A blazing-fast, ultra-lightweight Windows desktop utility that eliminates context-switching fatigue. Define workspace profiles and activate entire development environments — applications, background services, browser tabs, and precise window layouts — with a single click or global hotkey.
Every professional who uses a computer to make a living experiences context-switching fatigue. Opening specific browser tabs, spinning up local containers, launching an IDE to a precise path, starting a database GUI, and positioning windows exactly where you want them takes 5–10 minutes every time you switch tasks. If you switch 3 times a day, that's nearly 2.5 hours wasted per week just setting up your screen.
EasyContextSwitch is a 1-click desktop state manager. You create workspace profiles, and when you activate one, the app automatically:
- Runs environment scripts (e.g.
docker-compose up) - Launches your IDE with the right project folder
- Opens browser sessions with specific URLs
- Snaps all windows into your preferred multi-monitor layout
- Tears down the previous workspace cleanly before spinning up the next
- Workspace Profiles — Create named profiles with ordered launch sequences and teardown rules
- Global Hotkeys — Activate any workspace instantly with a custom keyboard shortcut (e.g.
Ctrl+Alt+A) - Window Snapping — Automatically position and resize application windows across multiple monitors using native Windows APIs
- Launch Sequences — Define ordered steps: background processes, GUI applications, and browser URLs
- Teardown Sequences — Safely kill processes and run cleanup commands when switching contexts
- Docker Integration — Detect Docker status and orchestrate container lifecycles as part of your workspace
- Multi-Monitor Support — Query physical displays and position windows with per-monitor DPI awareness
- Import / Export — Backup and share workspace configurations as ZIP archives
- Real-Time Logging — Live streaming console shows every engine action as it happens
- System Tray — Runs quietly with minimal idle RAM footprint (< 30MB)
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend Engine | Go (Golang) |
| UI Framework | Wails v2 (Go + HTML/JS/CSS webview) |
| Frontend | Vanilla JS + Vite |
| Window Management | Native Win32 API via golang.org/x/sys/windows |
| Global Hotkeys | golang.design/x/hotkey |
| State Storage | Local JSON files in %APPDATA%/EasyContextSwitch/ |
+---------------------------+
| UI / System Tray Layer |
| (Wails WebView + HTML) |
+-------------+-------------+
|
+-------------v-------------+
| EasyContextSwitch Core |
| (Go Engine) |
+-------------+-------------+
|
+------+------+------+
| | | |
v v v v
Config Process Window Hotkey
Manager Engine Engine Manager
(JSON) (exec) (Win32) (global)
- Config Manager — CRUD operations on workspace JSON files stored in
%APPDATA% - Process Engine — Launches executables, captures PIDs, manages async process lifecycles
- Window Engine — Enumerates windows via
EnumWindows, matches by PID/title, positions withSetWindowPos - Hotkey Manager — Registers system-wide keyboard shortcuts that trigger workspace activation
Workspaces are defined as JSON files with the following structure:
{
"workspace_id": "proj_alpha_backend",
"name": "Project Alpha - Go Backend",
"hotkey": "Ctrl+Alt+A",
"launch_sequence": [
{
"step": 1,
"type": "background_process",
"executable": "powershell.exe",
"arguments": ["-Command", "cd C:\\dev\\alpha; docker-compose up -d"],
"wait_for_completion": true
},
{
"step": 2,
"type": "application",
"executable": "C:\\...\\Code.exe",
"arguments": ["C:\\dev\\alpha"],
"window_rules": {
"title_match": "alpha",
"monitor": 1,
"x": 0,
"y": 0,
"width": 1280,
"height": 1440
}
},
{
"step": 3,
"type": "url",
"executable": "",
"arguments": ["http://localhost:8080/health", "https://github.com"]
}
],
"teardown_sequence": [
{
"type": "command",
"executable": "powershell.exe",
"arguments": ["-Command", "cd C:\\dev\\alpha; docker-compose down"]
},
{
"type": "kill_process",
"process_name": "Code.exe"
}
]
}| Type | Description |
|---|---|
background_process |
Runs a script or service. Can block until completion or run async. |
application |
Launches a GUI app and optionally snaps its window to a layout grid. |
url |
Opens URLs in the default browser or a specified browser executable. |
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
command |
Executes a cleanup script (e.g. docker-compose down). |
kill_process |
Forcefully terminates a process by name via taskkill. |
- Activate — User clicks a workspace card or presses its global hotkey
- Teardown — If another workspace is active, its teardown sequence runs first
- DPI Awareness — Sets process DPI context for correct multi-monitor coordinate mapping
- Launch — Steps execute sequentially in order: background processes, apps, URLs
- Window Polling — For GUI apps, a background goroutine polls every 200ms (up to 15s) for the target window handle
- Snap — Once found,
SetWindowPosplaces the window at the configured coordinates with retry passes at 300ms and 1s to override apps that restore their own positions on startup
- Windows 10/11
- Go 1.25+
- Wails CLI
- Node.js (for frontend build)
- Docker (optional, for container-based workspaces)
# Install Wails CLI
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/your-username/EasyContextSwitch.git
cd EasyContextSwitch
# Run in development mode
wails dev
# Build production binary
wails buildThe compiled binary will be in the build/ directory.
- Launch EasyContextSwitch — it opens a frameless glassmorphic window
- Create a workspace profile with your desired launch steps and window positions
- Assign a global hotkey (e.g.
Ctrl+Alt+A) - Press the hotkey or click Activate to spin up your entire environment
- Switch to another workspace — the previous one tears down automatically
- Freelancers juggling multiple client projects
- DevOps engineers managing different infrastructure environments
- Full-stack developers switching between frontend/backend/microservice contexts
- Sysadmins maintaining multiple server configurations
Copyright © 2026 EasyContextSwitch. All rights reserved.
graph TB
subgraph UI_Layer ["UI / Presentation Layer (Wails WebView)"]
A["HTML5 / CSS3 / JS Frontend"] <-->|Wails IPC / JSON-RPC| B["Wails Runtime Bridge"]
end
subgraph Go_Core_Engine ["Go Core Engine (Micro-Kernel)"]
B <-->|Go Struct Bindings| C["Orchestrator Service"]
C -->|Log Events| D["Event Bus / Go Channels"]
D -->|"Real-Time Logs"| B
subgraph Subsystems ["Subsystems"]
E["Config Manager"]
F["Process Engine"]
G["Window Engine"]
H["Hotkey Manager"]
end
C <-->|Read / Write Profiles| E
C <-->|Spawn / Monitor PIDs| F
C <-->|Query / Move Windows| G
C <-->|Register / Listen| H
end
subgraph OS_Integration_Layer ["OS Integration Layer"]
E -->|Atomically Write| I["Local AppData %APPDATA%"]
F -->|CreateProcess / TerminateProcess| J["Windows OS Kernel"]
G -->|EnumWindows / SetWindowPos| K["User32.dll / Dwmapi.dll"]
H -->|RegisterHotKey / Msg Loop| L["Windows Win32 Messaging"]
end
%% Style Classes
classDef UI fill:#1e1e2e,stroke:#cba6f7,stroke-width:2px,color:#cdd6f4;
classDef Go fill:#181825,stroke:#89b4fa,stroke-width:2px,color:#cdd6f4;
classDef OS fill:#11111b,stroke:#f38ba8,stroke-width:2px,color:#cdd6f4;
%% Apply Styles
class A,B UI;
class C,D,E,F,G,H Go;
class I,J,K,L OS;