Hyprland · Omarchy · macOS
Hyprland on a Mac
If you have used Hyprland on Linux — or Omarchy, which is built on it — and then had to work on a Mac, you already know the feeling. Everything overlaps. Nothing snaps. You spend the day dragging windows into position.
The short version: Hyprland itself cannot run on macOS, and no amount of effort will change that. Here is why, what your options genuinely are, and what the closest thing looks like.
Why it cannot be ported
Hyprland is a Wayland compositor. On Linux it is the thing that draws your desktop: it owns the screen, composites every window, and can therefore round corners, blur backgrounds and animate windows however it likes.
macOS already has one of those. It is called WindowServer, it is closed source,
and Apple does not permit replacing it. There is no Wayland session on a Mac for Hyprland to
run in, and no supported way to create one.
This is worth being precise about, because it decides what is possible. Hyprland not running on macOS is not a packaging gap or a missing volunteer. It is architectural — the job Hyprland does is a job macOS does not let any other program do.
Omarchy hits the same wall, for the same reason. Omarchy is an opinionated Arch Linux configuration — DHH's — with Hyprland at its centre. It is a very good way to get a working Hyprland desktop quickly, and it still needs a Linux kernel underneath it.
Your actual options
Run Linux in a virtual machine
Works, and it is the right answer if what you want is Hyprland. UTM or Parallels will give you an Arch install with a Hyprland session in a window.
The catch: you are tiling Linux applications inside a virtual machine. Safari, Xcode, Mail and every other Mac app you use are outside it, overlapping each other exactly as before. Compositor effects also depend heavily on how well the VM accelerates graphics.
Install Linux on the Mac itself
On Apple Silicon this means Asahi Linux, which is a serious and impressive project.
The catch: you are no longer running macOS. If the goal was tiling the Mac you already work on, this trades the problem for a different machine.
Use a native window manager shaped like Hyprland
Keep macOS and its applications, and change how the windows are arranged. This is what hyprmac is: not a port, not an emulation, but the same way of working rebuilt against the APIs macOS does expose.
The catch: it can tile, position, resize and swap windows. It cannot do the things only a compositor can — no blur, no per-window animation, no rounded corners on other apps' windows.
What carries over, and what does not
- The dwindle layout — new windows split the focused tile along its longer axis
- A
hyprland.conf-style config — same syntax, same$mod, samebindlines - Vim-style keybindings — H J K L to move focus, add ⇧ to move the window
- Gaps and workspaces —
gaps_in,gaps_out, and five workspaces you switch with the modifier and a number - Dispatchers —
movefocus,movewindow,togglefloating,fullscreen,workspace
- Blur, opacity and shadows on other apps' windows — compositor work
- Animated window movement — macOS exposes position and size, not the move itself
- Rounded corners on other apps' windows — only macOS may round them
- Unlimited workspaces — there are five, and the number is fixed
- Hyprland plugins — a different program entirely, with a different extension model
If that second column is the reason you love Hyprland, a Linux machine is the honest answer and you should not let anyone sell you otherwise. If the first column is what you miss when you sit down at a Mac, that is the gap hyprmac fills.
Common questions
Can you run Hyprland on macOS?
No. Hyprland is a Wayland compositor, and macOS does not run Wayland. Its window server is closed and cannot be replaced, so this is not a porting problem that effort would solve — there is nothing for Hyprland to attach to.
Is there an Omarchy for Mac?
Not as such. Omarchy is an opinionated Arch Linux setup built around Hyprland, so it inherits the same requirement: a Linux kernel and a Wayland session. hyprmac takes the part that transfers — the tiling behaviour, the config format and the keybindings — and rebuilds it natively for macOS.
What is the closest thing to Hyprland on macOS?
A native window manager shaped like it. hyprmac uses the dwindle layout, reads a hyprland.conf-style config file, and keeps the vim-style keybindings, gaps and workspaces. It is not Hyprland and does not claim to be — it is the same way of working, on a system Hyprland cannot run on.
Could I just run Hyprland in a virtual machine?
You can, and people do. But you get a Linux desktop inside a window, running Linux applications — your Mac apps are still outside it, untiled. A VM is a good way to try Hyprland; it is not a way to tile the Mac you already use.
Does hyprmac use the same config file as Hyprland?
It uses the same syntax. Sections, $mod variables, bind lines and dispatchers all read the way you expect, so a Hyprland config is largely legible to it. It is not byte-compatible — settings that describe a compositor have no meaning on macOS.
Do I have to disable SIP?
No. Some macOS window managers require you to turn off System Integrity Protection, Apple's core protection against software tampering with the system. hyprmac does not. It asks for one Accessibility permission and works within what macOS already allows.
1 MB · Apple Silicon · macOS 14+ · free. Not affiliated with the Hyprland project or Omarchy.