Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct colored border.
Good to know
Requires macOS 14.0+; borders are suppressed for windows too small to draw them.
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Highlight the focused macOS window with colored borders and customize their appearance.
What you can do with JankyBorders
Choose active and inactive border colors and border width.
Wrong?
Start window borders as a Homebrew service or alongside yabai.
Good to know
Homebrew service startup requires Homebrew; yabai startup uses yabairc.
Wrong?
Change window border settings without restarting the running borders process.
Good to know
Requires an existing borders process to update.
Wrong?
Load saved border settings automatically on startup.
Good to know
The primary process must start without arguments; the config is an executable script at ~/.config/borders/bordersrc.
Wrong?
Choose which applications receive window borders.
Good to know
Use comma-separated application names; a populated whitelist restricts borders to listed apps.
Wrong?
Render borders with diagonal gradients, glow, or retina resolution.
Good to know
Quote gradient and glow arguments as required by the shell; enable retina rendering with hidpi=on.
Wrong?
Read command-line help and check the installed borders version.
Good to know
Use -h/--help or -v/--version.
Wrong?
Show all 15
Keep borders aligned with windows during yabai animations.
Good to know
Requires yabai 7.0.0 or later.
Wrong?
Draw a colored background behind windows.
Good to know
background_color supports 0xAARRGGBB colors only.
Wrong?
Identify the focused window using the accessibility API when window-management tools affect focus detection.
Good to know
Requires accessibility permissions; ax_focus=on selects the slower accessibility API.
Wrong?
Set border appearance for an individual existing window.
Good to know
Requires the target window ID and a running borders process; later global setting changes also update window overrides.
Wrong?
Highlight windows with borders on macOS Sequoia.
Good to know
Requires macOS Sequoia.
Wrong?
Highlight windows with borders on macOS 26.
Good to know
Requires macOS 26 for the platform-specific handling.
Wrong?
Cover rounded window corners with square borders drawn above the window.
Good to know
Experimental option: use style=square, order=above and width at least 8.0.
Wrong?
Before you upgrade JankyBorders
Newest firstWindows marked to ignore window cycling are excluded from borders, including affected tooltips and transient UI such as JetBrains IDE tooltips.
Wrong?
Rounded borders adapt to parent-window corner radii on macOS 26; `style=uniform` selects a uniform outer radius of 9.0.
Read the evidence
Wrong?
Remove `blur_radius` from border commands and configuration; it is no longer accepted. `background_color` remains available.
Read the evidence
Wrong?
Show 5 older
Upgrade yabai to 7.0.0 or later to use this release's window-animation integration.
Read the evidence
Wrong?
`blur_radius` values above 25 are now capped at 25 instead of 30.
Read the evidence
Wrong?
`ax_focus` is enabled automatically when the process or parent has accessibility permissions; `ax_focus=off` overrides it.
Read the evidence
Wrong?
Borders no longer intercept mouse events.
Read the evidence
Wrong?
Inactive borders now default to transparent (`inactive_color=0x00000000`); set `inactive_color` explicitly to show them.
Read the evidence
Wrong?
Removed 1
Blur transparent borders and window backgrounds.
Set blur_radius; values above 25 are capped at 25.
JankyBorders release history 9
Resize windows with reduced border flickering.
Details
Resize rendering addresses flicker; windows excluded from window cycling, including affected tooltips, no longer receive borders.
v1.9.0; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Now works: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…Behavior changed: Choose which applications receive window borders.
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
Use window borders on macOS 26 with sizing and corner radii that follow the window.
Details
macOS 26 compatibility adjusts border sizes, window ordering and corner radii; `style=uniform` provides uniform outer corners.
Also: Uniform corner style and a fix for keyboard/mouse input loss after logout.
v1.8.4; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Added: Highlight windows with borders on macOS 26.Behavior changed: Choose active and inactive border colors and border…Now works: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
Apply different border appearance settings to an individual window.
Details
`apply-to=<window-id>` targets an existing window; background blur and its `blur_radius` option are removed.
Also: macOS Sequoia support; background blur removed and blur_radius configurations need updating.
v1.7.0; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Added / inferred: Set border appearance for an individual existing wi…Added: Highlight windows with borders on macOS Sequoia.Removed: Blur transparent borders and window backgrounds.Action required / inferredNow works / inferred: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
Move and resize windows with less border flickering.
Details
Move/resize handling reduces flicker; the updated animation integration requires yabai 7.0.0 or later.
v1.6.0; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Now works: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…Action required: Keep borders aligned with windows during yabai anim…Behavior changed / inferred: Blur transparent borders and window backgrounds.
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
Keep window borders aligned with yabai window animations.
Details
Animation integration supports yabai 6.0.10+; `background_color`, `blur_radius`, and `ax_focus` add background styling and optional accessibility-based focus detection.
Also: Background fills and blur, optional accessibility-based focus detection, and sticky-window border fixes.
v1.5.1; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Added: Keep borders aligned with windows during yabai anim…Added: Draw a colored background behind windows.Added / inferred: Blur transparent borders and window backgrounds.Added: Identify the focused window using the accessibility…Behavior changedNow works: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
Keep borders correctly ordered with yabai and identify the front window in additional edge cases.
Details
Window-border ordering and front-window detection are fixed; `order=above` can draw square borders over rounded window corners.
v1.4.2; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Now works: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…Added / inferred: Cover rounded window corners with square borders dr…Behavior changed / inferred
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
Load border preferences automatically when starting the Homebrew service.
Details
A launch without arguments executes `~/.config/borders/bordersrc` if present; border colors accept gradients and glow, and `hidpi=on` enables retina rendering.
Also: Application allow/exclude lists, gradients, glow, retina rendering, transparent inactive borders by default, and help/version flags.
v1.3.3; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Added: Load saved border settings automatically on startup.Added: Choose which applications receive window borders.Behavior changed / inferred: Choose active and inactive border colors and border…Added: Render borders with diagonal gradients, glow, or re…Behavior changed: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…Added: Read command-line help and check the installed bord…
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
v1.2.5
with v1.1.1, v1.2.0
with v1.1.1, v1.2.0
Change border appearance while borders are already running.
Details
Invoke `borders` again with appearance options to update the running instance; `style=square` selects square borders and arguments may appear in any order.
Also: Square borders, arbitrary argument order, local man-page help, and fixes for focus and fullscreen handling.
v1.2.5; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Added: Change window border settings without restarting th…Limit lifted: Choose active and inactive border colors and border…Now works: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…Behavior changed
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex
v1.1.1
Starting point
with v1.0.0, v1.0.1, v1.0.3
Starting point
with v1.0.0, v1.0.1, v1.0.3
Identify the focused macOS window by its colored border.
Details
Set `active_color`, `inactive_color` and `width` when starting `borders`; existing windows can receive borders too.
v1.1.1; macOS 14.0+; install with Homebrew from FelixKratz/formulae (brew install borders).
Added: Identify the focused macOS window with a distinct c…Added: Choose active and inactive border colors and border…Added: Start window borders as a Homebrew service or along…
Seeded by @iluxav with Codex