Adrafinil – keep a lid-closed Mac awake only while agents work

Hacker News

A month ago there was a wave of posts and tweets about engineers walking around cafes and parks with their MacBooks propped half-open, as fully closing the lid forces sleep that stops their AI agents. Some people made snarky comments about using tmux or Amphetamine, and some defended their choice with “but I only need it sometimes, and forgetting to disable Amphetamine and finding my laptop discharged in my bag is worse.” This is a solution to this problem. Unlike caffeinate, it will prevent your MacBook from sleeping even with the lid closed, with no external power or display, using pmset disablesleep 1. Unlike other sleep-preventing apps, Adrafinil only activates when there’s an agent actively doing something. It detects agent activity through hooks it installs into Claude Code, Codex, and others. To reassure you it’s working, the app shows the active status in the menu bar, and it plays a chime when you close the lid. Once the agent is done, Adrafinil detects it and lets the laptop go to sleep by setting pmset disablesleep back to 0. It will also let it sleep in case of overheating. And if you want to manually toggle it, you can install an optional MCP and tell your agent to keep the MacBook awake for a specific time. It has four binaries, one of which is a root helper exposing a single setSleepBlocked call. All the logic and policy live in the unprivileged parts. They’re all notarized, and the app is fully open source (MIT).

Visit product View on Hacker NewsJun 27, 2026

Share card

Actual performance

124points

78comments

Made the leaderboard

Launch Intel predictions

Analyze your own launch →

Product HuntOn track for Day 1 leaderboard · Strong signals: mac, agents, agent · Missing: macos, cursor, model

98%98% predicted probability of success on Product Hunt, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

best fitHighest predicted score across all platforms for this description.

Indie HackersFits the IH revenue-focused audience · Missing: supports, reddit linkedin, podcasting

77%77% predicted probability of success on Indie Hackers, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

TrustMRRFits verified-revenue profile · Strong signals: apps, month · Missing: mobile apps, ios, personal

56%56% predicted probability of success on TrustMRR, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Hacker NewsMay not resonate with HN audience · Strong signals: open source, io · Missing: https docs, excited, just released

47%47% predicted probability of success on Hacker News, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

nativeThis product was originally launched on this platform.

Acquire.comPre-revenue stage for this audience · Strong signals: active · Missing: arr, mrr, revenue

28%28% predicted probability of success on Acquire.com, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

AppSumoMay struggle as an AppSumo deal · Missing: plus, platform, intuitive

23%23% predicted probability of success on AppSumo, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

BetaListMay not resonate with beta-testers · Missing: web3, chat, crypto

1%1% predicted probability of success on BetaList, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Incorrect prediction on native model

Similar products

Keep Mac awake while your agent works even with screen off, lid closed35%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Keep Mac awake while your agent works even with screen off, lid closed

Hacker News3

Capsomnia74%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Caps Lock keeps your Mac awake, even with the lid closed

Product Hunt+159Mac

Kavela85%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Always-on agents that work the way you do

Product Hunt+5

NeverNap Pro77%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Keep your Mac awake

Product Hunt+130Menu Bar Apps

caffeine9 – Keep your Cloud9 workspaces awake49%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

caffeine9 – Keep your Cloud9 workspaces awake

Hacker News1

Closed/Rescheduled Because of Coronavirus42%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Closed/Rescheduled Because of Coronavirus

Hacker News1

Notion 3.092%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

You assign the tasks. Your Agents do the work.

Product Hunt+479Android

AgentHandover63%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

It teaches Agents to do your work like you would

Indie Hackers1ai

Lungo – App that keeps your Mac awake56%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Lungo – App that keeps your Mac awake

Hacker News2

Open Caffeine89%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Keep your Mac awake

Product Hunt+162Open Source

Browse all products Analyze your launch