diff --git a/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.lock b/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.lock
index 3bf67c72..2fc9e306 100644
--- a/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.lock
+++ b/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.lock
@@ -3165,6 +3165,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "dispatch2",
  "ed25519-dalek",
  "hotwatch",
+ "komorebi-backend",
  "komorebi-collections",
  "komorebi-config",
  "komorebi-layouts",
@@ -3200,6 +3201,13 @@ dependencies = [
  "version",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "komorebi-backend"
+version = "0.1.42"
+dependencies = [
+ "komorebi-layouts",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "komorebi-bar"
 version = "0.1.1"
diff --git a/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.toml b/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.toml
index 2951bd0d..a18ec567 100644
--- a/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.toml
+++ b/komorebi-for-mac/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 
 [workspace.dependencies]
 komorebi-themes = { path = "../komorebi-themes" }
+komorebi-backend = { path = "../crates/komorebi-backend" }
 komorebi-collections = { path = "../crates/komorebi-collections" }
 komorebi-config = { path = "../crates/komorebi-config", default-features = false, features = ["schemars"] }
 komorebi-protocol = { path = "../crates/komorebi-protocol", default-features = false, features = ["schemars"] }
diff --git a/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/Cargo.toml b/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/Cargo.toml
index 04c7badc..dfa9213a 100644
--- a/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/Cargo.toml
+++ b/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/Cargo.toml
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ edition = "2024"
 
 [dependencies]
 komorebi-themes = { workspace = true }
+komorebi-backend = { workspace = true }
 komorebi-collections = { workspace = true }
 komorebi-layouts = { workspace = true }
 komorebi-config = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/src/lib.rs b/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/src/lib.rs
index 1bf671d1..55cf64de 100644
--- a/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/src/lib.rs
+++ b/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/src/lib.rs
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ pub mod input_event_listener;
 pub mod ioreg;
 pub use komorebi_collections::lockable_sequence;
 pub mod macos_api;
+pub mod macos_backend;
 pub mod monitor;
 pub mod monitor_reconciliator;
 pub mod notification_center_listener;
diff --git a/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/src/macos_backend.rs b/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/src/macos_backend.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2a3bca30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/komorebi-for-mac/komorebi/src/macos_backend.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,269 @@
+//! `MacosBackend`: the shared [`komorebi_backend::Backend`] over the existing [`MacosApi`],
+//! [`Window`] and [`AdhocWindow`] functions.
+//!
+//! **Nothing uses it yet.** The daemon still holds `Window` values (element, application and
+//! observer) and calls them directly; this adapter exists so that the trait is known to be
+//! implementable here before the core depends on it (step 7c of the consolidation). The parts
+//! that could not be written without changing what the daemon does are listed in
+//! `docs/dev/seam.md`, section 9, and commented where they are.
+//!
+//! The trait names a window by an id, and nothing on macOS acts from a bare id: a window is its
+//! Accessibility element. So the adapter owns the **id registry** of consequence (1): the daemon
+//! registers each `Window` it learns of ([`MacosBackend::register`]) and forgets it when it is
+//! gone, and every method looks the element up by id. An id the registry does not hold is a
+//! window that is gone.
+//!
+//! Monitors are the other thing that cannot be a plain call: `MacosApi::latest_monitor_information`
+//! is an `NSScreen` query that is only legal on the main thread, and the rule is that no `Backend`
+//! method waits for main. [`Backend::monitors`] therefore reads a cache, which the display
+//! callback refreshes on main with [`MacosBackend::refresh_monitors`].
+
+use crate::LibraryError;
+use crate::accessibility::AccessibilityApi;
+use crate::accessibility::attribute_constants::kAXMinimizedAttribute;
+use crate::core::Rect;
+use crate::core::WindowHidingPosition;
+use crate::macos_api::MacosApi;
+use crate::skylight::BatchedUpdates;
+use crate::window::AdhocWindow;
+use crate::window::Window;
+use komorebi_backend::Backend;
+use komorebi_backend::Error;
+use komorebi_backend::MonitorId;
+use komorebi_backend::MonitorInfo;
+use komorebi_backend::Result;
+use komorebi_backend::WindowId;
+use komorebi_backend::WindowInfo;
+use objc2::MainThreadMarker;
+use objc2_core_foundation::CFBoolean;
+use parking_lot::Mutex;
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+
+/// The shared [`Backend`] for macOS.
