Window Hints

Window Hints is a macOS utility built for developers and power users who want to navigate between open windows without reaching for the mouse. The concept is simple but powerful. Press a hotkey, and every visible window on your screen gets assigned a single letter. Type that letter, and you jump directly to that window. It turns what would normally be a multi-click process into a two-keystroke operation. For anyone who has tried to hunt down a specific browser tab or terminal window among a dozen overlapping applications, the immediate appeal is obvious.

The application works by tapping into macOS Accessibility permissions to enumerate all open windows and read their titles. When you trigger the hotkey, which defaults to Option plus Tab, Window Hints overlays a letter on each visible window. The letters are positioned prominently so you can quickly scan and select. Assignment follows a predictable pattern based on window position and importance, making frequently used windows easy to reach once you internalize the layout. This approach bypasses the traditional Command-Tab app switcher entirely. That native switcher only cycles through applications rather than individual windows, which is a critical distinction when you have multiple windows open from the same app.

Support for multiple displays is built in from the ground up, so users with two or three monitors can jump between windows across their entire workspace without needing separate hotkeys per screen. Every visible window on every connected display gets a letter assignment simultaneously. The utility also integrates with Mission Control, macOS's virtual desktop feature, so you can see and select windows that are currently on other spaces. There's experimental support for Stage Manager if you've adopted Apple's newer window management paradigm, though that feature is still being refined as Stage Manager itself evolves.

Additional experimental features include Ghostty Splits and Chrome Split View integration. Ghostty is a GPU-accelerated terminal emulator that supports split panes, and Window Hints can target individual splits rather than just the parent window. Similarly, Chrome's split view feature lets you divide a browser window into two side-by-side panes, and Window Hints can address each pane independently. These integrations matter for users who work heavily in terminal emulators or browser-based development environments where a single application window might contain multiple distinct workspaces.

The target audience is clearly defined. This is for keyboard-centric developers, writers, and analysts who find the mouse to be an interruption to their flow state. If you've ever wished your window manager worked more like a vim-style navigation system, Window Hints delivers that experience. It removes the cognitive overhead of hunting for the right window in a sea of overlapping applications, especially during deep work sessions where context switching needs to be fast and frictionless. The tool is particularly valuable during debugging sessions, code reviews, or any workflow where you're constantly bouncing between a text editor, browser documentation, terminal, and Slack or Discord.

What sets Window Hints apart from other window management tools is its singular focus. It doesn't try to tile, resize, or snap windows. It doesn't have complex configuration files or scripting support. It doesn't require learning a new conceptual model of how windows should be organized. It does exactly one thing, which is letting you jump to any window by typing a single letter, and it does that thing extremely well. The interface is minimal by design, appearing only when summoned and disappearing the moment you make your selection. There's no persistent dock, no sidebar, no preferences panel full of options you'll never use.

Pricing follows a one-time purchase model at seven dollars, which includes all future updates for the life of the product. There's no subscription and no account creation required. Your license is tied to the purchase, not to some cloud account you need to remember credentials for. A free trial is available that reminds you to purchase after every forty activations, giving you several days or weeks of real usage to decide if the tool fits your workflow. For those who prefer subscription flexibility, there's also a fifteen dollar monthly option, though the one-time purchase represents significantly better value for anyone planning to use the tool long-term. The developer behind Window Hints is Chasing Brains, with support available via email for any issues or feature requests. Windows support is being considered based on community interest and voting.