OpenDesktop icon

OpenDesktop

One keystroke opens a new Desktop, laid out: browser on the left, Terminal in the middle, Finder on the right. Save any Desktop as a template and bring it back later.

Download for Mac
Free · Version 1.0.0 · macOS 14 or later · Apple silicon and Intel · Notarized by Apple

Everything lives in the menu bar

Every command has a shortcut, so a fresh, tidy workspace is one keystroke away.

New Workspace Desktop ⌃⌥⌘N

A brand-new Desktop with your default layout. Out of the box: Chrome (or Safari), Terminal and Finder at 33, 44 and 23 percent.

Tidy This Desktop ⌃⌥⌘T

Windows piled on top of each other snap back into their columns, with no overlap, even with two windows of the same app.

Templates ⌃⌥⌘S ⌃⌥⌘O

Save a Desktop exactly as it is: every app, where it sits, Chrome's tabs, Finder's folder, Terminal's directory. Reopen it on a new Desktop from a gallery of cards.

Pick your default

Make any template the default and the New Workspace shortcut opens that one instead.

Clean Up All Desktops ⌃⌥⌘C

Moves stray apps off your workspaces onto a Desktop of their own and deletes the empty Desktops. It shows the plan first.

Close This Desktop ⌃⌥⌘W

Closes every window on the Desktop and removes it, after you confirm. Anything unsaved still asks you first.

Install

About a minute, once.

Open the downloadDouble-click OpenDesktop.dmg and drag OpenDesktop into Applications.
Start itIt appears in the menu bar as three small panes. Choose whether it starts at login.
Allow AccessibilitySystem Settings opens at Privacy & Security > Accessibility. Switch OpenDesktop on.
Press ⌃⌥⌘NYour first workspace opens on a new Desktop.

What it asks for, and why

macOS has no public way to create a Desktop, so OpenDesktop drives Mission Control the way you would, pressing its + button and dragging windows.

AccessibilityTo move and size windows and to operate Mission Control.
Automation, per appFinder, Chrome, Safari and Terminal, to open new windows and to read what a template saves (tabs, folders, directories).
Screen Recording, optionalOnly for the screenshot on a template's card. Without it, the card shows a drawing of the layout.
Nothing leaves your Mac. OpenDesktop makes no network requests and collects no data. Settings and templates are plain files in ~/.config/opendesktop.