Design language

Is this really the UX-breaking problem though?

Yes.

I posted this in a different message (probably on a different thread), but there are at least three places where the modals have broken my ability to use features in 1Password 8.

1. Preferences. This is an obvious and easy one, but when I was doing initial setup, I wanted to look at the settings and what was in 1Password. The bonkers decision to make this an in-window modal meant that I could not do so—which is different than pretty much every other macOS app, unless it’s Catalyst (as you’re showing).
2. Add a new account. I have my work 1Password account information stored in my personal 1Password account. When I was presented the “add a new account” modal, I could not use 1Password to fill the information into 1Password without copying the data into my system clipboard and pasting it into somewhere else so that I could copy everything required.
3. Manage collections. OMG this is a nightmare to work with to the point where I can’t possibly see using it because it’s a modal. This is a signature feature touted by Dave and I hate it because it’s a modal and doesn’t let me explore at the same time as I’m working with it. There are other problems with how collections are integrated (no reordering, which means that “all vaults” is always “all vaults”, even though that is NEVER what I want because I have access to my parents’ vault). Not even remotely close to useful.

Seriously:

A modal window is a secondary window that opens on top of the main one. Users have to interact with it before they can carry out their task and return to the main window.

You should use modal windows when there are steps the user needs to do before the task can be completed. Using a modal window instead of a full page allows users to maintain the context of their task

https://uxmovement.com/forms/best-practices-for-modal-windows/

Absolutely none of the three items are things that I should do before anything else. Maybe adding the first account, but that‘s no reason to use modal windows at all and certainly never the garbage modals provided by Electron.

The modals here are a usability nightmare and will 100% hinder my adoption of 1Password 8 and I will be recommending against any of my family upgrading to 1Password 8 if they are on a Mac. The behaviours here are complete regressions and should not be accepted as remotely acceptably by anyone in the 1Password family. Just because Windows and Linux users don’t recognize these modals as wrong and broken does not mean that they aren’t wrong and broken. You have an opportunity to improve the UX for all your target platforms. Why not do so?