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Bonsplit

Tabs and splits for native macOS apps

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HN · launched Jan 25, 2026 · 245 upvotes (top 3%) · 1 view

Niche: desktop window managers · 103 launches, 13 in the last 7 days · Explore this niche →

Category and tags
  • Horizontal
  • Dev tools
  • Developer
  • Not AI
  • Hobby / open-source project

Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗

More like this: all 103 launches in desktop window managers →

Could you build this?

No Creating a high-performance native macOS tab and split-pane library with 120fps animations and complex drag-and-drop state management requires deep specialized expertise in AppKit, SwiftUI layout internals, and macOS windowing APIs.

What it would actually take: This requires advanced Swift, AppKit, and SwiftUI architecture using custom NSViewRepresentables or AppKit custom container view controllers (NSSplitViewController, NSPanels). The hard parts are seamless multi-split recursive tree layout mathematics, interactive tab dragging across separate window boundaries, first-responder focus chains, and coordinating 120Hz ProMotion animation frame budgets without layout thrashing.

Discussion

20 comments analyzed.

Competitors mentioned: Eclipse view management, Chrome tabs, iTerm tabs, Safari tabs, ion3/notion window manager

Concerns raised: Video not loading on mobile, Close button placement (right side of tab), Native macOS tabs are underbaked and awkward, Native tabs don't fit well with custom data models, Missing license in repository

Feature requests: Drag-and-drop to reorder tabs within panel, Close tabs to left, right, or all other tabs, Manage title elision with multiple tabs, Change pane proportions on the fly, Multiple views of same document in different tabs

Competitors

Other products that read as similar to this one : 3311 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.

Attention rank: #112 of 3312 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).

Launched 88 days after the earliest competitor.

  • emu · github · 2026-09-25 · 34 upvotes · similarity 0.70
  • Dinky · github · 2026-09-26 · 24 upvotes · similarity 0.67
  • Cutaway · github · 2026-10-11 · 15 upvotes · similarity 0.67
  • Calyx · hn · 2026-03-12 · 28 upvotes · similarity 0.66
  • Jarvey · hn · 2026-03-07 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.66
  • DuoFlip · github · 2026-09-10 · 10 upvotes · similarity 0.65
  • Tinywm · hn · 2026-10-16 · 13 upvotes · similarity 0.65
  • tinywm · github · 2026-10-14 · 22 upvotes · similarity 0.65

Related data

The niche, labels, vibe code rating and competitor comparison on this page are analysis by Nicheloom. If you use them, please credit nicheloom.com. How you may use our data.