Krova
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v0.1, early software What is in it

Draw your zones. Hold Shift, drop a window in.

Krova is a free window zone manager for Windows 10/11 and macOS 13+. Drag a window, hold a key, release over a zone, and it snaps to fit. On Windows it also moves windows between zones from the keyboard and puts them back when a monitor returns. No account, no telemetry, no network calls by design.

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Free · MIT license · Windows 10/11 · macOS 13+ (untested on a real Mac)

Illustration, not a screenshot. Shift is held while the window is dragged; releasing over a zone snaps it.

How it works

Draw once. Snap from then on.

Open the layout editor, start from a template (halves, thirds, a 2x2 grid or priority) or split the screen yourself. Each monitor keeps its own layouts.

Start dragging any window and hold Shift, or the key you chose. The zones of the monitor under your cursor appear, and the one you are over lights up.

Let go of the mouse and the window moves to fill the zone, in about 120 ms or instantly if you prefer. Release Shift first, or press Esc, and nothing moves. On Windows you can also skip the mouse: Ctrl+Alt+Shift with Left, Right or 1 to 9 moves the focused window to a zone.

Unplug a monitor and plug it in again. Krova recognises it and brings back the layouts you made for it. On Windows, the windows you snapped there go back into their zones too. That is kept in memory only, and macOS does not do it yet.

Illustration of the layout editor. The live editor is further down this page.
Illustration: Shift held, zones shown, the middle zone lit.
Illustration: the window now fills the zone.

1 Each monitor has its own layout, with windows snapped into its zones.

2 Display 2 is unplugged. Krova keeps its layouts, and remembers which window was in which zone.

3 Plugged back in: its layouts return, and on Windows so do its windows.

Illustration. Monitors are recognised by hardware identity, then device path, then last size and position. Window memory is Windows only for now; on macOS only the layouts come back.

One layout, any monitor

Zones are saved as fractions of the screen. That is why a layout survives a new resolution, a different scaling setting, or a different monitor.

1920 × 1080 px

1 2 3

2560 × 1440 px

1 2 3
Where each zone lands, as pixel columns (left edge to right edge, width)
Monitor Zone 1 (0 – 0.25)Zone 2 (0.25 – 0.75)Zone 3 (0.75 – 1)
1920 × 1080 0 – 480 (480) 480 – 1,440 (960) 1,440 – 1,920 (480)
2560 × 1440 0 – 640 (640) 640 – 1,920 (1,280) 1,920 – 2,560 (640)
1366 × 768 0 – 342 (342) 342 – 1,025 (683) 1,025 – 1,366 (341)
Zones are stored as fractions of the monitor, not as pixels, so one layout fits any screen. Each edge is rounded on its own and neighbouring zones share an edge exactly, so they tile with no gaps. On the 1366 × 768 laptop, 341.5 and 1,024.5 fall on half pixels and round to 342 and 1,025, giving widths of 342, 683, 341 px. The real app maps zones onto the monitor’s work area, which excludes the taskbar; the table uses the full width.

Features

Drawn zones that remember their windows. The memory part is Windows-only today.

  • A layout for every monitor

    Each monitor keeps its own layouts. Unplug one, plug it back in, and its layouts return.

  • A visual zone editor, and layout files

    Start from halves, thirds, a 2x2 grid or priority, or split and drag the dividers until it fits. Undo and save as you go. Copy a layout as plain text to keep it or to add it on another monitor or computer: zones are proportions, so one text fits any screen.

  • Zones that remember their windows Windows

    When a monitor comes back, the windows you snapped to it go back into their zones. It lives in memory only, with no window titles, and a window you move yourself is left alone. Tested with a simulated monitor change, not yet a real unplug.

  • Move windows from the keyboard Windows

    Ctrl+Alt+Shift with Left or Right steps through the zones, 1 to 9 jumps to one, Up sends the window to the next monitor. Pick other modifier keys if something else already uses these; Settings lists any it could not register.

  • Linked dividers Windows, early

    Resize a snapped window by its edge and the snapped windows that share that edge follow when you let go. Early: it works in tests with synthetic events, but a real mouse drag has not been confirmed yet.

  • Your key, your pace, your gap

    Hold Shift by default, or Ctrl, Alt or the Windows key (Command on a Mac), to show the zones. Moves glide in about 120 ms or jump at once. Leave 0 to 32 px between zones if you like air around your windows.

