GitHub - CharlonTank/agents-sleep-preventer: Keep your Mac awake while Claude Code or Codex is working

The Problem

You ask your coding agent to refactor your codebase. It's going to take 10 minutes. You close your MacBook lid to grab coffee...

💀 Mac sleeps. The agent stops. Work lost.

The Solution

Install this tool. Your computer stays awake while your agent works; normal sleep resumes when it finishes. On macOS, it can also keep working with the lid closed and provides local speech-to-text dictation. Windows prevents automatic idle sleep and respects the configured lid and power-button actions.

Features

• Sleep prevention while supported coding agents are active, on macOS and Windows

• A macOS menu bar app or Windows tray app, with automatic and manual sleep controls

• Local voice dictation with a customizable hotkey: hold Fn+Shift on macOS, toggle Ctrl+Alt+Space on Windows

• Two dictation engines: Whisper (best accuracy, custom vocabulary) or Parakeet v3 (near-instant transcription)

• English transcription by default, with language selection in Settings

• Dictation settings, recording cues, and local transcription history

• macOS extras: agent notifications, terminal controls, and signed Sparkle updates

Installation

Windows 10 / 11

Download the Windows ZIP, extract it, and run asp.exe for the system tray app. To install native Claude Code/Codex hooks and start at login, run this in PowerShell from the extracted folder:

No administrator rights are required. See the Windows guide for build prerequisites, commands, verification, and platform differences. For dictation, open Dictation Settings… in the tray menu, choose Whisper or Parakeet, then Download Dictation Model…. Press Ctrl+Alt+Space to start recording and again to insert the transcript.

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later on Apple Silicon.

🍎 Download DMG (Easiest)

1. Download the latest DMG
2. Drag AgentsSleepPreventer.app to Applications
3. Launch the app - it will auto-configure on first run
4. Restart your coding agents

The menu bar app uses Sparkle for in-app updates and can download + install new signed releases directly.

🍺 Homebrew

brew install --cask charlontank/tap/agents-sleep-preventer

Then launch Agents Sleep Preventer from Applications: it sets up the agent hooks on first run.

🦀 Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/CharlonTank/agents-sleep-preventer.git
cd agents-sleep-preventer
cargo build --release
./target/release/asp install

How It Works

Sleep Prevention

You send a prompt
       ↓
   Agent starts working → 🔒 Sleep disabled
       ↓
   Agent finishes → 🔓 Sleep re-enabled

Sleep prevention works automatically after setup.

Dictation

Agents Sleep Preventer includes local speech-to-text dictation:

1. Open the app and allow Microphone and Accessibility permissions.
2. Download the local Whisper model when prompted.
3. Press and hold Fn+Shift (default) to record, then release to transcribe and insert text.

Dictation starts in English by default. To change the language, the hotkey, or the engine, open Settings... and select the Dictation tab.

Two engines are available:

Commands

asp status     # Check current state
asp settings   # Open sleep prevention and dictation settings
asp cleanup    # Clean up after interrupts
asp uninstall  # Remove completely

FAQ

Does it drain my battery? No more than usual. Your Mac just stays awake instead of sleeping.

What if I interrupt an agent with Ctrl+C? Run asp cleanup or the tool auto-detects idle sessions after 30 seconds.

Does it work with multiple agent instances? Yes! Mac stays awake until ALL instances finish.

How do app updates work? The menu bar app uses Sparkle. Use Check for Updates... from the menu bar app, or let Sparkle check automatically in the background. New signed releases are installed through Sparkle instead of just opening a DMG download.