RectangleWin

A Windows port of Rectangle — the keyboard-driven window tiling manager for macOS.

Full credit goes to Ryan Hanson and the original Rectangle app. I loved using it on macOS so much that I wanted the same experience on Windows. I had used FancyZones (PowerToys) before, but Rectangle's keyboard shortcuts are much more convenient: halves, quarters, thirds, maximize, center, restore, and move between displays, all from the keyboard without touching the mouse. This project aims to replicate that workflow on Windows.

RectangleWin is a minimal tray app (Rust + Tauri): global hotkeys (Win+Alt by default), optional launch at startup, and configurable gaps. Edit config.json to change shortcuts.

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Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• Rust toolchain (use the default x86_64-pc-windows-msvc target)
• Node.js (and npm or pnpm) for the frontend
• Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 (recommended) or Visual Studio with the “Desktop development with C++” workload. The Rust MSVC target needs:
  • MSVC x64/x86 build tools
  • Windows 10/11 SDK
  • a working Developer shell environment

Environment setup

The most reliable local setup on Windows is to use the VS 2022 Build Tools developer shell. This repo includes a helper that finds a usable installation and loads the right PATH, INCLUDE, and LIB values for the current PowerShell session.

From the repo root:

. .\scripts\enter-vsdevshell.ps1
cd app\src-tauri
cargo test

If that script cannot find a usable toolchain, install or repair:

• Visual Studio Build Tools 2022
• Desktop development with C++
• MSVC v143 x64/x86 build tools
• Windows 10/11 SDK

Making sure build tools are in PATH

The build uses the MSVC toolchain (cl.exe, Windows headers). Those are only available in a Developer environment. Use either:

1. Start menu → open “x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022” (or your VS version), then run the build commands in that terminal, or
2. In a normal terminal, run the VS dev script first, then build:

   . .\scripts\enter-vsdevshell.ps1
   cd app
   npm run tauri build

   If VS is in a non-default path, pass -PreferredInstallPath to the helper script or use the “Developer PowerShell for VS” shortcut.

Validation

Run both the frontend and backend checks:

pwsh -File .\scripts\check.ps1

Run the fast local variant used by pre-commit:

pwsh -File .\scripts\check.ps1 -Mode fast

Run them separately:

pwsh -File .\scripts\check.ps1 -Frontend
pwsh -File .\scripts\check.ps1 -Backend

Frontend unit tests:

cd app
npm run test

Coverage

Backend coverage uses cargo-llvm-cov and the same VS developer-shell bootstrap as the test workflow.

One-time prerequisites:

rustup component add llvm-tools-preview
cargo install cargo-llvm-cov

Or let the helper install them:

pwsh -File .\scripts\coverage.ps1 -InstallPrereqs

Generate an HTML report:

pwsh -File .\scripts\coverage.ps1

The report is written to app/src-tauri/target/llvm-cov-html/html/index.html.

Generate LCOV output instead:

pwsh -File .\scripts\coverage.ps1 -Lcov

The LCOV file is written to app/src-tauri/target/llvm-cov.info.

Frontend coverage:

cd app
npm run coverage

The frontend HTML report is written to app/coverage/index.html.

Git hooks

Install the repo-local pre-commit hook:

pwsh -File .\scripts\install-git-hooks.ps1

Installed hooks:

• pre-commit
• pre-push

Hook behavior:

• pre-commit runs targeted fast checks based on staged files
• frontend changes under app/ trigger npm run typecheck and npm run test
• Rust changes under app/src-tauri/ trigger cargo test
• docs-only changes skip app checks
• pre-push runs the full validation suite via pwsh -File .\scripts\check.ps1
• coverage is not run from hooks; run it explicitly when needed

Build & run

From the repo root:

cd app
npm install
npm run tauri dev

Production build:

cd app
npm run tauri build

The built executable and installers are in app/src-tauri/target/release/ (e.g. app.exe) and app/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/ (NSIS and MSI installers).

Installers

After running npm run tauri build in app/, installers are produced in app/src-tauri/target/release/bundle/ (e.g. NSIS .exe and MSI). Use whichever you prefer for distribution.

Config

Config path: %LocalAppData%\RectangleWin\config.json. You can change hotkeys (default: Win+Alt + key), gap size, and launch-at-startup. Restart the app after editing.

Original project

• Rectangle (macOS): github.com/rxhanson/Rectangle — window management app based on Spectacle, by Ryan Hanson.

License

MIT. See LICENSE. This project is a Windows port inspired by Rectangle; Rectangle is Copyright (c) 2019–2025 Ryan Hanson (based on Spectacle, Copyright (c) 2017 Eric Czarny).