Keep a web app always on top on Mac and Windows
To keep one website in front of every other window, make it a Pake app and turn on Always on top in its Window options, then give it a small size. The pin applies to that one site, not a whole browser, and works the same on Mac and Windows.
What Mac and Windows already offer
Apple's guides to arranging windows and window tiling cover dragging, tiling to half the screen, filling the desktop and minimizing, but nothing that holds one window above the rest. Tiling puts windows side by side, and whichever you click still comes forward.
On Windows, Snap arranges windows without keeping any of them in front. PowerToys Always On Top does, once PowerToys is installed: Windows logo key + Ctrl + T pins the active window and pressing it again unpins it. Microsoft notes it may not stay above windows that are already topmost, such as some Remote Desktop or VMware windows. A few apps have their own switch, like Calculator's Keep on top in Standard mode.
Pinning a browser window pins every tab in it, which is rarely what you want when you only need one page in view.
How the pin works
Pake builds each app's window with Tauri, and Always on top is passed to the window as a native property when it is created. Tauri's window API describes it as whether the window should always be on top of other windows. On Windows the operating system's version of this is the topmost state: Microsoft's documentation for SetWindowPos says a topmost window is placed above all non-topmost windows and keeps that position even when it is deactivated.
Two things follow from that. First, the pin belongs to the window, so it stays on when you switch to another app and click around, and it stops when the app quits. Second, topmost is a rank, not an absolute. If another program also keeps itself topmost, the two compete, which is the same reason Microsoft says PowerToys may not sit above some Remote Desktop or VMware windows. A Pake window has no special power over those.
Turn on Always on top
In Pake for Mac or Windows, open the Create tab, paste an address or pick a gallery site, and in the Window section turn on Always on top, which is off by default. A gallery site marked Window and options are tuned may already set it either way, so check before you click Create App. Create an app lists every option.
For an app you already made, open My Apps, click Edit, switch Always on top and click Save Changes. Editing reinstalls the same app in place, so it keeps its sign-ins, as Manage your apps explains.
Pair it with a small window
A window that stays in front should leave room for the work underneath. Set Size on Mac or Window size on Windows; each side can be 200 to 10000, and the default is 1200 × 780. A narrow, tall window suits a chat, a timer, documentation you read while coding, or a live stream. Changing the size of an existing app clears the size it last remembered, so the new one applies on the next launch.
On Mac, Hide title bar lets the page run up to the top edge and saves a little more space. Windows does not have this option, and Windows ignores it when you import settings from a Mac. Dark window darkens only the title bar and frame, not the page. Customizing a web app window covers the other window settings.
If a site you pin hides its useful part below the fold on a narrow window, zoom out with Command and - on a Mac or Ctrl and - on Windows, which every Pake app supports, and 0 resets it.
Show and hide it quickly
A pinned window can cover what you are doing, so decide how it goes away. Hide on close is on by default on a Mac, which means closing the window keeps the app running and the Dock icon brings it back. Command and W hides the window without quitting in every Pake app. With the command line there is also --activation-shortcut, a global shortcut that hides all of the app's windows when any is visible and shows them again otherwise:
pake https://example.com --name Example --width 420 --height 720 --always-on-top --activation-shortcut CmdOrControl+Shift+PThe desktop app does not list this option in its fields. The menu bar and tray route is in putting a website in the menu bar or tray.
Build it with the CLI
With the CLI set up, --always-on-top turns the option on:
pake https://example.com --name Example --width 420 --height 720 --always-on-topOn macOS, add --hide-title-bar to let the page reach the top edge. Without --width and --height the window opens at 1200 × 780. The CLI options list the rest.
When it does not stay in front
Open the app and click another window to test the pin once; a pinned window stays visible when the other window is active. If it does not, edit the app and confirm Always on top is saved, since a gallery site's tuned setting may have been the opposite of what you expected. If something else keeps covering it, check whether that program is also pinned, because two topmost windows stack in their own order.
PowerToys or an app's own switch is still the better choice when the window you want in front is an existing app. A Pake app fits when it is one website that should stay in view while your browser goes about its business.
FAQ
Does Always on top work in full-screen apps?
Pake only sets the window's on-top property and adds nothing for full-screen apps, and neither Pake's documentation nor the platform pages above describe that case, so test it once with the app you care about before relying on it.
Will the pin survive restarting the app?
Yes. It is saved in the app's settings, so each launch builds the window with it on until you edit the app and switch it off.
Can I pin only some pages?
No. The setting belongs to the window, not to a page, so it applies whatever the site is showing.