Building native macOS apps with Swift/SwiftUI. Currently working on a window manager. https://rapto.app
In my experience, the value doesn’t really shift from “coding” to “architecture” — it shifts toward understanding constraints.
On platforms like macOS, a lot of architectural decisions aren’t about clean abstractions but about what the system actually allows you to do (WindowServer rules, accessibility APIs, focus behavior, sandboxing). LLMs can generate plausible code, but they don’t feel where the platform pushes back.
The hard part is still knowing which designs will collapse once they meet real OS behavior, not writing the glue code itself.
I've spent months building a proper window manager for macOS, and the fundamental problem isn't the UI — it's that macOS has no proper window management API.
Third-party apps have to use the Accessibility API, which was designed for screen readers, not window manipulation. Some windows simply refuse to be resized below certain thresholds, and there's no way to query the minimum size in advance. You request 500px width, get 800px back, no error.
The real question is: will Apple ever provide a proper public API, or will this remain a cat-and-mouse game with Accessibility permissions?
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