Awake
A tiny open-source menu bar app for Apple Silicon Macs that keeps your Mac awake, like caffeinate -d with an on/off switch and a timer.
Website: https://mpalarya.github.io/Awake/
- Apple Silicon (
arm64) only, macOS 15 Sequoia or later
- Menu bar only: no Dock icon, no windows, no permissions to grant
- Native Swift with no dependencies. Built with Swift Package Manager
- Uses no CPU while running: it holds a single IOKit power assertion and arms one timer per timed session. Nothing polls.
Install
Homebrew
brew tap mpalarya/awake https://github.com/MPalarya/Awake
brew trust mpalarya/awake
brew install --cask awake
Homebrew 7 and later require you to trust a third-party tap before installing from it (brew trust).
To upgrade, run brew upgrade (the cask is bumped automatically on every release). To remove it, run brew uninstall --cask awake.
curl
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MPalarya/Awake/main/install.sh | bash
This downloads the latest release, installs it into /Applications and launches it. Run the same command again to update.
Both methods skip the Gatekeeper warning described below.
Manual
- Download
Awake.dmg from the latest release.
- Open the DMG and drag Awake into Applications.
- Launch it. See the next section to get past Gatekeeper.
Opening an unnotarized app (Gatekeeper)
Release builds are ad-hoc signed but not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks them the first time you open them.
- Double-click
Awake.app. When the warning appears, click Done.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll down to the message about Awake.
- Click Open Anyway and confirm with your password or Touch ID.
Or, from Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Awake.app
Usage
Click the cup icon in the menu bar. It is filled while Awake is on and outlined while it is off.
| Item | What it does |
|---|
| Keep Awake | Turns Awake on or off. |
| Until 14:30 | Shown during a timed session. Awake turns itself off at this time. |
| Duration | Indefinitely (the default), 15 or 30 minutes, or 1, 2, 4 or 8 hours. Choosing a duration also turns Awake on. If Awake is already on, the countdown restarts. Your choice is remembered. |
| Launch at Login | Registers the app with SMAppService.mainApp. |
| Quit Awake | Quits the app and lets your Mac sleep normally again. |
If you quit while Awake is on with Indefinitely selected, it turns back on the next time it launches. This lets Launch at Login keep your Mac awake permanently. Timed sessions don't resume.
While Awake is on, the display and the system don't go to sleep when idle. You can still sleep the Mac from the Apple menu. Closing the lid of a MacBook still puts it to sleep unless it is connected to power and an external display (clamshell mode), just like caffeinate.
To check that it's working:
pmset -g assertions | grep Awake
Logs and debugging
Everything is logged with os.Logger (subsystem com.awake.app):
log stream --predicate 'subsystem == "com.awake.app"'
Build from source
You need Xcode 16+ or the Command Line Tools on an Apple Silicon Mac.
swift build -c release --arch arm64 # just the binary
scripts/build_app.sh # -> build/Awake.app (ad-hoc signed)
scripts/make_dmg.sh # -> build/Awake.dmg
VERSION=1.2.3 scripts/build_app.sh sets the bundle version. CODESIGN_IDENTITY="Developer ID Application: …" signs with a real identity instead of ad-hoc.
Releasing
Push a tag that starts with v:
git tag v1.0.0 && git push origin v1.0.0
.github/workflows/release.yml then builds the arm64 app on a macos-15 runner, packages Awake.dmg, attaches it to a GitHub Release for that tag, and bumps Casks/awake.rb on main.
How it works
PowerAssertion.swift wraps IOPMAssertionCreateWithName with kIOPMAssertionTypePreventUserIdleDisplaySleep. This is the assertion caffeinate -d creates, and it also prevents idle system sleep. The kernel enforces it, and macOS releases it automatically if the app exits or crashes.AppDelegate.swift handles the menu bar UI and Launch at Login. A timed session arms a single Timer for its end time. Timers don't count time the Mac spends asleep, so the deadline is re-checked against the wall clock on NSWorkspace.didWakeNotification.
License
MIT
