Lid Awake is a macOS menu bar utility that keeps a MacBook running with the lid closed.
Never place the MacBook in a bag while Lid Awake is enabled. The computer may remain active and generate heat.
- Permanent and temporary modes.
- Weekly schedules with per-day intervals and overnight rules.
- Optional AC-only operation.
- Automatic low-battery suspension.
- Thermal protection.
- Immediate charger updates through IOKit.
- Independent lid-close actions: turn off the display, lock the session, and play a sound.
- Optional external-display bypass keeps clamshell mode uninterrupted by skipping all lid-close actions.
- The lid-close sound plays immediately; screen actions run only after the lid remains closed for a short debounce interval.
- Native notifications, diagnostics, rotating logs, CLI, and update checks.
.pkgbuilding, ad-hoc signing, Developer ID signing, and notarization support.
The main menu contains the current mode, Enable, Disable, Temporary mode, Settings, Diagnostics, Open log, Check for updates, and Quit.
The main menu also contains Schedule enabled and Configure schedule….
Inside Settings:
- Only while connected to power
- When the lid closes…
- Do nothing when an external display is connected
- Turn off display
- Lock screen
- Play sound
- Sound volume
- Thermal protection
- Notifications
- Launch at login
- Disable at battery level
- Maximum temporary duration
- Language
Selecting Enable means Lid Awake should keep the Mac active until the user disables it. Temporary mode does the same until its timer expires.
Safety constraints do not cancel the user's request. Missing external power, low battery, or thermal pressure changes the state to Paused. When the constraint disappears, the mode resumes automatically.
Each interval defines weekdays, start and end time, and the action to apply while that interval is active: use the standard mode, keep awake, keep awake for 15 minutes, or keep awake for 1 hour. “Standard mode” turns Lid Awake off and allows normal macOS sleep. “Keep awake” holds Lid Awake continuously for the whole interval. The 15-minute and 1-hour actions also hold while the lid is open; closing the lid starts the corresponding countdown, and opening it cancels and resets the countdown. If the countdown expires while the lid remains closed, holding stops until the lid is opened again. Intervals may cross midnight. Outside configured intervals, the selected fallback action is used: standard mode, keep awake, or do nothing (keep the manual state).
The default template is disabled until saved and enabled:
Every day 08:00–23:00 Keep awake
Every day 23:00–08:00 Standard mode
The schedule applies its action as soon as an interval becomes active and restores the previous manual mode when the interval ends. A timed action starts afresh every time the lid is closed during its active interval. A manually selected temporary mode always takes priority over the schedule and remains in effect until it expires; the schedule resumes immediately afterwards.
Lid Awake subscribes to native IOKit power-source notifications. Connecting or disconnecting the charger triggers immediate policy reconciliation, followed by another reconciliation after a short delay as a safeguard. A periodic timer remains as a fallback.
When Only while connected to power is enabled, battery operation moves the app into a waiting state. Connecting the charger automatically restores the requested mode.
Disable at battery level pauses the mode when battery charge is equal to or below the selected threshold. Connecting power or charging above the threshold allows automatic recovery.
Lid Awake does not measure a temperature in degrees. It uses macOS ProcessInfo.processInfo.thermalState:
nominal— normal thermal state;fair— elevated load, no shutdown required;serious— serious thermal pressure;critical— critical thermal pressure.
At serious or critical, Lid Awake stops keeping the Mac active, changes the state to Paused, and records the reason in the event log. It automatically resumes after the state returns to nominal or fair, provided the mode is still requested.
The actions are independent:
- Do nothing when an external display is connected — keeps the Mac awake but skips the sound, lock, and display-sleep actions so the external display can continue in clamshell mode.
- Turn off display — turns off the display without issuing a separate lock command.
- Lock screen — locks the user session.
- Play sound — plays a short system sound.
- Sound volume — controls the signal volume relative to the current macOS system volume.
With system volume at 50%, 100% in Lid Awake means the loudest signal the app can produce without changing the system volume. It does not bypass the system output level.
macOS may require a password or Touch ID after display sleep according to System Settings → Lock Screen. Display sleep may therefore look like an explicit lock even when Lock screen is disabled in Lid Awake.
On macOS versions where the legacy CGSession utility is unavailable, Lid Awake requests immediate display sleep instead. This fallback is used only when System Settings → Lock Screen is configured to require a password immediately; otherwise Lid Awake reports that locking failed rather than claiming the session is secure.
Lid Awake prevents the Mac from entering sleep, but third-party applications may still react to the lid-close event itself.
For example, Pritunl Client may restart the VPN connection when the lid is closed or opened, even while the Mac remains active.
To disable this behavior:
- Open Pritunl Client → Settings → Advanced Settings.
- Enable Disable device wake watch.
- Restart Pritunl Client.
The VPN connection should then remain active while using Lid Awake.
Important: this setting applies only to Pritunl Client. Lid Awake does not modify VPN-client settings or the configuration of other third-party applications.
Notifications are sent for meaningful state transitions, such as waiting for power, a safety suspension, or automatic recovery. Disabling notifications does not affect the keep-awake behavior.
- open lock — permanent active mode;
- timer — temporary active mode;
- power plug — waiting for external power;
- battery — battery threshold restriction;
- thermometer — thermal restriction;
- moon — disabled.
zsh ./build-pkg.sh
open buildThe package is written to build/LidAwake-<version>-unsigned.pkg.
mkdir -p ~/Projects
cd ~/Projects
git clone https://github.com/bulava92/lid-awake.git
cd lid-awake
zsh ./install.shFor an existing checkout:
cd ~/Projects/lid-awake
git pull
zsh ./install.shThe installer builds and tests the project, installs the application and required background components, and then verifies the result.
Screen locking does not require Accessibility permission.
The background agent may request notification permission.
The submenu provides standard durations, a custom duration, and timer cancellation. Cancelling temporary mode fully disables Lid Awake. A requested duration cannot exceed the configured maximum.
lid-awake on
lid-awake off
lid-awake for 3600
lid-awake cancel-timer
lid-awake status
lid-awake settings
lid-awake diagnostics
lid-awake version
lid-awake schedule edit
lid-awake schedule status
lid-awake schedule enable
lid-awake schedule disable
lid-awake schedule nextDiagnostics include version, architecture, component state, active settings, power source, battery level, thermal state, lid state, and agent path.
- Agent log:
~/Library/Logs/Lid Awake/agent.log - Previous agent log:
~/Library/Logs/Lid Awake/agent.log.1 - Event log:
~/Library/Application Support/Lid Awake/events.log - Previous event log:
~/Library/Application Support/Lid Awake/events.log.1 - Last lid close:
~/Library/Application Support/Lid Awake/last-lid-close.txt
Logs rotate at approximately 1 MB.
Check for updates… reads the latest GitHub release. Automatic installer opening requires a matching .pkg.sha256 asset, a matching SHA-256 checksum, and a package accepted by macOS as signed, trusted, and notarized.
VERSION is the source of truth. install.sh and build-pkg.sh generate Sources/LidAwakeCore/BuildVersion.swift and write the same version into the bundles.
Without SIGN_IDENTITY, local ad-hoc signatures are used. Developer ID signing and notarization are documented in SIGNING.md.
zsh ./uninstall.shThe script restores normal sleep behavior and removes the application, background components, CLI, settings, and logs.