[WIP] - Modos: a multi-workspace concept setup

Hey everyone! Thought I'd show you a setup I'm working on:

Modos (spanish for "modes") is a workspace setup, based on the idea of being able to switch your whole desktop environment between different modes, each with its own set of apps, window layouts, and more.

For example in the screenshot above I'm in the Developer mode, where I have:

  • VS Code and Browser on the left
  • TickTick in the top right
  • Notable (markdown notes) in the bottom right.

With it you can:

  • Assign apps + windows layout to each mode
  • Switch between modes (map to spaces/desktops)
  • "Focus" on specific apps at a time

The setup has:

  • Floating toolbar - a toggle-able WebView that sits on top of your windows. It shows:
    • Left: Current app name, number of windows, window title
    • Middle: Mode switcher
    • Right: Options- Save window layout (BTT prefs), restore layout, close toolbar.


The toolbar takes up some screen real estate in exchange for utility, and I think it can provide many potential uses, such as showing useful info (eg. system stats), widgets (eg dropzone clipboard), themes, and more. I'd love some ideas on how to make this better.

  • Touchbar preset, with a mode switcher and a 'focus' button for current app - to hide all other windows, expand and center current window. You can 'unfocus' to bring back the window setup.

I'm impressed how much you can achieve with BTT. Admittedly I spend way too much time tinkering with it for hours, (or even days). This setup is a work in progress but I'd like to make a preset based on it for those interested :slight_smile:

I absolutely love this setup. Please let me know how I can get my hands on this preset!

Thanks @Akshay_Parakh ! I will release it later today, along with some instructions on how to set it up, although in it's current state there's a few issues:

  • You can use the floating toolbar to switch spaces/desktops via BTT, activate touchbar groups, etc, but you can't actually query Mission Control to know which space you're on. There's some workarounds, like determining it from the current desktop background, or accessing private methods in Core Graphics via Objective C/Swift. Discussions: 1 2 3. Why did Apple make it so hard...
  • The floating toolbar is always visible and needs to poll BTT and Applescript frequently to display info. Combined with other presets this can become a performance problem.

@Akshay_Parakh If you're happy to try out a pre-release version just to get an idea of the concept, download this below:

(caution: this will override your BTT settings, since the preset includes Snap Areas). I'll upload one without BTT settings as well.

Modos 0.1.0 (pre-release)

Appreciate you sharing this, Thanks!

How is this different from apps that makes window snap to different areas of the screen?Just trying to understand :slight_smile: Thanks again

Off topic, what are those apps on the right, and what are your vscode settings? :pray:

This a basically a stage manager replacement that doesn't occupy horizontal real estate, I like it