Improve tab detection reliability

- Add appWindowCount safety check: only consider windows as tabs if
  the app has 2+ windows known to AeroSpace, preventing false positives
  when CGWindowList is slow to update
- Simplify normalization: split into validatePopups() and
  demoteInactiveTabs() for clearer logic
- Refresh CG cache once per pass for consistency
- Add refreshNativeTabDetection() and windowCountForApp() helpers

Author: Eden Rochman

Sources/AppBundle/normalizeLayoutReason.swift

@@ -5,38 +5,39 @@ func normalizeLayoutReason() async throws {
         try await _normalizeLayoutReason(workspace: workspace, windows: windows)
     }
     try await _normalizeLayoutReason(workspace: focus.workspace, windows: macosMinimizedWindowsContainer.children.filterIsInstance(of: Window.self))
-    try await demoteNativeTabsToPopup()
-    try await validateStillPopups()
+    try await validatePopups()
+    demoteInactiveTabs()
 }
 
-/// Move tiled windows that have become inactive native tabs to the popup container.
-/// This handles the case where a tiled window becomes a background tab after the user opens a new tab.
+/// Promote popup windows that are actually real windows (or newly active tabs).
 /// https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/issues/68
 @MainActor
-private func demoteNativeTabsToPopup() async throws {
-    for workspace in Workspace.all {
-        for window in workspace.allLeafWindowsRecursive {
-            guard let macWindow = window as? MacWindow else { continue }
-            if isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: macWindow.windowId, appPid: macWindow.macApp.pid) {
-                macWindow.bind(to: macosPopupWindowsContainer, adaptiveWeight: WEIGHT_AUTO, index: INDEX_BIND_LAST)
-            }
+private func validatePopups() async throws {
+    refreshNativeTabDetection()
+    for node in Array(macosPopupWindowsContainer.children) {
+        guard let popup = node as? MacWindow else { continue }
+        // Don't promote inactive native tabs
+        if isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: popup.windowId, appPid: popup.macApp.pid, appWindowCount: windowCountForApp(pid: popup.macApp.pid)) { continue }
+        // This window is on-screen and should be promoted to tiling
+        let windowLevel = getWindowLevel(for: popup.windowId)
+        if try await popup.isWindowHeuristic(windowLevel) {
+            try await popup.relayoutWindow(on: focus.workspace)
+            try await tryOnWindowDetected(popup)
         }
     }
 }
 
+/// Demote tiled windows that have become inactive native tabs to popup container.
+/// https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/issues/68
 @MainActor
-private func validateStillPopups() async throws {
-    for node in macosPopupWindowsContainer.children {
-        let popup = (node as! MacWindow)
-        // Don't promote native tabs back to tiling — they were intentionally placed in popup container
-        // https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/issues/68
-        if isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: popup.windowId, appPid: popup.macApp.pid) {
-            continue
-        }
-        let windowLevel = getWindowLevel(for: popup.windowId)
-        if try await popup.isWindowHeuristic(windowLevel) {
-            try await popup.relayoutWindow(on: focus.workspace)
-            try await tryOnWindowDetected(popup)
+private func demoteInactiveTabs() {
+    refreshNativeTabDetection()
+    for workspace in Workspace.all {
+        for window in Array(workspace.allLeafWindowsRecursive) {
+            guard let macWindow = window as? MacWindow else { continue }
+            if isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: macWindow.windowId, appPid: macWindow.macApp.pid, appWindowCount: windowCountForApp(pid: macWindow.macApp.pid)) {
+                macWindow.bind(to: macosPopupWindowsContainer, adaptiveWeight: WEIGHT_AUTO, index: INDEX_BIND_LAST)
+            }
         }
     }
 }

Sources/AppBundle/tree/MacWindow.swift

@@ -216,7 +216,8 @@ private func unbindAndGetBindingDataForNewWindow(_ windowId: UInt32, _ macApp: M
     // Tab detection heuristic: if a window is not on screen but the same app has an
     // on-screen window, it's likely an inactive macOS native tab.
     // https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/issues/68
-    if isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: windowId, appPid: macApp.pid) {
+    refreshNativeTabDetection()
+    if isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: windowId, appPid: macApp.pid, appWindowCount: windowCountForApp(pid: macApp.pid)) {
         return BindingData(parent: macosPopupWindowsContainer, adaptiveWeight: WEIGHT_AUTO, index: INDEX_BIND_LAST)
     }
 

Sources/AppBundle/windowLevelCache.swift

@@ -54,21 +54,38 @@ func getWindowLevel(for windowId: UInt32) -> MacOsWindowLevel? {
     return levelCache[windowId]
 }
 
+/// Refresh the CG cache once, then use isLikelyNativeTab for consistent results within a single pass.
+@MainActor
+func refreshNativeTabDetection() {
+    refreshCgWindowInfoCache()
+}
+
+/// Count how many windows AeroSpace knows about for a given app PID.
+/// Includes tiled, floating, and popup windows.
+@MainActor
+func windowCountForApp(pid: pid_t) -> Int {
+    MacWindow.allWindows.count(where: { $0.macApp.pid == pid })
+}
+
 /// Detect macOS native tabs: the AX API reports tabs as separate windows, but only the active
 /// tab appears in CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo(.optionOnScreenOnly). If a window is NOT on screen
 /// but another window from the same app IS on screen, it's likely an inactive native tab.
 /// https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/issues/68
+///
+/// Additional safety: only consider a window as a tab if the same app has at least one OTHER
+/// window on-screen with the same PID. This prevents false positives when CG is slow to update.
 @MainActor
-func isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: UInt32, appPid: pid_t) -> Bool {
-    refreshCgWindowInfoCache()
+func isLikelyNativeTab(windowId: UInt32, appPid: pid_t, appWindowCount: Int) -> Bool {
+    // If the app only has 1 window known to AeroSpace, it can't be a tab
+    if appWindowCount <= 1 { return false }
 
     // If this window IS on screen, it's either a real window or the active tab — tile it normally.
     if cgWindowInfoCache[windowId] != nil { return false }
 
     // This window is NOT on screen. Check if the same app has at least one normal window on screen.
     // If so, this off-screen window is likely an inactive native tab.
-    for (_, info) in cgWindowInfoCache {
-        if info.ownerPid == appPid && info.level == .normalWindow {
+    for (otherId, info) in cgWindowInfoCache {
+        if otherId != windowId && info.ownerPid == appPid && info.level == .normalWindow {
             return true
         }
     }