Blog · Spiral
Six Chromes. One spiral.
macOS thinks all windows of an app are related. They aren't. One Chrome is a ticket, one is a doc, one is a private window you do not want composited onto the first. Cmd-Tab shows a single icon and then guesses. Dual-monitor users know the guess: you wanted the second screen, you got the first, you reloaded the wrong page.
A spiral only helps if the cards are distinguishable. VortexFlow tints each one from its own icon, and browser windows go further: the site that is actually open is layered with the browser's mark. Incognito is badged, and we never fetch an icon for it.
Then you type. Not "Chrome," which every tab would say. The host, then the path. workday finds /workday-task-board/ on another desktop. If nothing is open, the same spiral offers Search the web, Open first result, or the query as a prompt to ChatGPT, Claude, or Grok. You do not put the overlay down and open Spotlight.
Fewer context changes. Search skips walking the ring. If nothing matches, the web and assistant offers stay in the same overlay.