Agents Never Sleep

Agents Never Sleep is a lightweight macOS menu bar utility built by Cormac Hayden that prevents a Mac from sleeping when the laptop lid is closed. It was created to solve a specific pain point for developers running long AI agent tasks: the Mac going to sleep mid-run when the lid is shut. The app is native, tiny, and collects no data.

What It Is

Agents Never Sleep is a macOS system utility that overrides the default sleep-on-lid-close behavior. It lives in the menu bar and requires no configuration — the toggle is as simple as it gets. Unlike terminal workarounds such as sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1 or tools like caffeinate, the app is designed to survive the closed-lid state specifically, which those alternatives do not handle reliably. It targets software engineers and developers who run AI coding agents (such as Claude, Cursor, or similar tools) and need those processes to keep running overnight or while away from their desk.

Why It Got Attention

The app was born out of a viral moment on X (Twitter). The developer's own post — showing "software engineers before vs after agents" with a laptop held shut versus tented half-open — accumulated 5 million views and over 1,700 reposts, according to the post embed on the homepage. Follow-on posts from other users mocking plastic claw accessories designed to prop laptop lids open added further context to the absurdity of the problem. Agents Never Sleep positions itself as the clean software solution to what the homepage calls "a whole genre" of workarounds.

How It Works

The app sits in the macOS menu bar with a simple awake/sleep toggle. When active, it prevents the system from sleeping even with the lid closed, allowing background processes — including AI agents — to continue running. It is described as native and tiny, with no background data collection. The FAQ addresses common alternatives:

• caffeinate — does not survive the closed lid
• Amphetamine — a more complex app the developer jokes about
• pmset terminal command — works but requires remembering to undo it
• System Settings sleep toggle — buried and easy to forget

Current Status

The app is at version 1.0.5, as noted in the footer of the homepage. It is available for a one-time purchase with a 14-day money-back guarantee — no form required, no reason needed. It is a solo-developer project by Cormac Hayden, who is also the author of the viral post that inspired it.