Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only while agents work
A month ago there was a wave of posts and tweets about engineers walking around cafes and parks with their MacBooks propped half-open, as fully closing the lid forces sleep that stops their AI agents. Some people made snarky comments about using tmux or Amphetamine, and some defended their choice with “but I only need it sometimes, and forgetting to disable Amphetamine and finding my laptop discharged in my bag is worse.” This is a solution to this problem. Unlike caffeinate, it will prevent your MacBook from sleeping even with the lid closed, with no external power or display, using pmset…
Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only while agents work launched on June 27, 2026 with 124 votes, #288 of 22,647 launches that month and more than 95% of that year's launches.
In plain words
Adrafinil is a macOS utility that keeps a laptop awake when the lid is closed, but only while AI agents are actively working. Unlike general sleep-prevention tools, it automatically detects when agents in Claude Code and similar applications are running and activates accordingly, then allows the computer to sleep normally when they stop. This prevents the need to prop open laptops or manually manage sleep settings.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Keep your Mac awake only while AI coding agents are working - kageroumado/adrafinil
In the maker’s words, at launch
A month ago there was a wave of posts and tweets about engineers walking around cafes and parks with their MacBooks propped half-open, as fully closing the lid forces sleep that stops their AI agents. Some people made snarky comments about using tmux or Amphetamine, and some defended their choice with “but I only…
Does a similar job
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Agents Never SleepAug 2026 · agentsneversleep.app · ▲90Got tired of reaching for the terminal to caffeinate my mac and tweaking system settings Now got a new friend in my menubar Enjoy!
Modafinil - Let agents continue running while MacBook lid is closedMay 2026 · github.com · ▲15Let your agents run while your MacBook lid is closed - narcotic-sh/modafinil
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