+///
+/// Capabilities: none. macOS has no workspaces of komorebi's to delegate, no maximize, no
+/// opacity and no focus follows mouse (`docs/dev/seam.md` section 2.1), so those methods answer
+/// `Unsupported`.
+pub struct MacosBackend {
+    windows: Mutex<HashMap<u32, Window>>,
+    monitors: Mutex<Vec<MonitorInfo>>,
+    hiding_position: WindowHidingPosition,
+    batches: Mutex<Vec<BatchedUpdates>>,
+}
+
+impl Default for MacosBackend {
+    fn default() -> Self {
+        Self::new(WindowHidingPosition::default())
+    }
+}
+
+fn platform(error: impl std::error::Error + Send + Sync + 'static) -> Error {
+    Error::from_platform(error)
+}
+
+impl MacosBackend {
+    /// Returns a backend with an empty registry and no monitors. `hiding_position` is the corner
+    /// [`Backend::hide`] parks windows in: on macOS it is an argument of every hide, taken from
+    /// the monitor's configuration, and the trait has no place for it.
+    pub fn new(hiding_position: WindowHidingPosition) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            windows: Mutex::new(HashMap::new()),
+            monitors: Mutex::new(Vec::new()),
+            hiding_position,
+            batches: Mutex::new(Vec::new()),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Makes the window known to the backend, by its `CGWindowID`.
+    pub fn register(&self, window: Window) {
+        self.windows.lock().insert(window.id, window);
+    }
+
+    /// Forgets a window that is gone.
+    pub fn forget(&self, id: u32) {
+        self.windows.lock().remove(&id);
+    }
+
+    /// Reads the monitors from `NSScreen` into the cache that [`Backend::monitors`] answers
+    /// from. The `MainThreadMarker` is the proof that this is called on the main thread, from
+    /// the display reconfiguration callback.
+    pub fn refresh_monitors(&self, _main: MainThreadMarker) -> Result<()> {
+        let monitors = MacosApi::latest_monitor_information()
+            .map_err(platform)?
+            .into_iter()
+            .map(|m| MonitorInfo {
+                id: MonitorId::from_u32(m.id),
+                size: m.size,
+                work_area: m.work_area_size,
+                name: Some(m.device),
+                serial_number_id: Some(m.serial_number_id),
+            })
+            .collect();
+
+        *self.monitors.lock() = monitors;
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    fn lookup(&self, id: WindowId) -> Result<Window> {
+        id.to_u32()
+            .and_then(|raw| self.windows.lock().get(&raw).cloned())
+            .ok_or(Error::WindowGone(id))
+    }
+
+    /// Says why a call about a window failed. A failed write is how macOS finds out that a window
+    /// has died, so the window is asked whether it is still there (an Accessibility round trip,
+    /// as the reaper does after a failed write).
