Autotile algorithms

Master and stack

One or more master windows with secondary windows in a stack alongside. Configurable master count and split ratio.

• Master + Stack master-stack

  Large master area with stacked secondary windows

  master countsplit ratio
• Centered Master centered-master

  Master windows centered with stacks on both sides

  master countsplit ratiocentered
• Corner Master corner-master

  Master window in a corner, and the rest fill the L-shaped remainder

  split ratio
• Focus + Sidebar focus-sidebar

  Main window with a vertically stacked sidebar. Ratio controls main window width

  split ratio
• Quadrant Priority quadrant-priority

  First window gets a large corner, and the rest fill the L-shaped remainder

  split ratio
• Three Column three-column

  Master window centered with columns on each side

  split ratiocentered
• Wide wide

  Master area on top, remaining windows stacked below

  master countsplit ratio

Recursive and tree

Each new window splits an existing region. Deterministic geometry from window arrival order (unless marked with memory).

• Binary Split bsp

  Balanced recursive splitting into equal regions

  split ratio
• Dwindle dwindle

  Each new window gets a smaller split, alternating direction

  split ratio
• Dwindle (Memory) dwindle-memory

  Remembers split positions, so you can resize one split without affecting others

  split ratiostateful
• Spiral spiral

  Windows spiral inward from the edges

  split ratio

Grid and even division

All windows treated equally. Cells sized to fill the available area with no master.

• Columns columns

  Equal-width vertical columns
• Rows rows

  Equal-height horizontal rows
• Grid grid

  Equal-sized grid layout
• Aligned Grid aligned-grid

  Resize-aware grid: drag a cell edge to move the whole aligned column/row
• Cluster cluster

  Groups windows by application so windows from the same app are placed adjacent
• Tatami tatami

  Japanese tatami mat pattern where no four corners ever meet at the same point

Stacking and overlapping

Windows can share screen space. Either a single-visible stack (Monocle), a cascade offset, or a rolling deck.

• Cascade cascade

  Overlapping windows in a diagonal cascade

  split ratiooverlapping
• Deck deck

  Focused window takes the left portion. Remaining windows peek from the right edge. Ratio controls focused window width

  split ratiooverlapping
• Horizontal Deck horizontal-deck

  Focused window on top. Remaining windows peek from the bottom edge

  split ratiooverlapping
• Monocle monocle

  One window fullscreen at a time, cycle through others

  overlapping
• Paper paper

  Equal-width overlapping pages like a document viewer, where splitRatio controls page width

  split ratiooverlapping
• Spread spread

  Windows spread evenly across the screen

  split ratiooverlapping
• Stair stair

  Stepped staircase arrangement

  split ratiooverlapping

Other

Layouts that don't fit the above families.

• Floating Center floating-center

  Centered main window with peripheral panels on all sides

  split ratio
• Zen zen

  Centered column with margins for a focused, distraction-free layout

  split ratio

Tag reference

• master count — the algorithm reads ctx.masterCount. Settings exposes a per-screen master-count slider when this is set.
• split ratio — the algorithm reads ctx.splitRatio. Settings exposes a ratio slider bounded by the pluau.MIN_SPLIT / pluau.MAX_SPLIT constants.
• stateful — keeps a binary tree across layout requests in ctx.tree. Window positions stay stable when new windows are added to an existing tree.
• overlapping — zones can overlap (stacking and deck layouts). The overlay renders z-ordered zones from back to front.
• centered — the algorithm centers its output in the tileable area. Leaves margins rather than expanding to fill.

Using autotile

• Tiling authoring guide → Write your own. Sandbox contract, metadata fields, built-in helpers, and hot-reload setup.
• Autotile shortcuts → Toggle autotile, change the master ratio/count, retile, and swap with master.
• Autotile over D-Bus → Toggle per screen, force retile, or change algorithm from a script.
• Bundled algorithm sources on GitHub → Every algorithm listed here, with the full Luau source for reference.