https://github.com/hdlx/altappswitcher
Alternative application switcher for Windows
https://github.com/hdlx/altappswitcher
alt alternative app application keyboard macos personalization shortcuts switcher win32 windows
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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Alternative application switcher for Windows
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/hdlx/altappswitcher
- Owner: hdlx
- License: mit
- Created: 2024-02-25T14:39:43.000Z (about 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2026-02-08T18:51:53.000Z (3 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-02-09T00:29:56.645Z (3 months ago)
- Topics: alt, alternative, app, application, keyboard, macos, personalization, shortcuts, switcher, win32, windows
- Language: C
- Homepage:
- Size: 10.7 MB
- Stars: 163
- Watchers: 6
- Forks: 12
- Open Issues: 54
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Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE.md
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README
## AltAppSwitcher: alternative application switcher for Windows
Main features:
- Minimalist icon based interface
- MacOS-like or Gnome-like application switching. Use `alt + tab` to select the active app (not window) and `alt + ~` to switch between windows of the active app.
- MacOS-like application switching can be disabled if you prefer Windows style.
- Customizable keybindings and display options
**Tested on Windows 10 and Windows 11.**
## Launching AltAppSwitcher:
Get the archive from the [release page](https://github.com/hdlx/AltAppSwitcher/releases/).
**x86_64** and **ARM64** (AArch64) architectures are available. Please note that I was not able to test the ARM64 one myself.
**Run the `AltAppSwitcher.exe` (preferably as an administator).**
Close the application using `CloseAltAppSwitcher.bat` file.
## Run at startup:
Run `AddToStartup.bat` to add AltAppSwitcher to Windows startup apps.
Run `RemoveFromStartup.bat` to revert this.
## Customization
**"Settings"** executable lets you change settings such as **key bindings**, **theme**, **scale** and **mouse support**.
## Known issues
- Alt tab popup is behind start menu.
- Releases might be flagged as malicious by antiviruses. This is a false positive (detection relies on machine learning).
## Building from source
> [!WARNING]
The C runtime used by this project is not **MSVCRT** anymore. Please use **UCRT** version of llvm-mingw.
This is a C project relying on C standard library and Windows API. I'm using [Clang (mingw ucrt)](https://github.com/mstorsjo/llvm-mingw) and VS Code / VS Codium.
Here is my setup:
### Dependencies:
- **Clang and Windows libraries:**\
Download **UCRT Clang MinGW**, unzip and add `Bin` subfolder to "Path" so `clang` (and other tools from MinGW) can be called from a terminal.\
I'm using `llvm-mingw-20251202-ucrt-x86_64` from [Clang (mingw)](https://github.com/mstorsjo/llvm-mingw) at the time of writing.
- **Python:**\
Download **Python** and install or add to "Path" so `python` can be called from a terminal.\
Alternatively, you can use MinGW-provided Python under `Python/bin`.
- **Make**\
Make is part of MinGW.
- *(Optional) mt.exe:*\
To deploy (Makefile `deploy` target), we need Microsoft's `mt.exe`. This tool is used to embed manifest in exe. The application runs fine with external manifest (when not using Makefile `deploy` target). `mt.exe` is part of the Windows SDK.
### Building:
- Clone the repository.
- Open a terminal at the root of the repository.
- Run `mingw32-make.exe` (MinGW make must be used)
- Binaries are found in `/Output/Debug_x86_64`
### Debugging:
I'm using VSCodium/VSCode to write and debug code, with 2 extensions:
- https://open-vsx.org/extension/vadimcn/vscode-lldb for debugging
- https://open-vsx.org/extension/llvm-vs-code-extensions/vscode-clangd for language server integration (code completion, errors...)
With those, you should be able to build and run inside VSCode using the configurations defined in `.vscode\launch.json` (at the moment, configurations are written for x86_64 but you can easily create arm64 equivalent)
Configurations refers to tasks defined in `/.vscode/tasks.json`