Say for example you want to do something dynamically when an app launches. You could open an app and the windows would automatically be arranged across your monitors the way you want.
Both Phoenix and Hammerspoon are free and open-source. You can also configure them in endless ways, so either you can have a really simple setup or a very dynamic one that works just the way you like.
In many conceptual ways, such as sharing the same language for configuration, though this is a completely different project so they don’t share the same origin. Slate has become rather abandoned and unsupported nowadays. Phoenix hopefully continues strong in this area.
Hammerspoon uses Lua for the configuration language. Phoenix uses JavaScript, or anything that translates to it. Personally I think Phoenix’s API is much simpler and easier to understand, but I’m of course bias. :) Hammerspoon does have some additional features that go beyond window and app management. Phoenix doesn’t cover those.
Hi! Fair point, unfortunately the new release has some API changes and most of the examples in the Wiki haven’t caught up yet.
I have been thinking of providing a template, but then again people have very different ideas on what they want, so it’s hard to know what the default configuration should be.
@lrusnac Both have similar goals. I would say the main difference is that Phoenix focuses to be lightweight, is more versatile and has a broader JavaScript API. You can also easily use CoffeeScript as the language for your configuration.
Hi, undoubtably true! Phoenix has been around since 2013. It has become established in the OS X window manager scene.
It’s also exceedingly hard nowadays to come up with a product name that isn’t already in use in some context. :) Especially if you want it to have a meaning in English.