+    fn failed(
+        id: WindowId,
+        window: &Window,
+        error: impl std::error::Error + Send + Sync + 'static,
+    ) -> Error {
+        if window.is_valid() {
+            platform(error)
+        } else {
+            Error::WindowGone(id)
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn info(window: &Window) -> Option<WindowInfo> {
+        if !window.is_valid() {
+            return None;
+        }
+
+        let minimized = AccessibilityApi::copy_attribute_value::<CFBoolean>(
+            &window.element,
+            kAXMinimizedAttribute,
+        )
+        .is_some_and(|b| b.as_bool());
+
+        Some(WindowInfo {
+            id: WindowId::from_u32(window.id),
+            pid: window.application.process_id,
+            // the Accessibility position and size, in points; a failure leaves the default
+            rect: MacosApi::window_rect(&window.element)
+                .map(Rect::from)
+                .unwrap_or_default(),
+            minimized,
+            alive: true,
+            title: window.title(),
+            // macOS has no window class: a bundle identifier, role and subrole instead
+            class: None,
+            exe: window.exe(),
+            path: window.path().map(|p| p.to_string_lossy().into_owned()),
+            fullscreen: None,
+            maximized: None,
+            normal: None,
+        })
+    }
+}
+
+impl Backend for MacosBackend {
+    fn windows(&self) -> Vec<WindowInfo> {
+        // The registry is the only list there is: the CoreGraphics list joined with the
+        // Accessibility elements by title lives inside `load_workspace_information`, which fills
+        // a `WindowManager`, and the daemon registers what it finds
+        let registered: Vec<_> = self.windows.lock().values().cloned().collect();
+        let mut windows: Vec<_> = registered.iter().filter_map(Self::info).collect();
+        windows.sort_by_key(|w| w.id);
+        windows
+    }
+
+    fn window(&self, id: WindowId) -> Option<WindowInfo> {
+        Self::info(&self.lookup(id).ok()?)
+    }
+
+    fn foreground_window(&self) -> Option<WindowId> {
+        MacosApi::foreground_window_id().map(WindowId::from_u32)
+    }
+
+    fn monitors(&self) -> Result<Vec<MonitorInfo>> {
+        let monitors = self.monitors.lock().clone();
+        if monitors.is_empty() {
+            return Err(Error::platform(
+                "no monitors known yet: the display callback has not refreshed the cache",
+            ));
+        }
+
+        Ok(monitors)
+    }
+
+    fn cursor_pos(&self) -> Option<(i32, i32)> {
+        let point = MacosApi::cursor_pos();
+        #[allow(clippy::cast_possible_truncation)]
+        Some((point.x as i32, point.y as i32))
+    }
+
+    fn set_rect(&self, id: WindowId, rect: &Rect) -> Result<()> {
+        // `Window::set_position` writes directly (two Accessibility writes) or hands the move to
+        // the animator, depending on the animation settings; both are requests
+        let window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        window
+            .set_position(rect)
+            .map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn focus(&self, id: WindowId, mouse_follows_focus: bool) -> Result<()> {
+        let window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        window
+            .focus(mouse_follows_focus)
+            .map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn raise(&self, id: WindowId) -> Result<()> {
+        // macOS has no raise without focus: this sets AXMain and AXFocused, so it focuses
+        let window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        window.raise().map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn hide(&self, id: WindowId) -> Result<()> {
+        // a sliver in a corner of the display, observable by the app and the user
+        let mut window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        window
+            .hide(self.hiding_position)
+            .map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn restore(&self, id: WindowId) -> Result<()> {
+        let mut window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        window.restore().map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn minimize(&self, id: WindowId) -> Result<()> {
+        let mut window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        window.minimize().map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn unminimize(&self, id: WindowId) -> Result<()> {
+        let mut window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        window
+            .unminimize()
+            .map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn close(&self, id: WindowId) -> Result<()> {
+        // presses the close button; `Ok` when the window has none
+        let window = self.lookup(id)?;
+        AdhocWindow::close(&window.element.0).map_err(|e| Self::failed(id, &window, e))
+    }
+
+    fn center_cursor_in(&self, rect: &Rect) -> Result<()> {
+        MacosApi::center_cursor_in_rect(rect).map_err(|e: LibraryError| platform(e))
+    }
+
+    fn monitor_from_point(&self, x: i32, y: i32) -> Option<MonitorId> {
+        MacosApi::monitor_from_point(objc2_core_foundation::CGPoint::new(
+            f64::from(x),
+            f64::from(y),
+        ))
+        .map(MonitorId::from_u32)
+    }
+
+    fn begin_batch(&self) {
+        // SkyLight holds back everything that changes on screen until the guard is dropped
+        self.batches.lock().push(BatchedUpdates::begin());
+    }
+
+    fn end_batch(&self) {
+        drop(self.batches.lock().pop());
+    }
+}