Keep your Linux machine awake — and see exactly what's keeping it awake.

A tiny GTK3 tray app for Linux Mint / Kubuntu and other systemd desktops. A caffeine analog that actually works, plus a live dashboard of every idle/sleep inhibitor on the system.

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The problem

On Linux Mint / Kubuntu the "obvious" keep-awake tools poke the wrong layer. Classic caffeine and X-screensaver/DPMS tricks fight the screensaver, but the machine still suspends — because modern desktops sleep through systemd-logind, not the X screensaver. So your long download, backup, render, or overnight AI coding agent dies when the box goes to sleep.

And when something is keeping the machine awake, there's usually no easy way to see who and why.

What Sodamint does

Sodamint holds the machine awake at the correct layer — a systemd-logind idle:sleep inhibitor — and turns the tray into a live window onto logind's inhibitor registry:

• 🥤 One-click keep-awake. Toggle Keep awake (manual) in the tray; the icon lights up while anything is holding the machine awake.
• 📋 Live dashboard. See every process currently blocking idle/sleep — its reason, and PID — read straight from logind and refreshed automatically.
• ⭐ Your own lock is called out as its own row, so it's always clear which lock is yours to drop.
• 💠 Agent sources are highlighted and grouped, so an overnight agent shows up distinctly from random system services.
• 📁 System noise is tucked away in a System submenu — visible when you want it, out of the way when you don't.
• 🚪 Honest quit. Quitting drops only your own lock; if agents or other processes are still working, the machine stays awake. The Quit item even says Disable my keep-awake & quit when it's about to release your lock.

Everything is read-only for other processes: Sodamint never kills or drops a lock it doesn't own.

Install

Grab sodamint_1.0.0_all.deb from the Releases page and:

sudo apt install ./sodamint_1.0.0_all.deb

apt pulls the dependencies automatically. Then launch Sodamint from your menu (or run sodamint). It'll sit in your tray.

Remove with sudo apt remove sodamint.

Run from source instead

python3 sodamint.py            # run straight from the checkout
./install.sh                   # or install into ~/.local + login autostart
./install.sh --uninstall       # undo it

System packages it needs:

sudo apt install python3-gi gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-ayatanaappindicator3-0.1

plus systemd (for systemd-inhibit), which you already have.

Keeping awake from an agent or a service

This is the key idea: Sodamint doesn't mediate anything. Your agent, script, or service keeps the machine awake by talking to systemd directly — Sodamint only reads that state and shows it. Nothing has to integrate with Sodamint, and Sodamint doesn't need to be running for keep-awake to work.

Wrap your long-running work in systemd-inhibit. logind holds the machine awake while the command runs and auto-releases when it exits (success, crash, or kill — nothing leaks):

systemd-inhibit --what=idle:sleep --who="sodamint-agent" \
  --why="my-agent · my-project · overnight run" --mode=block \
  -- your-command --and --its --args

That's it. The --who=sodamint-agent marker is purely cosmetic — it's what makes Sodamint highlight the row. Drop the marker and it still keeps the machine awake; it just shows as a plain system source. Full contract (fields, an explicit hold/release variant for non-command sessions) is in AGENTS.md.

Because it's all logind underneath: if the holder dies, the kernel releases the lock automatically; multiple holders reference-count natively; and Sodamint just mirrors whatever logind reports.

Supported systems

Sodamint needs three things: systemd-logind (the keep-awake engine), GTK3 + python3-gi, and a system tray that supports StatusNotifierItem/AppIndicator (with a fallback to the legacy GtkStatusIcon).

By our assessment it should run on most modern systemd Linux desktops. Where we expect it to be at home:

Desktop / distro	Notes
Linux Mint (Cinnamon)	Primary target; developed and tested here.
Kubuntu (KDE Plasma)	SNI tray is native.
Ubuntu (GNOME)	Works with an AppIndicator/tray extension enabled.
Other Debian/Ubuntu + systemd	Should work given the deps above.
Other systemd distros	Likely fine with equivalent GTK3/AppIndicator packages; not specifically tested.

The .deb is Architecture: all (pure Python + assets), so it isn't tied to a CPU architecture. It will not work where there's no systemd-logind (e.g. a plain container, or non-systemd inits).

For contributors

The whole app is one file — sodamint.py. See CLAUDE.md for architecture and .epic-loop/epics/multi-source/docs/ for the design docs and packaging (.deb build, PPA and Flatpak notes).

License

MIT © Oleg Proskurin