  • Careful with windows

    On Windows, Krova accounts for mixed-DPI monitors (not yet verified on a mixed setup), the invisible borders around windows, each app’s own minimum and maximum size, and the taskbar.

  • Edge snapping, if you want it

    Drag to a side for a half, a corner for a quarter, the top to maximize. Off by default, and never on the border between two monitors.

Also: a tray icon with launch at login. Light and dark follow your system. Minimized, fullscreen and administrator windows are skipped. Closing Krova’s window closes the embedded browser too, so it waits in the tray using little memory.

Customize

A short list of settings. All of them are here.

Illustration. The highlight with its defaults: #3b82f6 at 35%. Pick any colour and opacity.

Snapping

Activation modifier

Hold it while dragging a window to show the zones. Let go of it to cancel.

Move behavior

Edge snapping

Halves, quarters and maximize from the screen edges. Off by default.

Edge size 8 px

From 2 to 64 px.

Appearance

Highlight color

Highlight opacity 35%

Theme

Keyboard shortcuts

Use keyboard shortcuts

Move the focused window to another zone or monitor without the mouse.

Modifier keys

Hold these keys together with the keys in the list below.

Some combinations can be taken by Windows or by other apps. Krova lists the shortcuts it could not register.

What the keys do

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left
Move the focused window to the previous zone
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Right
Move the focused window to the next zone
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 1 to 9
Move the focused window to that zone number
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Up
Send the focused window to the next monitor, keeping its zone number

Windows

Restore windows on reconnect

When a monitor comes back, windows you snapped to it return to their zones. Kept in memory only.

Linked dividers

Drag the edge between two snapped windows and both resize.

Space between zones (px) 0 px

Leaves a gap between neighbouring snapped windows, from 0 to 32 pixels.

General

Enable Krova (on by default)

Launch at login (off by default)

Illustration of the Settings window with default values. Changes there save automatically. Keyboard shortcuts, window memory and linked dividers work on Windows only for now (linked dividers are early); on macOS Settings shows them as not available. The live editor below has the real Settings tab, with sample monitors. Try it.

Try it live

Try the editor. No install needed.

This is the real editor running on sample monitors. Nothing is saved to your computer’s windows; snapping itself needs the app.

Live demo · two sample monitors · Editor and Settings tabs Open in its own tab
  • Try a template, split a zone with V or H, drag a divider, or delete a zone.
  • Your edits are kept in this browser’s local storage only. Nothing is sent anywhere.
  • The demo has its own Theme setting, under Settings.

Compare

Where Krova fits. And where it does not yet.

On Windows, PowerToys FancyZones already has a hold-Shift zone overlay, zones you draw and a layout per monitor, and it can snap from the keyboard. Krova is free and MIT-licensed, with the same drawn-zone workflow on Windows and macOS. It is new: its keyboard shortcuts and window memory work on Windows only for now, and the macOS build has never been run on a Mac.

Krova v0.1 Windows Snap Windows 11 and 10 PowerToys FancyZones Windows Rectangle (free) macOS Magnet macOS macOS tiling macOS 15+
Platforms Windows 10/11 (released); macOS 13+ written but untested, not released Windows 11 and 10 Windows 11, and Windows 10 2004 or newer macOS 14+ macOS 13+ macOS 15 or later
Price and licence Free, MIT Part of Windows MIT licence Free, MIT. Rectangle Pro is a separate paid app $4.99 one-time (US Mac App Store price) Part of macOS
Zones you draw yourself Per monitor Predetermined layouts Grid and Canvas editors No zone editor; fixed set of sizes Documented layouts are a fixed set
Hold a key to show zones while dragging Shift by default; or Ctrl, Alt, Windows/Command Layouts show while dragging, no key Shift by default; configurable No zone overlay; edge drag shows a preview Option-drag tiles to preset areas, not your zones
A separate layout per monitor Pick a monitor in the editor
Edge and corner snapping Optional, off by default Edges and corners
Keyboard-shortcut snapping Yes on Windows (not yet on macOS) Win+Arrow keys Opt-in Win+Arrow, and layout hotkeys Configurable shortcuts Optional shortcuts Built-in shortcuts
Space between zones or windows 0 to 32 px, one setting Setting for space around zones Setting: tiled windows have margins
Resize one snapped window and its neighbours follow Windows only, early: tested with synthetic events, not yet with a real mouse drag Documented for its own layouts Not documented; an open request on the PowerToys issue tracker
Windows of apps run as administrator Skipped; no administrator mode Only if PowerToys itself runs as administrator
Network and telemetry No network calls, by design Docs: diagnostic data “completely optional”, “off by default in v0.86 and beyond”. Checks for updates Privacy policy: “No user data is gathered”. Checks for updates every 2 days Developer states it collects no personal data
Release status v0.1.0, 31 Oct 2026, Windows only; early preview, unsigned; macOS untested Part of Windows. Windows 10 support ended 14 Oct 2025 v0.102.3001, 27 Oct 2026 v2.0.4, 20 Oct 2026 3.0.7, 12 Apr 2025 (US App Store) Part of macOS

