WakeBar

WakeBar is a small, native, open-source macOS menu-bar app that keeps your Mac awake by wrapping Apple's built-in /usr/bin/caffeinate command.

It is intentionally modest: no account, no network connection, no analytics, and no third-party dependencies. Ordinary sessions need no elevated access; Closed-Lid Mode is optional and separately authorized.

Features

• One-click sessions for 15 or 30 minutes; 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, or 12 hours; or indefinitely
• Keep awake until a chosen time (today, or tomorrow if that time has passed)
• Optional display-sleep prevention
• Optional closed-lid sessions, including on battery without an external display
• Live remaining-time display
• Launch at Login using Apple's SMAppService
• Automatic assertion cleanup when the app quits or a session ends
• Scriptable launch flags for automation and integration testing

WakeBar targets macOS 13 Ventura and newer. Standard sessions prevent idle sleep. Closed-Lid Mode additionally applies macOS's system-wide sleep override for the duration of a session. It does not prevent display sleep unless Keep the display awake too is enabled. During a closed-lid session with that option off, WakeBar watches the clamshell state and explicitly turns the display off as the lid closes. The menu also provides Turn Display Off Now while a display-allowed session is active.

Closed-Lid Mode

Closed-Lid Mode is deliberately separate from ordinary keep-awake sessions. Click Install Closed-Lid Support… once and authenticate with an administrator account. WakeBar installs a narrowly scoped sudoers rule allowing the current account to run only these two commands without another prompt:

/usr/bin/pmset -a disablesleep 1
/usr/bin/pmset -a disablesleep 0

WakeBar verifies the kernel's SleepDisabled state after every change. While active, a user-level watchdog checks a 15-second heartbeat and restores normal sleep if WakeBar stops responding for 90 seconds. Normal sleep is also restored when the session ends, WakeBar quits, Low Power Mode is enabled, or battery charge reaches 20 percent while unplugged.

When display sleep is allowed, WakeBar reads the root power-domain clamshell state through IOKit and invokes the documented, non-persistent /usr/bin/pmset displaysleepnow action on each open-to-closed transition. This keeps the display behavior separate from the system-sleep override.

This mode is system-wide and requires administrator approval to install. A managed Mac may require IT to approve or deploy the rule. Never put a closed, awake Mac in a bag; sustained workloads need adequate ventilation.

Install

See INSTALL.md for step-by-step instructions using either the latest DMG or a local source build. In short: open the DMG, drag WakeBar into Applications, then launch it from Applications.

Release builds must be signed and notarized before general distribution. Until the first notarized release is available, build WakeBar from source or ask your IT administrator to inspect, approve, and deploy it.

Build

The only requirement is Apple's Swift toolchain, available through Xcode or the Command Line Tools. The test harness deliberately uses no test-framework package, so it also runs on minimal Command Line Tools installations.

make test
make app

The app bundle is written to dist/WakeBar.app. The packaging script builds a Universal 2 binary for Apple silicon and Intel Macs. To create a drag-to-Applications disk image:

make dmg

To exercise the complete process lifecycle against macOS power assertions:

make integration-test

After installing Closed-Lid Support, exercise the real SleepDisabled lifecycle, timed cleanup, and simulated-crash watchdog recovery with:

make closed-lid-integration-test

An offscreen UI snapshot can be rendered without Screen Recording permission:

make preview

Command-line launch

The packaged executable accepts a few optional flags:

WakeBar --start
WakeBar --start-for 3600
WakeBar --start-for 300 --keep-display-awake
WakeBar --start-for 300 --closed-lid
WakeBar --start-for 5 --quit-after-session

--quit-after-session is useful for automation and the integration test.

Distribution and managed Macs

The local build script applies an ad-hoc signature so the bundle is internally consistent. A public release should instead be signed with an Apple Developer ID certificate and notarized. Managed Macs may require IT to sign, notarize, approve, or deploy the app. Do not disable Gatekeeper, SIP, or device-management controls.

How it works

WakeBar launches the fixed executable /usr/bin/caffeinate directly—never through a shell—with idle-sleep (-i) and optional display-sleep (-d) assertions. Each child process watches WakeBar's process ID (-w), so macOS releases the assertion if WakeBar exits unexpectedly. Timed sessions also provide caffeinate with a defensive timeout and terminate the process when the UI timer expires.

Closed-Lid Mode runs /usr/bin/pmset through non-interactive sudo with fixed arguments. User-configurable text is never evaluated as a command. The one-time installer encodes and validates the exact rule with visudo before atomically placing it in /private/etc/sudoers.d/wakebar_closed_lid.

WakeBar is not affiliated with Amphetamine or its developer.

License

MIT