🧠 The Problem

As a DevOps engineer with a Linux-first background, you eventually face this:
You’re given a company-issued laptop or you’re working for a client — and their policies require you to use Windows.

Fair enough.

Modern Windows is solid. With WSL2, you can run a real Linux kernel, your dotfiles work, and tools like Docker, Git, and SSH behave mostly as expected.

But then… small things get in the way.
Like window switching.

If you run multiple VSCode windows (say one for each repo), and you’re also juggling terminals, browsers, and Slack — Alt+Tab quickly becomes noise. There’s no built-in shortcut to switch between windows of the same app only.

That’s exactly what you’d want if you’re editing code in multiple VSCode instances, or jumping between multiple Chrome windows (not tabs).

🛠️ The Solution: AutoHotkey

AutoHotkey is a free, open-source scripting tool for Windows automation — and it’s a lifesaver for this.

With one small script, you can make Alt + ` (Alt + backtick) behave like a scoped Alt+Tab, cycling only between windows of the same application.

Super intuitive. Super fast. And works like magic.

✨ How It Works

The script listens for Alt + ` and filters the normal Alt+Tab to only show windows belonging to the same process (like all VSCode windows). Hold Alt and tap Alt + ` to cycle forward. Use Shift + ` to cycle backward.

It even uses Windows API calls to temporarily remove unrelated windows from the switcher — so the experience feels native.

đź”’ Limitations

  • You’ll see some slight animation flicker when windows temporarily disappear from the taskbar.
  • Some system or UWP apps (e.g. Task Manager or Settings) might still appear due to permission limitations.
  • For best results, run the script as administrator.

âś… The Script

; AutoHotkey v2 required

; Alt+` → cycle between windows of the same application
; Alt+Shift+` → reverse

!+`:: {
  FilteredWindowSwitcher()
}
!`:: {
  FilteredWindowSwitcher()
}

; [ FULL SCRIPT IS TRUNCATED FOR READABILITY ]
; See the full version here:
; https://github.com/1j01/window-switcher

đź”— Full script on GitHub:
👉 github.com/1j01/window-switcher

đź’¬ Final Thoughts

As DevOps folks, we love automation and efficiency. AutoHotkey gives Windows users a bit of that Linux-like “tweak everything” freedom — and solves real annoyances like this one with elegance.

If you’ve ever wanted better control over window switching, this script is gold.
No setup needed beyond installing AutoHotkey and pasting the script.

đź›  Want more little productivity boosts like this for your cross-platform DevOps workflow?

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