Krova v0.1.0

The first release of Krova, a free, offline window zone manager. Windows only. Early software: it has passed its automated tests and a few hands-on runs on one Windows PC, and not much more.

Download

Krova-windows-x64-setup.exe: a per-user installer for Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit). It does not ask for administrator rights. Check your download against SHA256SUMS.txt:

Get-FileHash .\Krova-windows-x64-setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256

The installer is unsigned

Krova is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen will show "Windows protected your PC". That is expected. Select More info, then Run anyway. The warning is about an unknown publisher, not about anything Windows found in the file. A matching checksum shows the file was not corrupted in transit; it cannot prove who built it. If you would rather not run an unsigned installer, build from source (see the README).

Antivirus software may also flag an unsigned program that registers global shortcuts and watches the mouse. That has not been tested.

No macOS build in this release

The macOS code compiles and passes its checks in CI, but it has never run on a real Mac. A macOS build will be published once it has been tested on Apple silicon and Intel hardware.

What it does

• Draw zones per monitor in the layout editor (templates, split tools, draggable dividers, undo), with several layouts per monitor.
• Hold Shift (or Ctrl, Alt, or the Windows key) while dragging a window, and drop it into a zone.
• Keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Alt+Shift by default) move the focused window to the previous or next zone, to zone 1 to 9, or to the next monitor.
• Windows go back into their zones when a monitor reconnects (kept in memory only; can be switched off).
• Linked dividers (early): resize a snapped window and its snapped neighbours follow.
• Export a layout as JSON text and import it again; a configurable gap between zones; optional edge snapping (off by default).
• Lives in the notification area. Closing the editor closes its embedded browser, so Krova waits in the tray using little memory.
• No accounts, no telemetry, no network calls. Window titles are never read or stored. MIT licensed.

Lightly tested; please report what you find

These have had little or no testing on real hardware:

• Mixed-DPI setups (for example a 100% and a 150% monitor). Per-monitor DPI awareness is built in but has not been verified on such a setup.
• External monitors: unplugging and replugging a monitor, docking, waking from sleep. Window memory has been tested with a simulated monitor change, not a real unplug.
• The keyboard shortcuts on a physical keyboard, beyond a few runs. Windows or other apps can hold some combinations; Settings lists the ones Krova could not register.
• Linked dividers with a real mouse. They work in tests with synthetic events; it is not yet proven that Windows reports every real resize to Krova.
• Drag latency and resource use while dragging have not been measured.

Other known limitations: windows of apps running as administrator are skipped, some apps enforce their own minimum or maximum size so a window may not fill its zone exactly, and if config.json cannot be saved Krova keeps running on defaults without telling you. The full list is in the changelog on the website.

Bugs and results from your setup are welcome as issues.