tacky-borders

tacky-borders lets you customize window borders on Windows 10 and 11.

Important

This repository is an independently maintained runtime-hardening fork of luke-you/tacky-borders. It currently preserves the upstream configuration format and CLI while substantially restructuring runtime ownership, event reconciliation, privilege filtering, and graphics failure recovery. Releases from this repository are fork-specific and are not upstream releases.

Fork Status

This fork focuses on long-running stability and a single-owner UI runtime. Its current changes include centralized border and graphics mutation, global animation scheduling, window lifecycle reconciliation, high-frequency event coalescing, elevated-window filtering, and hardened DirectX recovery with balanced RAII graphics guards.

It is not currently branded as a separate product or a hard fork: compatibility with upstream is still intentional, and useful changes may still be upstreamed. The maintenance and release process for this branch is nevertheless independent. For the original project and its releases, see the upstream repository.

Installation

Pre-built Fork Release

The easiest way to install this fork is to download a pre-built package from the fork releases page.

When you run the .exe for the first time, tacky-borders will automatically generate a config file for you in %userprofile%/.config/tacky-borders/.

Build It Yourself

Alternatively, if you wish to build it yourself, you can follow these steps:

Install the necessary tools:
- Rust
- MSVC build tools

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/more-14-different/tacky-borders.git

Navigate to the project directory:
```
cd tacky-borders
```

Build or run the project:

cargo build --release

or

cargo run --release

Local Development Scripts

On Windows, the repository includes two PowerShell helpers:

# Stop the existing instance, rebuild the debug executable, and restart it.
.\run-debug.ps1

# Stop the existing instance and restart the already-built release executable.
.\run-release.ps1

Both scripts also accept -StopOnly. The release helper intentionally does not build; run cargo build --release first when a new release binary is needed.

The application does not load config.yaml from beside the executable. By default, debug and release builds both use %USERPROFILE%\.config\tacky-borders\config.yaml. To use an isolated configuration, set TACKY_BORDERS_CONFIG_HOME to a stable directory before starting the app. Do not keep the only copy under target, because cargo clean removes that directory.

Uninstallation

To uninstall, it's as easy as deleting tacky-borders.exe.

Note

If you wish to remove all traces of tacky-borders from your system, you should also ensure auto-start is disabled via the tray menu and delete the config folder located at %userprofile%/.config/tacky-borders/

Configuration Options

The config file is located in %userprofile%/.config/tacky-borders/. You can easily access this folder by right clicking on the tray icon and hitting "Show Config"

The following auto-generated config.yaml is included as reference:

# watch_config_changes: Automatically reload borders whenever the config file is modified.
watch_config_changes: True

# enable_logging: Log messages (info, warnings, and errors) to a file.
# NOTE: Changes require an application restart to take effect.
enable_logging: True

# enable_ipc_server: Handle runtime IPC commands sent through the CLI.
enable_ipc_server: True

# rendering_backend: Type of renderer. Supported values:
#   - V2: A more complex, feature-rich renderer. Available in v1.2.0 and above.
#   - Legacy: A simpler, more limited renderer. Available in v0.1.0 and above.
#
# NOTE: Performance between the two may vary system-to-system. Choose whichever works best.
rendering_backend: V2

# Global configuration options
global:
  # border_width: Width of the border (in pixels)
  border_width: 3

  # border_offset: Offset of the border from the window edges (in pixels)
  #   - Negative values shrink the border inwards
  #   - Positive values expand the border outwards
  border_offset: -1

  # border-radius: Radius of the border's corners. Supported values:
  #   - Auto: Automatically determine the radius
  #   - Square: Sharp corners (radius = 0)
  #   - Round: Fully rounded corners
  #   - RoundSmall: Slightly rounded corners
  #   - Or specify any numeric value for a custom radius
  border_radius: Auto

  # border_z_order: Z-order of the border relative to its window. Supported values:
  #   - AboveWindow: Place the border above its window
  #   - BelowWindow: Place the border below its window
  #
  # NOTE: Using 'AboveWindow' may cause the border to flicker when used with some applications
  # that manipulate window layering, leading to z-order conflicts.
  border_z_order: AboveWindow

  # follow_native_border: Follow Windows' behavior for border visibility.
  #
  # Windows already shows or hides native borders depending on a window's type or state
  # (e.g., they're hidden for borderless fullscreen windows). When enabled, this option makes
  # tacky-borders follow that visibility behavior.
  #
  # NOTE: This setting only affects visibility for borders that have been initialized.
  # To make sure a border is initialized in the first place, use window_rules.
  follow_native_border: True

  # initialize_delay: Time (in ms) before the border appears after opening a new window
  # unminimize_delay: Time (in ms) before the border appears after unminimizing a window
  #
  # These settings help accommodate window animations (e.g., open or unminimize animations).
  # Set these to 0 if window animations are disabled.
  #
  # These can also be used to accommodate border animations (e.g., fade animations).
  initialize_delay: 200
  unminimize_delay: 150

