Rectangle’s Overlap Offset: Finding Windows Stacked on Top of Each Other

Cycling through grid positions — pressing the same shortcut repeatedly to move a window through several spots — can produce a specific, disorienting result: a second window placed at a position already occupied by a first one lands perfectly on top of it, with no visual indication anything is underneath. Version 0.96 added a targeted fix for exactly this, implemented in pull request #1762.

What the feature actually does

Per the PR’s own description: when a window is placed at a grid position already occupied by another window, Rectangle app applies a small offset — 11 points by default — so the edge of the window underneath remains visible rather than being perfectly hidden. Instead of two windows in a completely invisible stack, you get a slight cascade effect that makes it obvious there’s a second window in that position, and gives you something to click to bring it forward.

How overlap is actually detected

The detection method, per the PR, uses origin-point matching — checking whether a window’s top-left corner lands at the same coordinates as another window’s, rather than requiring an exact full-size match. This has a specific, useful consequence: a quarter-sized window and an eighth-sized window sharing the same corner position will still trigger the offset, even though they’re different sizes, because what matters is the shared starting point, not identical dimensions.

Settings, exactly as documented in the PR

Three things are configurable, two of them exposed as a checkbox and the third via hidden preferences:

• “Offset cycling position on overlap” — a checkbox in the Grid Positions section of the extra settings popover, to turn the whole behavior on or off.
• cyclingOverlapOffsetSize (default 11) — the size of the nudge, in points, adjustable via Terminal for anyone who wants a more or less pronounced cascade.
• cyclingOverlapMaxCascade (default 1, maximum 5) — how many times the offset can stack if multiple windows pile up at the same position; a value of 1 means only the second window gets nudged, while a higher value lets a third and fourth overlapping window cascade further before the pattern presumably repeats or stops.

defaults write com.knollsoft.Rectangle cyclingOverlapOffsetSize -float 20
defaults write com.knollsoft.Rectangle cyclingOverlapMaxCascade -int 3

Restart Rectangle mac after changing either value.

Why this specific fix exists: the maintainer’s own framing

In the PR discussion itself, Rectangle app‘s maintainer responded to the contributed feature by connecting it to a larger idea already under consideration: the ability to cycle through windows stacked on top of each other, describing the overlap offset as fitting naturally alongside that concept, and mentioning a “hover count badge” as a related idea that might follow as a separate feature. This is a useful piece of context if you’re trying to understand where Rectangle app‘s window-stacking behavior is headed — the overlap offset shipped in v0.96 appears to be a foundation for a broader stacked-window-switching feature, rather than a complete, standalone solution to the overlap problem by itself. Check the project’s current release notes for whether a stacking cycle or hover-based switcher has since shipped as a follow-up, since this was described as a forward-looking idea at the time the offset feature was merged.

Practical impact for cycling-heavy workflows

If your layout habits involve pressing the same grid-position shortcut repeatedly to cycle a window through several spots — the same repeat-to-cycle behavior covered for thirds and quarters elsewhere in this series — this feature specifically helps in the case where cycling accidentally lands two different windows at the same coordinate. Before this fix, that scenario silently produced a fully hidden window with no visual cue; after it, the small cascade at least tells you something is there to look for.

Worth knowing if you rely on precise, gap-free grid alignment

Because the offset is opt-in via a checkbox, it won’t affect you unless you’ve turned it on — if your workflow depends on windows landing at exact, unshifted grid coordinates every time with no exceptions, leave the setting off. The feature exists specifically for people who’ve been bitten by the invisible-full-overlap problem before, not as a default behavior change forced on everyone using grid or cycling actions.