Recall

A macOS menu bar app for saving and restoring window layouts.

Features

• Save window layouts - Capture positions and sizes of all open windows
• Restore layouts - Return windows to their saved positions with one click
• Multi-monitor support - Handles windows across multiple displays
• Smart window matching - Matches windows even when titles change dynamically
• Auto-launch apps - Launches closed apps and reopens windows when restoring
• Edit layouts - Open layout files in your default JSON editor
• Start at login - Optional automatic startup

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 or later
• Accessibility permission (prompted on first use)

Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap luckfamousa/tap
brew install --cask recall

Manual download

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases and move Recall.app to /Applications.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/luckfamousa/Recall.git
cd Recall
./Scripts/build-app.sh
cp -r .build/Recall.app /Applications/

First launch (Gatekeeper warning)

Since Recall is not notarized, macOS will show a warning on first launch. To open anyway:

1. Right-click Recall.app in Finder
2. Select Open from the context menu
3. Click Open in the dialog

Or via Terminal:

xattr -cr /Applications/Recall.app

Grant permissions

On first run, Recall will request Accessibility permission. Grant access in:

System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility

Usage

Recall lives in your menu bar with a window grid icon.

Save a layout

1. Arrange your windows as desired
2. Click the menu bar icon
3. Select Save Current Layout...
4. Enter a name and click Save

Restore a layout

1. Click the menu bar icon
2. Hover over Restore
3. Select the layout to restore

Manage layouts

• Delete - Remove saved layouts
• Edit - Open layout JSON in your default editor

Layouts are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Recall/layouts/

How it works

Recall uses the macOS Accessibility API to:

• Enumerate windows from running applications
• Read window positions and sizes
• Move and resize windows during restore

Window matching uses multiple strategies:

1. Exact title match
2. Stable title match (ignores dynamic suffixes)
3. Partial title match
4. Window index fallback

Development

Project structure

Recall/
├── Package.swift
├── Sources/Recall/
│   ├── main.swift
│   ├── AppDelegate.swift
│   ├── Models/
│   │   └── Layout.swift
│   ├── Services/
│   │   ├── WindowManager.swift
│   │   ├── LayoutStorage.swift
│   │   └── LoginItemManager.swift
│   └── UI/
│       └── MenuBarController.swift
├── Resources/
│   └── Info.plist
└── Scripts/
    ├── build-app.sh
    └── update-app.sh

Build commands

# Debug build
swift build

# Release build
swift build -c release

# Create app bundle
./Scripts/build-app.sh

# Update binary only (preserves TCC authorization)
./Scripts/update-app.sh

Debug logging

Debug logs are written to ~/recall_debug.log

# Watch logs in real-time
tail -f ~/recall_debug.log

License

MIT