Show HN: Modafinil - Let agents continue running while MacBook lid is closed
github.comThe macOS sleep-prevention naming canon: caffeinate (built-in), Amphetamine (App Store), and now modafinil. At this rate the next one's going to require a prescription.
<laughing w/ tears emoji>
I was about ready to warn you that was a trademark, but it isn’t I think, only the generic name. Nice work.
Thanks!
hahah I actually didn't know that. If it was a violation, would've been cool to get a cease and desist for Modafinil of all things :P
People in SF need this. Too many cracked open Macs running agents have been spotted outside public bathrooms haha ;-)
https://x.com/chr1sa/status/2052423749778239678
Exactly what motivated me hahah
Not that I'm against the idea behind the software, but the amount of name-stealing because it sounds cool (sometimes kind of relevant, sometimes not) that software has done, has totally polluted the original words to the point they sometimes don't show up in search results.
Even the two Steve's and their Apple company had this issue (as did record companies etc. etc.). Try searching for python now and 'nary a snake to be mentioned.
To be fair I'm equally pissed off that a bunch of different pharmaceutical companies re-brand identical molecules with different names for each company and sometimes for different countries even within a single company.
Sometimes all this naming cleverness or arbitrariness just makes the world more confusing for everyone.
Fair. I guess it's just hard to come up with nice sounding names that are truly original like Skype and Häagen-Dazs, so you use an existing one.
Hopefully this niche macOS utility doesn't start ranking above search results for the actual drug Modafinil :)
God the name was very triggering as someone who worked in the valley 2011-2018 time frame…
hahaha
was was wrong with amphetamine?
Yeah this is the first app I tried when I was evaluating my options before making something myself. With the following settings:
Allow display sleep: on
Allow system sleep when display is closed: off
It did prevent sleep when you close the lid, but it didn't turn off the display off. I really wanted the display to turn off like normal (while still preventing sleep), which is what Modafinil does.
Now I made a couple posts on Reddit and I've gotten reports that this may be a bug because apparently it _is_ supposed to turn off the display when you close the lid with those settings. I've also had someone say Amphetamine indeed doesn't support this out of the box because it violates App Store policies, and so you need Amphetamine Enhancer. Not sure what the actual truth is.
The name is crazy! Was searching for something like that
Love me some Modafinil. Yes, the macOS utility, of course :P
Great! I always used sudo pmset disablesleep 1 Is a great app
Thanks!
Yeah this is basically just a convenient wrapper around that command, with some extra machinery to turn off the display when the lid closes.
Will this turn off the display if the lid is closed?
Modafinil will prevent sleep and turn off the display when you close the lid. But just the `sudo pmset disablesleep 1` command alone will only prevent sleep when you close the lid, it won't turn off the display.
Agent infrastructure requires runtime policy enforcement, not just model-level guardrails. Deterministic controls at the system boundary prevent policy violations regardless of model behavior Check the post: https://www.supra-wall.com/blog/llm-as-judge-fails-agent-sec...
I was thinking of building this yesterday...
Series of viral Twitter posts making fun of people carrying half open MacBooks motivated me to build it haha
Perfect name.
<smirk emoji>
"Is modafinil better than caffeinate"
"100% bro"