means we could not confirm the answer in the product’s own documentation. It does not mean “no”. Everything else was read from official pages and checked on . Documentation can be wrong or out of date, and prices and versions change. Krova’s column describes version 0.1 as built; the macOS build has not been run on a real Mac, and “no network calls” is a design rule backed by a source review, not a proof.

The table covers five widely used tools and is not exhaustive; other zone tools exist, for example MacsyZones on macOS. Rectangle Pro is a separate paid app and is not in the table. Windows 11 and Windows 10 differ in what Snap offers; the table lists what Microsoft documents for both. Windows, macOS, PowerToys, Rectangle and Magnet are trademarks of their owners; this page is not affiliated with them. Spotted something out of date? Open an issue.

Sources, accessed 30 October 2026

Performance

Measured, not claimed. 3 idle runs so far, one per state.

  • 2.4 MB

    Tray only, no window. Private memory, 1 process. Average CPU 0.34 % of one core. Measured 31 Oct 2026.

  • 199.3 MB

    Editor window open. Private memory, 7 processes. Average CPU 0.49 % of one core. Measured 31 Oct 2026.

  • 230.6 MB

    Editor window open. Private memory, 7 processes. Average CPU 0.07 % of one core. Measured 30 Oct 2026, earlier build.

One run for each state, on Windows, with nothing being dragged. Drag latency, use while dragging, and macOS are not measured yet. These numbers will change.

See the charts and the method

Free and open source

Nothing to buy. Nothing to sign up for.

Krova is released under the MIT license: use it, copy it, change it, share it. The source code is the proof for every claim on this site.

  • MIT license
  • No account
  • No ads
  • No telemetry

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Something else? Check Troubleshooting or open an issue.

The app

How do I snap a window?

Start dragging the window and hold Shift. The zones of the monitor under your cursor appear, and the one you are over lights up. Release the mouse button and the window fills that zone. Release Shift first, or press Esc, to cancel. See Your first snap.

Can I snap with a keyboard shortcut?

Yes, on Windows. With the default keys, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left or Right moves the focused window to the previous or next zone, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+1 to 9 sends it to that zone, and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up sends it to the next monitor in the same zone. There are no keyboard shortcuts on macOS yet, so there you snap by dragging. See Keyboard shortcuts.

A shortcut does nothing. Why?

Windows, or another app, may already own that key combination. Windows refused every Win+Alt combination and almost every Win+Ctrl combination on the machine we tested, so the default is Ctrl+Alt+Shift. Krova lists the shortcuts it could not register under Settings, Keyboard shortcuts; pick another modifier there, or close the app that holds the key. Shortcuts also do nothing for the desktop, the taskbar, minimized windows, administrator windows and Krova’s own windows.

Do windows go back to their zones when I plug a monitor back in?

On Windows, yes: windows Krova snapped to a monitor return to their zones a moment after that monitor comes back. This is kept in memory only (no window titles are stored), a window you drag yourself is forgotten, and quitting Krova clears it. It has been tested with a simulated monitor change; a real unplug and replug has not been tested yet. Windows 11 has its own setting that restores window positions: Krova leaves a window that is already in its zone and moves one that is not. There is no window memory on macOS yet.

What are linked dividers?

On Windows, after you snap windows side by side, drag the edge of one of them and let go: the snapped windows that share that edge follow. It is early. The part that moves the neighbours has been tested with synthetic events, but we have not confirmed that Windows reports a real mouse drag to Krova, so it may not work on your PC. You can switch it off under Settings, Windows.

Can I share a layout?

Yes. In the layout editor, Export layout shows the layout as plain text you can copy, and Import layout adds pasted text to a monitor as a new layout. Zones are saved as proportions of the screen, so the same text works on another monitor or computer, and should work on both Windows and macOS (nobody has tried it on a Mac yet). It is at most 64 KiB and must be in Krova’s exact format. See the layout editor guide.

