added to step back.
• Return or a click on a row opens it.
• Esc or a click outside the panel cancels.

Opening a window of General takes you there with that window in front. A wildcard app comes to the workspace you’re in instead, as when you call it. When the list is empty, Return closes the panel without switching. ← and → don’t lead to other workspaces.

To put General back among the workspaces, turn off Give General a switcher of its own in Settings › Shortcuts. ⌃⌥. then goes back to your apps. In ⌥Tab, General’s row then lists its windows and your wildcard apps, as its own switcher did. You can also give the switcher another key there, under Switch window in General. A workspace that already had ⌃⌥. keeps it; General then stays in ⌥Tab until you give its switcher another key.

General’s own shortcut, the Layout bar, the Overview and the command palette still take you to General.

Switch windows with ⌘ Tab

The ⌘Tab replacement is off by default. Turn it on with Use ⌘ Tab for this workspace’s windows in Settings › Shortcuts, or with Replace ⌘ Tab in the guided setup.

Once it’s on, ⌘Tab lists the windows of the current workspace, most recently used first, instead of your apps. The first press selects the window you used before the current one.

While you hold ⌘:

• Tab or ↓ selects the next window; ⇧Tab or ↑ the previous one.
• Esc cancels.

Release ⌘ to focus the selected window. Each row shows the window’s title, its app, and an icon when the window is floating.

This switcher stays in the current workspace: it never relaunches the layout or resizes windows, and only its search takes you to another workspace. It’s also a quick way to bring another app of a stack to the front.

Your wildcard apps come last, in every workspace: their window wherever it is, or the app’s name with No window open. Picking one brings it to the current workspace. Settings › Apps turns this off, for all of them or one app at a time.

To get the macOS app switcher back, turn the option off, or pause Layout.

Switch between an app’s windows

⌘` lists the windows of the app in front: the ones in the current workspace first, the one you used last leading, then the app’s windows in your other workspaces, most recently used first. It’s on by default, whether or not you use the ⌘Tab replacement.

As with ⌘Tab, a quick press goes back to the app’s window you used before, without showing anything. Hold ⌘ a moment to see the list.

While you hold ⌘:

• `, Tab or ↓ selects the next window; ⇧`, ⇧Tab or ↑ the previous one.
• Esc cancels.

Release ⌘ to open the selected window. Each row shows the window’s title and the workspace it’s in, and the search finds a window by either one.

A window of another workspace takes you there. A wildcard app’s window comes to the workspace you’re in instead, as when you call it, and so does the window of an app that no workspace sets up, waiting in General.

When Layout knows fewer than two windows of the app, ⌘` stays the app’s own, as in macOS: see Cycling an app’s windows. To have it so for every app, turn off Use ⌘ ` for the app’s windows in Settings › Shortcuts.

Focus Agent

Hold ⌃⌥ and press Tab to choose an agent session. Sessions needing your reply come first, followed by unread results, then recent activity. Tab and ⇧Tab step forward and back; ↑ and ↓ also select. Release either held modifier, or press Return, to focus your choice. Esc cancels. The order stays fixed during each selection.

Press / to search projects, agents and tasks; search stays open after release until you confirm or cancel. Focus Agent in the command palette or Focus Agent… in Layout’s menu opens the search directly. Opening a session marks its current result read; cancelling leaves it unread. An unanswered question stays waiting.

The shortcut can be changed in Settings › Shortcuts and works with the Layout bar off. It keeps out of the way of existing workspace bindings. See Agents and Focus Agent to connect your agents and learn which sessions appear.

Search a switcher

Press / in any switcher to turn the panel into a search. In the workspace, app, current-window and agent switchers, do this while you still hold the modifier; the search then stays open when you release it. General’s switcher already stays open, so you can start searching after releasing its shortcut.

Type part of a name: its letters have to come in order, but not side by side, and case and accents don’t count. ⌘Tab and General’s switcher search the apps’ names and the windows’ titles: typing iph finds the Simulator window titled iPhone 17. ⌥Tab searches the workspaces’ names, and the windows once you show a workspace’s. ⌘` searches the windows’ titles and the names of their workspaces. The best matches come first, an app’s name before a title that matches as well, with the letters found highlighted, and the first one is selected.

Focus Agent searches only agent sessions, by project, agent and task. In the other switchers, when nothing in the list matches, Layout searches the windows of every workspace instead, and each row says which workspace it’s in. Picking one takes you there, from ⌘Tab and ⌘` too.

While you search:

• ↑ ↓, Tab and ⇧Tab move the selection.
• ⌫ erases a letter; ⌥⌫ or ⌘⌫, everything.
• In ⌥Tab, → and ← still move between the workspaces and their windows, and start the search over.
• Return opens the selection. Esc, or a click outside the panel, closes it.

Until the search closes, every key goes to it, even with ⌘ or ⌥ still held: none reaches the app in front.

While Layout is busy

Some operations take a moment, such as a switch that moves many windows or a layout launch. You don’t have to wait: the switchers stay available, and you can keep choosing workspaces and windows. As soon as Layout is ready, it opens the last one you chose and skips the ones in between. The operation in progress still completes, and Layout can still recover its windows if something goes wrong.