Never Sleep — Display off, Mac stays awake

Q: How do I stop Screen-Off Standby?

Press Option-Command-P, click End Standby in the menu bar, or run never-sleep off.

One job. Not another Caffeine.

caffeinate, KeepingYouAwake, and Amphetamine default to keeping the panel lit. This app collapses the scenario to a single sentence:

When you leave, the display must go dark. The machine must stay awake.

What it’s for

Same mechanism, several jobs. Display off, Mac awake — not only ChatGPT.

Unattended downloads

Leave a large transfer, App Store update, or Time Machine running overnight. The panel goes dark; the download does not.

MacBook as a mini server

SSH, file sharing, a local site, or a home lab — closer to a Mac mini. Lid open + display asleep is the reliable path; closed-lid stay-awake is best effort.

Protect the display

Real display sleep, not brightness 0. Less heat and wear on the panel, and the desk stays dark.

Lower idle power

The backlight is a large part of a MacBook’s idle draw. Sleep the panel; keep CPU, disk, and network available.

Remote sessions

ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, Screen Sharing, or SSH. If remote input wakes the panel, it goes dark again while you are away.

Long-running jobs

Compiles, encodes, backups, and syncs can finish overnight. Duration presets and a battery floor stop it safely.

Hard rules, same as the app

The menu-bar panel, the CLI, and this page all describe the same contract.

1

One-click start

Start Screen-Off Standby from the sun. The display sleeps after about 1.5 seconds; the system keeps running.

2

Never fight the person at the keyboard

HID idle plus lid state decide “user present”. While you type, it will not force-sleep the panel.

3

Remote wake is fine

If remote or synthetic input lights the screen, Never Sleep reasserts display sleep while you are away.

4

Always a way back

Global hotkey ⌥⌘P works with the display off, or click the moon in the menu.

5

Do not rewrite Energy Saver

Only in-process IOKit assertions. Quit, crash, or relaunch restores clamshell flags. No leftover power policy.

6

Agent-friendly

never-sleep status --json stays English and stable. Codex can run never-sleep on --for 8h.

A look at the app

Everything lives in one small, native-feeling popover. English by default; Simplified Chinese when you choose it.

Idle panel with the anthropomorphic sun and Start Screen-Off Standby — One tap to start

Active dark panel with the moon and End Screen-Off Standby — Standby on

Settings with per-feature toggles and English / 简体中文 switch — Every safeguard is a toggle

How to use

Display off · Mac online. Downloads, a mini server, remote clients, and long jobs keep running.

Get started

1

Start standby

Click “Start Screen-Off Standby”. The display sleeps after about 1.5 seconds.

2

Stays out of your way

It will not fight you for the screen while you type; it sleeps again after you leave.

3

Come back any time

Press ⌥⌘P or choose “End Standby” in the menu.

Keep in mind

Closed lid is best effort

Closed-lid stay-awake is best-effort, more reliable on power. Lid open + display asleep is the reliable path.

Battery floor

Standby ends automatically on low battery so the pack is not drained.

Quit restores sleep

Quitting restores normal sleep. Energy Saver settings are never rewritten.

Talk to the same process

While the menu bar is running, the CLI uses a Unix socket. Over SSH with no menu bar, never-sleep on occupies the foreground like caffeinate.

# keep the Mac awake, display off, for eight hours
never-sleep on --for 8h
never-sleep status --json
never-sleep off
never-sleep doctor      # assertions, battery, lid

Compared with common tools

Same table as the README — display-off by default is the product, not a buried option.

Never Sleep versus caffeinate, KeepingYouAwake, and Amphetamine
	Never Sleep	caffeinate	KeepingYouAwake	Amphetamine
Display off by default	Yes, and it reasserts	only with `-i`	No	Session option
Re-sleep after a remote wake	Yes	No	No	No
Does not steal the screen while you are there	Yes	No	No	No
Closed lid	Best effort	`-s` on AC only	Explicitly unsupported	Stronger, often needs Enhancer
Rewrites system power policy	No	No	No	Some modes
JSON / Agent CLI	Yes	No	No	No

FAQ

Short answers matching the product contract.

What does Never Sleep do?

It puts the MacBook display to sleep while keeping the machine awake. Use it for unattended downloads, a Mac mini-style server, remote clients, screen protection, and lower idle power.

Is this only for ChatGPT and Codex?

No. Remote agents are one job. People also use it for unattended downloads, leaving a MacBook running like a Mac mini, protecting the panel, and cutting idle power.

Does it keep the display on like caffeinate?

No. The default path is real display sleep, then it reasserts sleep if a remote agent wakes the panel while you are away.

Does closed-lid stay-awake always work?

Closed-lid stay-awake is best effort. Lid open plus display asleep is the reliable path.

Does Never Sleep change Energy Saver settings?

No. It only takes in-process IOKit assertions. Quit, crash, or relaunch restores clamshell flags. Energy Saver is never rewritten.

How do I stop Screen-Off Standby?

Press ⌥⌘P, click End Standby in the menu bar, or run never-sleep off.

Get Screen-Off Standby

v0.1.1

Grab the menu-bar app from GitHub Releases.

Download Never Sleep Star on GitHub

Download Never-Sleep-macos.zip and unzip Never Sleep.app.
The build is unsigned. Right-click Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "Never Sleep.app".
Left-click the sun in the menu bar, then tap the large sun to start.