macOS app
Powerspaces
A macOS app that makes Spaces behave like Windows virtual desktops, with a per-desktop dock and smart launch. Designed, built, and shipped in days with Claude.
I have complained about macOS multitasking for years. What finally pushed me to fix it: I was sharing my full screen on a call, clicked an app in the Dock, and my Mac threw me onto a different desktop where something private was open.
That is the core problem. macOS treats all your Spaces as one blurred-together pile. One Dock is shared across every desktop, Spotlight and ⌘-Tab reach across all of them, and clicking an app that is open elsewhere drags you there. I do not love Windows generally, but I love its multi-desktop behaviour: a coding space and a comms space, cleanly separated.
I tried Sidebar, uBar, AeroSpace and FlashSpace. None of them did what I wanted, so I built my own. Powerspaces follows one rule: focus the app if it is already here, otherwise open a new window here, and never jump you to another desktop. It augments native Spaces instead of replacing them, so swipe gestures and Mission Control keep working.
What it does
- Per-desktop dock a floating bar that shows only the apps with a window on the desktop you are on, and follows you as you switch.
- Smart launch click an app and it focuses its window here, or opens a fresh one here. It never slides you to another desktop.
- App Launcher and Raycast extension search any app and open it on the current desktop, instead of being thrown to wherever it already runs.
- Per-desktop ⌘-Tab one click configures AltTab to switch only between the current desktop's windows.
- Faster desktop switching an option that skips the slide animation, so moving between desktops feels instant.
One honest limitation: opening a second window works great for multi-instance apps such as browsers, editors, terminals and Finder. Truly single-instance apps (Messages, System Settings) cannot get one, so for those you choose the behaviour: warn, or quit and reopen here.
Install
Prebuilt for Apple Silicon, signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without Gatekeeper workarounds:
brew tap sebastianpdw/tap
brew trust sebastianpdw/tap
brew install --cask powerspaces