I built a Mac window manager because I kept forgetting shortcuts with my hand on the trackpad
I spent a long time rearranging Mac windows the hard way. Half the time my hand was already on the trackpad, I’d reach for a Rectangle or Magnet shortcut I couldn’t remember, then give up and drag the window myself.
So I built Gridly (disclosure: I’m the maker).
The idea is intentionally small: put the pointer on any window’s title bar and two-finger swipe — left/right for halves, add another direction for a corner quarter, keep going sideways to step width on a 12-column grid. A preview follows your fingers; release to place. Esc within five seconds undoes the move.
Honest comparison to tools people already love:
• Rectangle / Magnet — keyboard-first and excellent if the shortcuts are muscle memory. Gridly doesn’t try to replace that. It registers no global shortcuts and only watches two-finger scrolls on the title bar, so it usually coexists.
• Swish — the closest neighbor (trackpad gestures on the title bar). If Swish already fits you, you may not need another gesture tool. Gridly’s angle is a simple direction + preview flow, 12-column width stepping, and an optional “fill the rest of the screen” step after you place one window.
Pricing: 14-day full trial with every gesture unlocked (no card, no account). One-time purchase currently $2.99 with code KISS99 (was $3.99); every future update included. macOS 14+, Intel and Apple Silicon.
Links:
• IH product page: https://www.indiehackers.com/product/gridly
• Download / site: https://yangbyte.com/gridly
Question for the room: if you already live in Rectangle or Magnet, what would actually make you try a gesture-based window tool — fewer shortcuts to memorize, peaceful coexistence with what you already use, or something else?
Your question has a trap in it, and spotting it is worth more than answering it: "what would make a Rectangle/Magnet power-user switch" is asking how to win the buyer least likely to buy. They've already solved window management, the shortcuts ARE muscle memory (your words), and switching cost is high for zero new benefit. The honest answer to your literal question is "almost nothing" — so stop aiming there.
Your real buyer is in your own origin story. You built this because your hand was on the trackpad, you couldn't remember the shortcut, and you gave up and dragged the window. That's not a Rectangle power-user. That's a person Rectangle failed. The people who installed a keyboard window manager and never built the muscle memory, or never installed one because "learn shortcuts" was too much friction — those are yours. They're not switching from a tool they love, they're finally getting the tool that fits hands already on the trackpad. Your wedge isn't "better than Rectangle," it's "for everyone Rectangle never worked for." Completely different pitch, and it's the one your story already tells.
On Swish, the honest hard part: it's near-identical, and your differentiators (preview, 12-column stepping, fill-the-rest) are feature differences, which don't win in a category — too subtle for a buyer to weigh. Against a near-identical incumbent you win on a sharper who or on price, and you're sitting on a price wedge you're burying: $2.99 once versus Swish's higher/recurring cost. "The gesture window manager you buy once for the price of a coffee" is a real position. Lead with it.
And one gentle flag: your honesty is a strength right up until it isn't. "If Swish fits you, you may not need this" is you talking the buyer out of it inside your own launch. Honest comparison builds trust; conceding "you might not need my product" positions you out of existence. Keep the honesty, lose the part that argues against yourself.
So the question back: of your trial users so far, how many came from Rectangle/Magnet versus from having no window manager at all? I'd bet the happy ones are the second group, and that tells you who to actually talk to.
Thanks for the sharp framing. I think you’re right that the real buyer is often someone Rectangle never became muscle memory for, rather than a hardcore shortcut user looking to switch tools. Coexistence and price clarity matter here: Gridly is meant to sit alongside existing habits, and $2.99 once / KISS99 is intentional, not an accident of early pricing.
I’m also taking your point on the launch copy. I leaned so hard into “you may not need this” that I probably made the product argue against itself. The honesty should stay, but it doesn’t need to sound like a disclaimer.
The trial-mix data isn’t clean enough yet to make a strong claim. Still, the early signal fits your bet more than “Rectangle power users are converting wholesale”: the people who stick seem to be the ones who want a pointer-first option in specific moments.
What messaging would you test first?
Test the who, not the feature — because we agreed your wedge is audience, not capability, so the message has to name a person, not list what the tool does. Three angles I'd put head-to-head, all against your current feature-forward copy:
One, the identity hook: "You installed Rectangle. You never remembered the shortcuts. This one's for you." It names the exact person and does something sneaky-important — it converts the quiet shame of "I couldn't build the muscle memory" into "the tool was wrong for my hands, not me." People don't buy the product that makes them feel deficient; they buy the one that says the old thing was the problem.
Two, the physical moment: "Your hand's already on the trackpad. Place the window without reaching for a shortcut you'll blank on." This sells the exact five seconds from your origin story, not the 12-column grid. The grid is how it works; the trackpad moment is why anyone cares.
Three, the price wedge as headline instead of footnote: "The gesture window manager you buy once. $2.99, not a subscription." That's your one clean shot at Swish, and right now it's buried in your specs.
The thing tying all three: your sticky users told you the truth already — pointer-first in specific moments. Don't message features, message that moment, so the right person thinks "that's me, hand on the trackpad, blanking on the shortcut" and the Rectangle power-user reads it and correctly opts out. You want that opt-out. A message the wrong person rejects is a message the right person recognizes.
This exact move — turning a buyer insight into the one line that makes the right person feel seen and the wrong one leave — is what I spend my days on; I'm part of the team building Hivemind (https://hivemind.myosin.xyz), an AI strategy copilot for pressure-testing positioning like this. Your instinct to question your own targeting was the whole unlock.
Start with angle one or two as your hero, keep three as the closer. Which of your sticky users' "specific moments" comes up most — because that's the moment your hero line should be built around, and it beats any headline I'd guess at from outside.
That’s a fair question. The strongest pattern so far is the “in-between” moment: I’m already on the trackpad and need a quick odd-width or corner adjustment without reaching for a shortcut. Rectangle/Magnet still win for layouts I use constantly; Gridly sticks when I don’t want to leave the pointer or never memorized the shortcut. I’m going to test the hero around that specific moment rather than claim it replaces a window manager.
The coexistence angle is interesting. Have users coming from Rectangle/Magnet actually switched to Gridly, or do they mainly try the gestures and return to their existing shortcuts?
Honest answer: it’s early, so I don’t have a clean “switched vs bounced” dataset yet.
What I’m seeing so far is closer to coexistence than a clean switch. People who already have Rectangle/Magnet muscle memory often keep those shortcuts for the layouts they fire constantly, and use the title-bar gesture for the awkward in-between cases — odd widths, quick cornering, or rearranging without leaving the trackpad. A few who never memorized shortcuts lean on Gridly more as a primary.
That’s why I leaned into “no global shortcuts” on purpose: if the only way to win is forcing people to abandon their existing manager, most won’t. If you’ve tried both, I’d love to hear which moments still make you reach for the keyboard.
That coexistence signal is interesting. I’d be curious what makes those use cases stick. If you’re open to it, what’s the best email to reach you on?
Best place is support@yangbyte.com — that’s the public address on the site, and I actually read it. Happy to dig into which gesture moments stick vs which ones still lose to shortcuts.
Thanks! I’ve just sent it over.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts whenever you have a chance.