Restarting the yabai service causes yabai to manage previously unmanaged windows

[gloesch]

I have a yabairc with the following sort of rules:

yabai -m rule --add app="Finder" manage=off

If I have a Finder window open (unmanaged, can drag around without snapping) and then restart yabai with yabai --restart-service (usually after I do a config change), the previously open and unmanaged Finder window is now managed.

If I close and open a new Finder window, it's not managed as expected. This happens with another application I selectively manually manage.

I just recently updated from something yabai-5.x.x to latest yabai-v7.1.1, so perhaps I missed some logic/config breaking change?

Any help would be great.

[tamasgal]

I am using this line and it works fine:

yabai -m rule --add app="^Finder$" sub-layer=above manage=off

[gloesch]

@tamasgal do you mind sharing your version and also full config? I tried something similar, and I still have the same behavior.

And what macOS version are you using? I'm on Sonoma 14.5

[tamasgal]

I am still on macOS Sonoma 14.3 (23D56), maybe that's the reason 😕

Here is my full config:

#!/usr/bin/env sh

#
# for this to work you must configure sudo such that
# it will be able to run the command without password
#
# see this wiki page for information:
#  - https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai/wiki/Installing-yabai-(latest-release)#configure-scripting-addition
#
# yabai -m signal --add event=dock_did_restart action="sudo yabai --load-sa"
# sudo yabai --load-sa
#

yabai -m signal --add event=dock_did_restart action="sudo yabai --load-sa"
sudo yabai --load-sa

# global settings
yabai -m config                                 \
    mouse_follows_focus          off            \
    focus_follows_mouse          off            \
    window_origin_display        default        \
    window_placement             second_child   \
    window_topmost               off        \
    window_zoom_persist          on             \
    window_shadow                float             \
    window_animation_duration    0.0            \
    window_animation_frame_rate  120            \
    window_opacity               off            \
    window_opacity_duration      0.0            \
    active_window_opacity        1.0            \
    normal_window_opacity        0.40           \
    insert_feedback_color        0xffd75f5f     \
    split_ratio                  0.50           \
    split_type                   auto           \
    auto_balance                 off            \
    top_padding                  3             \
    bottom_padding               3             \
    left_padding                 3             \
    right_padding                3             \
    window_gap                   3             \
    layout                       bsp            \
    mouse_modifier               fn             \
    mouse_action1                move           \
    mouse_action2                resize         \
    mouse_drop_action            swap

yabai -m rule --add app="^System Settings$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Calculator$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Finder$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Karabiner-Elements$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^MenuMeters$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Step Two$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Messages$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Calendar$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Signal$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^VLC$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^QuickTime Player$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app="^Fusion$" sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app='^Autodesk.*$' sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app='^julia$' title='^RainbowAlga$' sub-layer=above manage=off
yabai -m rule --add app='^Hearthstone$' sub-layer=above manage=off

yabai -m config external_bar all:25:0
borders active_color=0xffebd234 inactive_color=0xff555555 width=6.0

echo "yabai configuration loaded.."

[gloesch]

yeah, my config looks really similar. Well if you happen to upgrade and don't have the issue or upgrade and do have the same issue, would love to know!

[gloesch]

oh, and I'm not using the scripting addition. Is another variable.

[szfkamil]

I have a similar issue #2307.

I just recently updated from something yabai-5.x.x to latest yabai-v7.1.1, so perhaps I missed some logic/config breaking change?

I have been regularly updating the binary manually for a long time and still have this.

And what macOS version are you using? I'm on Sonoma 14.5

I am also on Sonoma 14.5

I am led to believe it's a software bug and will try to work around this, for example:

Before the restart command runs, switch to a space with no windows, or a space that has windows which don't have this problem (i.e. with grid), after restart, switch focus to previous space by focus (delay if needed).

[szfkamil]

I hacked this script based on the above:

#!/bin/zsh


# Function to capture the current space index using yabai and jq
capture_space_index() {
    local space_index  # Declaring space_index as a local variable
    space_index=$(yabai -m query --spaces --space | jq -r '.index') 

    if [ -z "$space_index" ]; then  # Checking if space_index is empty
        echo "Error: Failed to capture space ID."
        exit 1
    fi
    echo "$space_index"  # Returning space_index
}

# Capture the current space ID dynamically
space_index_before_restart=$(capture_space_index)

yabai -m space --focus misc

# Restart the yabai service
yabai --restart-service

sleep 1

# Focus back on the original space using its dynamically captured index
yabai -m space --focus "$space_index_before_restart"

It works, but isn't perfect. At least for me, weird stuff with windows happens on-screen (probably because of grid rules being triggered).

Let me know how it works if you use, and feel free to suggest improvements.