Your Mac, on night shift.
Your Mac sleeps, and the agent's run dies with it. UnIdle keeps the Mac awake while an agent works — screen locked, even lid shut — and taps you when it needs a yes.
Same Mac. Same agent. Same night.
On battery, closing the lid sleeps a Mac instantly — whatever is running. Watch the panel under each one.
Lock the screen. The agent won't notice.
One shortcut locks your Mac and lets the display turn off. Locking never pauses a process — only sleep does, and UnIdle holds sleep off until the work is done.
One password. Once.
The usual keep-awake request — the one caffeinate makes — doesn't stop lid-close sleep. UnIdle installs one small helper that switches lid-close sleep off only while an agent is working, then hands sleep straight back.
Every agent. One icon in the menu bar.
Claude Code in Ghostty, Codex in iTerm2, Aider in Terminal, Gemini in Warp — one glance shows which are working and which are done. When Claude Code stops to ask permission, UnIdle shows it — and with Pro, so does your phone.
Free to keep. Pro once.
No subscription and no account. Try every Pro feature free for 14 days — no card needed.
From the Journal
All articles ›Why a Mac kills long agent runs, how to stop it with only what macOS ships with — and where that stops being enough.
Questions
Does it drain my battery?
Only while an agent is working — that's the point. When every agent finishes, UnIdle lets go and your Mac sleeps on its normal schedule. You can also set a battery floor: below it, UnIdle stops holding the Mac awake.
What does the lid-close setup install?
One small helper, installed through macOS's standard "install a new helper tool" prompt. It can do exactly one thing — switch pmset disablesleep on and off — and only accepts requests from UnIdle itself. It's only switched on while an agent is working, and "Restore all sleep settings" removes the helper in one click, no password.
Does locking the screen stop the agent?
No. Locking and display sleep never pause a process. Only system sleep does, and that's what UnIdle prevents.
Which agents does it work with?
Claude Code, Codex, Aider, Gemini CLI, Cursor and opencode, in any terminal. Claude Code reports its exact state through its own hooks, including the moment it stops to ask for permission. For the others, UnIdle tells working from idle by watching local activity — CPU, session logs, child processes and network — all on your Mac.
Does UnIdle edit my Claude Code config?
Only if you turn on hooks. It adds a few hook commands to ~/.claude/settings.json (and any .claude-account* variants) that call a tiny server on your own Mac — nothing leaves your machine. Turning hooks off removes every line it added.
Does the phone alert send my code anywhere?
It's off by default. When you turn it on, the alert carries only the agent's name and its state — nothing about your code or prompts. It goes through a randomly generated private topic on the public ntfy.sh service, to the free ntfy app on your phone.
What happens if UnIdle quits mid-run?
The helper turns sleep back on the moment UnIdle stops — even after a crash — so your Mac is never left unable to sleep. After a power loss, UnIdle restores it on the next launch.
How do I uninstall UnIdle?
Settings › General › Uninstall UnIdle… removes everything it added — the lid-close helper, Claude Code hooks, login item, permissions and settings — then moves itself to the Trash. No password. Your licence key is copied to the clipboard and this Mac's slot is freed, so you can use it again.
Is Pro a subscription?
No. Pro is $12, paid once, with updates included. Try every Pro feature free for 14 days first — no card, no account. If you don't buy, Free keeps working after the trial ends.
Can I give Pro as a gift?
Yes. Choose Gift Pro to a friend under the Pro price, enter their email and an optional message, and pay as usual. We email the licence key straight to them, with a copy to you in case it lands in their spam.
What about new features?
UnIdle is actively developed, and new features ship as regular updates. When a new feature is part of Pro, everyone who already bought Pro gets it at no extra cost — you don't pay twice. More advanced features are already on the way.