Centre

Centre is your window position manager.

Take control of your windows by choosing where they appear, how they’re arranged, and what size they should be.

Consistency is centre's goal.

Preview

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d088a951-8c6b-4731-8228-80b063f1a6e5

What Centre Tries to Achieve

Centre was built for users who want consistent window placement across desktop sessions.

Requirements

• Windows
• Python 3.10 or newer

Install

pip install centre

Update

pip install -U centre

Start Centre Automatically

To do that, create a Windows Task Scheduler task.

Run the following command as Administrator in PowerShell/cmd to create a Task in Windows Task Scheduler.

schtasks /Create /TN "centre" /SC ONLOGON /TR "centre -s" /RL LIMITED /F

Usage

After your window configuration is ready, start the listener:

centre -s

Single-Instance Listener

Centre allows one centre --start listener per Windows login session. If a listener is already running, another start attempt prints Centre already running and exits.

The other CLI commands remain available while the listener is running.

Stopping Centre

When Centre is running interactively in a terminal, press Ctrl+C to stop it. Centre will remove its keyboard hooks and stop its configuration observer before exiting.

The CLI

The action flags are mutually exclusive, so use one action per invocation.

Automatic Configuration Reload

While Centre is running, it watches config.json for changes. Saving a valid change reloads presets, ignored applications, and logging settings without restarting the process.

Keyboard shortcuts are registered when the listener starts. Changing a shortcut in bindings requires you to stop and restart Centre before the new shortcut is used.

If config.json is invalid at startup, Centre reports the problem and exits without starting the listener. If a saved configuration becomes invalid while Centre is running, Centre performs an orderly shutdown. Correct config.json, then run centre --start again.

Window Configuration (config.json)

Your config will be created at the first startup in:

CMD

%USERPROFILE%\.centre\config.json

PowerShell

$env:USERPROFILE\.centre\config.json

The default config includes these values:

• The resolution key is based on your display resolution.

{
    "presets": {
        "1920x1080": {}
    },
    "predefined_keybindings": {
        "enabled": true,
        "bindings": {
            "center": "ctrl+alt+d",
            "minimize": "ctrl+alt+m",
            "capture": "ctrl+alt+p",
            "ignore_preset": "ctrl+alt+i",
            "center_all": "ctrl+alt+a"
        }
    },
    "logging": false,
    "ignored_presets": []
}

Configuration Validation and Migration

Centre validates the complete configuration, including window presets and predefined keyboard shortcuts. Unknown configuration fields, shortcut names, and preset properties are rejected.

When a valid configuration is missing fields that have defaults, Centre adds those defaults and writes the migrated configuration back to config.json.

The listener requires predefined_keybindings.enabled to be true. If it is false, centre --start exits instead of continuing without keyboard shortcuts.

Logging

File logging is disabled by default. To enable it, set logging to true in config.json:

{
  "logging": true
}

When logging is enabled, Centre creates or appends to:

%USERPROFILE%\.centre\centre.log

While Centre is running, saving a valid configuration change applies the new logging setting without requiring a restart. Changing logging to false closes the file handler and stops new log entries from being written.

Log entries include a timestamp, severity level, and message:

[2026-07-27 12:34:56,789] INFO - Centering NOTEPAD

Centre logs window-management activity and errors. Entries may contain normalized executable names and captured preset details. The log file is append-only and is not automatically rotated or deleted.

Window presets should be placed inside the "presets" object in config.json.

Capture a Window

Focus the window you want to capture and press ctrl+alt+p. Centre stores its current position and size under the current display resolution.

Captured windows are identified by their executable name without the .exe extension. The name is normalized to uppercase, for example:

• notepad++.exe becomes NOTEPAD++
• WindowsTerminal.exe becomes WINDOWSTERMINAL

Executable names remain stable when an application changes its window title, such as when switching tabs in Notepad++.

Capturing the same application again updates its existing preset.

Ignore a Window Preset

Focus the window you want Centre to ignore and press ctrl+alt+i. Centre adds the active application's executable name to ignored_presets.

Ignored applications are skipped when you press the center shortcut. Centre will not apply the application's custom preset or Default_Position.

To allow Centre to manage the application again, remove its executable name from ignored_presets in config.json.

Center All Configured Windows

Press ctrl+alt+a to apply presets to all currently open windows that have a matching entry under the current display resolution.

Centre skips open windows that do not have a named preset or whose executable appears in ignored_presets. Default_Position is only used by the regular center shortcut for the active window.

A window preset should look like this:

{
    "NOTEPAD++": {
        "LEFT": 224,
        "TOP": 168,
        "SIZE_X": 1473,
        "SIZE_Y": 697
    },
    "Default_Position": {
        "LEFT": 25,
        "TOP": 34,
        "SIZE_X": 1860,
        "SIZE_Y": 980
    }
}

• Be sure to add Default_Position in your presets under the generated default resolution. When Centre does not find the active window in your presets, it uses Default_Position as the fallback size and position.

• Default_Position is useful when you have a list of apps that you have set a custom position for, but intend to keep all other apps in one specific location.

Default Shortcuts

Your final config should look something like this:

{
    "presets": {
        "1920x1080": {
            "WINDOWSTERMINAL": {
                "LEFT": 224,
                "TOP": 168,
                "SIZE_X": 1473,
                "SIZE_Y": 697
            },
            "Default_Position": {
                "LEFT": 25,
                "TOP": 34,
                "SIZE_X": 1860,
                "SIZE_Y": 980
            }
        }
    },
    "predefined_keybindings": {
        "enabled": true,
        "bindings": {
            "center": "ctrl+alt+d",
            "minimize": "ctrl+alt+m",
            "capture": "ctrl+alt+p",
            "ignore_preset": "ctrl+alt+i",
            "center_all": "ctrl+alt+a"
        }
    },
    "logging": false,
    "ignored_presets": [
        "NOTEPAD++"
    ]
}

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.