Put the controls back in Mission Control. CloseUp overlays window controls onto the native macOS Mission Control — close, minimize, maximize, hide, or quit any window without leaving the overview — and adds full keyboard control. Free, native, and open source.
- Close from the overview — hover a window thumbnail in Mission Control and click the red × to close it instantly, without switching to it first.
- Every window verb — minimize, maximize, hide the app, or quit the app. Close, minimize, and maximize are optional buttons you can turn on or off in Settings; hide and quit are always shown when the window supports them.
- Keyboard control — act on the window under the pointer with native verbs: ⌘W close, ⌘M minimize, ⌘F maximize, ⌘H hide, ⌘Q quit — all remappable.
- Batch actions — ⌥⌘W close all, ⌥⌘M minimize all, ⌥⌘H hide all but the one under the pointer.
- Nine languages — English, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 日本語, Français, Deutsch, Español, Português, Русский, switchable in-app and applied live.
- Native and unobtrusive — a passive overlay that never steals Mission Control's own keyboard handling; menu-bar only, no Dock icon.
- Auto-updating — signed, notarized releases via Sparkle, with an optional Beta channel.
CloseUp focuses on one thing — acting on windows directly inside the native Mission Control view. Here's how it stacks up against the closest alternatives that do the same (verified 2026-07-02 against each project's own site/repo — see the links for sources; fields the vendor doesn't document are marked "Not documented" rather than guessed):
| CloseUp | Mission Control Close | Open Mission Control | Mission Control Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | £5 one-time (7-day trial) | Free | Paid, price not published (10-day trial) |
| License | Open source (GPL-3.0) | Closed source | Open source (GPL-3.0) | Closed source |
| Actions on the window under the cursor | Close, minimize, maximize, hide, quit | Close only | Close, minimize, maximize | Close, minimize, quit (+ open) |
| Batch actions | Close all, minimize all, hide all but one | Close all | Not documented | Not documented |
| Remappable keyboard shortcuts | Every action | Has shortcuts; remapping not documented | Fixed (⌘Q/⌘W/⌘M/⌘F) | Fixed (⌘W/⌘M/⌘Q/⏎) |
| Localization | 9 languages, switchable in-app | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented |
| macOS requirement | 14.0+ | 26.0 (Tahoe)+ | Not documented | 10.13+ |
| CPU architecture | Apple Silicon & Intel, separate signed builds | Apple Silicon only | Not documented | Not documented |
| Distribution | Direct download + Homebrew, notarized, Sparkle auto-update | Direct download, LemonSqueezy checkout | GitHub + Homebrew (unsigned — you remove the quarantine flag manually) | Direct download |
Other macOS window-management tools — AltTab, DockDoor, HyperDock, Contexts — offer related window actions (close, hide, switch), but through their own switcher or Dock-hover UI rather than the native Mission Control view, so they solve a related but different problem and aren't scored above.
- macOS 14.0 or later
- Apple Silicon (arm64) or Intel (x86_64) — CloseUp ships a separate, single-architecture build for each; grab the one matching your Mac
- Accessibility permission (CloseUp reads and acts on windows through the Accessibility API; it never records your screen)
Download the release matching your Mac's chip from
Releases — CloseUp-*-arm64.dmg
for Apple Silicon, CloseUp-*-x86_64.dmg for Intel — open it, and drag CloseUp
to Applications. Or install via Homebrew (auto-detects your architecture):
brew install --cask oomol-lab/tap/closeupOn first launch, grant Accessibility access in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility — CloseUp opens the right pane for you.
Open Mission Control as usual (swipe up with three/four fingers, or the Mission Control key). Hover any window to reveal its control cluster, or use the keyboard:
| Action | Shortcut | Acts on |
|---|---|---|
| Close window | ⌘W | window under the pointer |
| Minimize window | ⌘M | window under the pointer |
| Maximize window | ⌘F | window under the pointer |
| Hide app | ⌘H | window under the pointer |
| Quit app | ⌘Q | window under the pointer |
| Close all windows | ⌥⌘W | all windows |
| Minimize all windows | ⌥⌘M | all windows |
| Hide all but this | ⌥⌘H | every app except the one under the pointer |
Every shortcut is remappable in Settings → Shortcuts. Toggle CloseUp on or off anytime from the menu-bar icon or Settings → General.
- General — enable/disable, launch at login, hide the menu-bar icon, Accessibility status with a one-click grant, which control buttons appear, and the in-app language.
- Shortcuts — remap every action.
- Updates — automatic checks (Stable or Beta channel) and a manual "Check for Updates".
- About — version, license, a link to the GitHub repo, and acknowledgements.
brew install xcodegen
make build # Debug build (a distinct "CloseUp Dev" identity)
make dev-cert # optional: stable local signing identity so the Accessibility
# grant survives rebuilds while iterating
make test # unit tests + i18n guards
make run # build and launch
make dmg # package a drag-to-install .dmgThe Xcode project is generated from project.yml by XcodeGen and is not checked
in. See docs/DESIGN.md for the architecture and
docs/RUNBOOK.md for the release process.
Thanks to OpenMissionControl, DockDoor, and alt-tab-macos: CloseUp's use of the private Mission Control APIs is informed by how these projects use them.