KeepAwake ☕

A tiny macOS menu-bar app that keeps your Mac awake — including running with the lid closed (no external display needed), which is what Amphetamine's "closed-display mode" does. No App Store, no Apple ID, no third-party apps.

🌐 Website: https://abhinav-ranish.github.io/KeepAwake/ · 📦 Download · 📝 Changelog

Why this exists: I wanted Amphetamine, but it's Mac App Store–only and I couldn't get it installed on my work laptop (no Apple ID sign-in allowed). So I built this — same core feature (keep awake + closed-display mode), installable without the App Store or an Apple ID. Full credit to Amphetamine for the idea.

What you get

• A menu-bar coffee-cup icon. Click it and pick: 15 min / 30 min / 1 hour / Indefinitely / Custom…
• A "Keep running with lid closed" checkbox (on by default). When on, it flips the macOS disablesleep power setting so the machine keeps running with the lid shut.
• While active, the menu shows time remaining and a Stop button.
• Stopping (or the timer expiring, or quitting) reverts everything to defaults — it never leaves your Mac unable to sleep.

Install

Requires Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install — no Apple ID needed).

bash install.sh

That builds the app into ~/Applications/KeepAwake.app and sets it to auto-start at login.

Optional: silent lid-closed mode (no password prompt)

Lid-closed mode needs admin (pmset). By default macOS shows a Touch ID / password dialog each time. To make it completely silent, install a tightly-scoped sudo rule that allows only the two pmset disablesleep commands:

sudo bash grant-admin.sh

Optional: Touch ID for all sudo

sudo bash enable-touchid-sudo.sh

Notes / cautions

• 🔥 Running with the lid closed traps heat — fine for downloads/builds/keeping a connection alive; be cautious with sustained heavy CPU/GPU load.
• 🔋 On battery, a closed-lid session runs until the battery dies. Best plugged in.
• 🏢 On a Jamf/MDM-managed work Mac, sudo may be restricted, and IT policy syncs can revert /etc/sudoers.d/ and /etc/pam.d/ changes. If silent mode ever starts prompting again, just re-run grant-admin.sh. The app itself still works regardless — it falls back to the Touch ID / password dialog.

Uninstall

launchctl bootout "gui/$(id -u)/local.keepawake" 2>/dev/null
rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/local.keepawake.plist
rm -rf ~/Applications/KeepAwake.app
sudo rm -f /etc/sudoers.d/keepawake          # if you installed the sudo rule

Files

• src/main.swift — the whole app (AppKit, ~200 lines)
• build.sh — compiles + bundles into ~/Applications
• install.sh — build + auto-start setup
• grant-admin.sh — scoped passwordless sudo rule for pmset
• enable-touchid-sudo.sh — Touch ID for sudo