Diagnostics

When something doesn’t behave as expected, a diagnostics report shows what Layout saw and did. Send it to Layout’s developer from Layout itself, or save it as a JSON file and attach it to a bug report yourself.

Send diagnostics

1. Reproduce the problem.
2. Without quitting Layout, choose Send Diagnostics…. It’s in three places:
   • the menu of the Layout icon in the menu bar, where it’s always available, even while Layout is paused or busy;
   • Settings › About, with Send…;
   • the command palette.
3. Under What happened?, say what you did, what you expected, and what Layout did instead.
4. Under Contact, leave an email address or your Discord name to get an answer. It’s optional.
5. Leave Include window titles, commands and full links unchecked, unless they matter for your report (see below).
6. Click Send.

Layout then shows the report’s reference, such as K7F3QX. Mention it when you write about the problem, on Layout’s Discord or at support@getlayout.app.

Caution

Don’t quit Layout before sending. The recent events live in memory only, so quitting erases them.

Layout reads its state when the window opens, and the window says at what time. Reading doesn’t scan windows again or move anything, and nothing leaves your Mac before you click Send. To read exactly what goes, click Show What’s Sent: Layout opens the report, with your message, in your JSON editor.

Where the report goes

Layout sends it to getlayout.app, which keeps it 30 days, then deletes it. getlayout.app also posts it, with your message and contact, to a private channel on Layout’s Discord server, where it stays until the developer deletes it. Only Layout’s developer reads it, to find what went wrong. See Privacy.

Save diagnostics as a file

In the same window, Save to File… saves the report as a JSON file, by default on your Desktop, named with the date and time, such as Layout-diagnostics-2026-09-23-143012.json. Layout then shows it in the Finder. Nothing is sent.

If sending fails, for example without a connection, save the file and email it to support@getlayout.app.

What the report contains

• Your setup: Layout’s version and build, your macOS version, your displays, whether Layout has the Accessibility permission, and whether AeroSpace is running.
• Your Mac’s load: memory pressure and swap in use, whether your Mac is running hot or in Low Power Mode, and whether macOS slows Layout down; Layout’s own memory use, and which of its windows are open.
• Layout’s state: whether it’s active or busy, whether a workspace or window request is waiting, and the last message it showed.
• Each workspace: its windows, and what switching to it would hide, show, or reposition, including a switch that macOS full screen would block.
• Each window: its workspace, zone, placements in the workspaces that share it, how recently you used it, whether it’s a wildcard app’s window waiting in General or visiting from its home, and what the last Accessibility scan reported about it.
• Recovery and apps: the recovery journal, and the apps that are running.
• Your configuration, as saved: workspace names, apps, folders, and links. If configuration.json can’t be read, the report also includes its raw content.
• The last 300 events: workspace requests; switches that succeeded, were refused, or were canceled, with the reason, and for a slow one, where its time went; moments when Layout froze, and what it was waiting for; apps that came forward and took Layout to their window’s workspace; launches; pauses; and the messages Layout showed.
• Findings: a short list of anomalies to read first, such as apps configured in a workspace whose windows are all in another workspace.

Private details

Window titles can name your documents, web pages, and conversations, and a command or a link’s parameters can hold a token. By default, the report replaces each of these with a stable alias, such as ‹Title 3 · 24 chars›, including inside messages and events:

• window titles and document paths;
• the commands a workspace’s terminal runs;
• the part of each web address and app link after ? or #, as in https://example.com/board?‹Query 1 · 18 chars›;
• the raw content of a configuration file Layout can’t read.

The same value always gets the same alias, so windows and links can still be followed through the report. Check Include window titles, commands and full links to keep them as they are.

The rest of your configuration is included as it is: workspace names, apps, folders, and the rest of each link. Click Show What’s Sent to read it before you send it.