  # active_color: the color of the active window's border
  # inactive_color: the color of the inactive window's border
  #
  # Supported color types:
  #   - Solid: Use a hex code or "accent"
  #       Example:
  #         active_color: "#ffffff"
  #         OR
  #         active_color: "accent"
  #       The supported hex formats are: #RGB, #RGBA, #RRGGBB, #RRGGBBAA
  #   - Gradient: Define colors and direction
  #       Example:
  #         active_color:
  #           colors: ["#000000", "#ffffff"]
  #           direction: 45deg
  #         OR
  #         active_color:
  #           colors: ["#000000", "#ffffff"]
  #           direction:
  #             start: [0.0, 1.0]
  #             end: [1.0, 0.0]
  #       NOTE: [0.0, 0.0] = top-left, [1.0, 1.0] = bottom-right
  #   - Theme-aware: Define separate colors for dark/light Windows system themes
  #       Example:
  #         active_color:
  #           dark: "#ffffff"
  #           light: "#000000"
  #       Each value (dark/light) can be a hex code, "accent", or a gradient.
  #       Borders automatically update when the system theme changes.
  active_color:
    colors: ["#6274e7", "#8752a3"]
    direction: 45deg

  inactive_color:
    colors: ["#30304f", "#363c69"]
    direction:
      start: [0.0, 1.0]
      end: [1.0, 0.0]

  # komorebi_colors: Additional integration for komorebi's special window kinds
  #   - active_color is used for komorebi's "Single" window kind
  #   - inactive_color is used for komorebi's "Unfocused" window kind
  komorebi_colors:
    stack_color: "#e762b7"
    monocle_color: "#62e793"
    floating_color: "#f5f5a5"
    enabled: False

  # animations: Configure animation behavior for window borders
  #   active: Animations for active windows
  #   inactive: Animations for inactive windows
  #   fps: Animation frame rate
  #
  # Supported animation types:
  #   - Spiral
  #   - ReverseSpiral
  #   - Fade
  #
  # Specify animation types and parameters as follows:
  #   active:
  #     - type: ReverseSpiral
  #       duration: 1800
  #       easing: Linear
  #
  #     - type: Fade
  #       duration: 200
  #       easing: EaseInOutQuad
  #
  # NOTE: Spiral animations may be resource-intensive on low-end systems.
  animations:
    active:
      - type: ReverseSpiral
        duration: 1800
        easing: Linear

      - type: Fade
        duration: 200
        easing: EaseInOutQuad

    inactive:
      - type: Spiral
        duration: 1800
        easing: Linear

      - type: Fade
        duration: 200
        easing: EaseInOutQuad

    fps: 60
    enabled: False

  # effects: Configure visual effects for window borders
  #   active: Effects for active windows
  #   inactive: Effects for inactive windows
  #
  # Supported effect types:
  #   - Shadow
  #   - Glow
  #
  # Specify effect types and parameters as follows:
  #   active:
  #    - type: Shadow
  #      blur: 2.0
  #      spread: 0.0
  #      opacity: 1.0
  #      translation:
  #        x: 0
  #        y: 20
  #
  #    - type: Glow
  #      blur: 8.0
  #      spread: 0.0
  #      opacity: 1.0
  #
  # NOTE: These effects can significantly increase CPU and GPU usage.
  # Additionally, effects require rendering_backend: V2 to work.
  effects:
    active:
      - type: Shadow
        blur: 2.0
        spread: 0.0
        opacity: 1.0
        translation:
          x: 0
          y: 0

      - type: Glow
        blur: 8.0
        spread: 0.0
        opacity: 1.0

    inactive:
      - type: Shadow
        blur: 2.0
        spread: 0.0
        opacity: 1.0
        translation:
          x: 0
          y: 0

      - type: Glow
        blur: 8.0
        spread: 0.0
        opacity: 1.0

    enabled: False

# Per-application configuration overrides
window_rules:
  - match: Class
    name: "Windows.UI.Core.CoreWindow"
    enabled: False

  - match: Class
    name: "XamlExplorerHostIslandWindow"
    enabled: False

  - match: Process
    name: "tacky-borders"
    enabled: False

  - match: Process
    name: "zebar"
    enabled: False

  - match: Title
    name: "komorebi-bar"
    enabled: False

  - match: Title
    name: "keyviz"
    enabled: False

  - match: Title
    name: "Picture-in-Picture"
    enabled: False

  - match: Process
    name: "seelen-ui"
    enabled: False

  # Example rule:
  # - match: Class                   # Match based on Class, Title, or Process
  #   name: "MozillaWindowClass"     # Class/title/process name to match
  #   strategy: Equals               # Matching strategy: Equals, Contains, or Regex (default: Equals)
  #   enabled: True                  # Enable border initialization: True, False, or Auto (default: Auto)
  #
  # NOTE:
  #   - Any option in the global config can also be defined in window_rules.
  #   - If not defined in a rule, settings will fall back to global config values.
  #   - Setting 'border enabled' to True forces its initialization, but not necessarily its visibility.
  #     If the border still isn't visible, try setting 'follow_native_border' to False.

Community Projects

Color-Presets-for-Tacky-Borders - Additional color presets including color animations, gradients, one side color fades, and static colors.

Comparison to cute-borders

Here is another great app that achieves similar functionality: https://github.com/keifufu/cute-borders. I've taken a lot of inspiration from them and would highly recommend checking them out!

Although both apps aim to customize window borders, they have totally different implementations, each with their own strengths and limitations. Which one you should use boils down to the following:

Choose tacky-borders if you want:

Customizable border width
Gradient support
Multiple animation types
Windows 10 support (not fully tested, but it has been reported to work)

Choose cute-borders if you want:

Stability and performance due to its use of native Windows API for the borders.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github		.github
src		src
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
Cargo.lock		Cargo.lock
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
build.rs		build.rs
run-debug.ps1		run-debug.ps1
run-release.ps1		run-release.ps1

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