Can I leave space between zones?

Yes: Settings, Windows, Space between zones, from 0 to 32 px (0 by default). It applies to zone snaps, the keyboard shortcuts, restored windows and the preview you see while dragging. Edge snapping ignores it.

Does it replace Windows Snap, or clash with it?

Krova does not turn Windows’ own snapping off. Its zones only appear while you hold its key, so the two stay out of each other’s way. Its keyboard shortcuts use Ctrl+Alt+Shift by default, not the Windows key, so Win+Arrow keeps working. Krova’s edge snapping is different: if you switch it on, it works without a key and acts on the same screen edges as Windows’ own snapping. The two have not been tested together, so leave one of them off.

Which windows won’t it move?

Minimized windows, and (on Windows) windows of apps running as administrator. Dragging also skips fullscreen windows. The keyboard shortcuts leave the desktop, the taskbar and Krova’s own windows alone, and a maximized window is restored before it is moved. Some apps also refuse to go below a minimum size, so the window may not fill the zone exactly. More in Troubleshooting.

Can I use a different key than Shift?

Yes. The key you hold while dragging can be Shift, Ctrl, Alt, or the Windows key (Command on macOS): Settings, Activation modifier. The keyboard shortcuts have their own setting, Settings, Keyboard shortcuts, Modifier keys: Ctrl+Alt+Shift (the default), Ctrl+Alt, Win+Alt or Win+Ctrl.

What happens when I close Krova’s window?

The window is closed for good, and so is the embedded browser that draws it, so Krova waits in the tray using very little memory. In one measurement during development the whole app was about 6 MB of private memory in one process with no window open, against about 200 MB across seven processes with the editor open (one run on one PC; the Performance page shows published measurements). Reopen the window from the tray menu (Edit layouts or Settings) or by starting Krova again. Quit Krova stops it.

Is there a Linux version?

No. Krova supports Windows 10/11 and macOS 13 or later.

Privacy

Does Krova connect to the internet?

No. By design it makes no network calls: no sign-in, no statistics, no crash reports, no update checks. The Windows installer may download Microsoft’s WebView2 runtime if it is missing. Details on the Privacy page.

Can it see what is in my windows?

No. Krova looks at the position and size of the window you are dragging or moving with a shortcut, whether that window runs as administrator, and which window has the focus when you press a shortcut. On Windows it also remembers, in memory only, which window handle sits in which zone so it can put windows back. It does not read window titles or contents, and none of it is written to disk.

Does Krova record what I type?

No. On Windows it registers only its own shortcut combinations with the system, which tells Krova when one of them is pressed; it does not use a keyboard hook, so Krova is not told about any other key. While you drag, it checks whether the activation key and Escape are held, nothing more. More on the Privacy page.

What does it store, and where?

Settings and layouts live in one file, config.json, in your user application-data folder (%APPDATA%\dev.krova.desktop on Windows). The remembered window positions are never written there. The settings window’s web view keeps a separate cache folder. Both are listed in the install guide, with how to remove them. A layout you export is plain text that you copy yourself; Krova writes no file for it.

Why does macOS ask for Accessibility access?

macOS only lets an app move and resize other apps’ windows once you allow it under System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility. It may also ask for Input Monitoring so Krova can notice a drag. Without Accessibility, snapping cannot work.

Download and install

When can I download it?

Now, for Windows: the Download page has the installer. macOS support is coming once it has been tested on real hardware.

Why does Windows say “Windows protected your PC”?

The installer is not code-signed, so SmartScreen does not recognise it. Choose More info, then Run anyway. Step by step in the install guide.

Has the macOS build been tested?

No. It has never been run on a real Mac, and it is not notarised. Treat it as experimental. It also has no keyboard shortcuts and no window memory yet. The Windows build has had more attention, but it is also new.

Is it free?

Yes. Krova is released under the MIT license: you may use, copy, modify and share it. Nothing is sold, so there is no purchase, subscription or account. See License and terms.

How do I uninstall it and remove my data?

Uninstall from Windows Settings, Apps, and tick “Delete the application data”. The install guide lists every file and registry entry Krova can leave behind, for Windows and macOS.

Ready to try it? It costs nothing.

Windows 10/11 and macOS 13+. Free, MIT license, no account.

Download Try the editor first