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How to keep your Mac awake

A Mac that sleeps in the middle of a long download, a build or a call is annoying, and turning sleep off for good wastes battery. macOS has the tools to keep it awake only while you need it. Here's the built-in way in Terminal, the settings worth knowing, and a one-click switch.

By Otabek Abdiraimov, who makes Halo. Updated 3 November 2026.

Option 1: caffeinate, built into macOS

caffeinate is a Terminal command that ships with every Mac. It keeps the Mac awake for as long as it runs, then lets it sleep normally again. Nothing to install, and nothing stays changed.

caffeinate -d            # keep the screen on until you press Control-C
caffeinate -d -t 3600    # keep the screen on for one hour
caffeinate -i npm run build   # stay awake until the build finishes
caffeinate -w 4512       # stay awake until process 4512 exits

The flags decide what it stops:

• -d stops the display from sleeping. Use it for presentations, reading and video.
• -i stops the Mac from idle sleep, but lets the screen turn off. Use it for downloads, builds and backups. With no flags at all, caffeinate does this.
• -s stops the Mac sleeping at all, but only on the power adapter.
• -t sets a time limit in seconds; -w waits for another process to end.

Giving it a command, like caffeinate -i npm run build, is the neatest way: the Mac stays awake exactly as long as that command runs.

See what's keeping your Mac awake

The same system that caffeinate uses can tell you who else is stopping sleep:

pmset -g assertions

When I ran caffeinate -d -t 8 and then this, the list showed PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep named: "caffeinate command-line tool", with the seconds left. It also showed coreaudiod holding the Mac awake, because audio was playing: any app that plays sound keeps a Mac from idle sleep. pmset -g sums it up on its sleep line, for example sleep prevented by caffeinate, coreaudiod. If your Mac never sleeps, this is where to look.

Option 2: change when the Mac sleeps

On macOS Tahoe the settings live in two places:

• System Settings › Lock Screen: "Turn display off on battery when inactive" and "Turn display off on power adapter when inactive". Set the power adapter one longer, or to Never, and the screen stays on while you're plugged in.
• System Settings › Battery › Options on a MacBook: "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off". On a desktop Mac the switch is called "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off". With it on, the screen can turn off while the Mac keeps working.

These change your Mac for good, not for one download, so turn them back when you're done. On battery, a Mac that never sleeps drains quickly.

Closing a MacBook's lid makes it sleep whatever these say. The exception is closed-display mode: with the power adapter, an external display and a keyboard or mouse connected, the MacBook keeps running with the lid shut.

Option 3: a switch in the notch, with Halo

Halo has a Keep awake tile in its Controls tab: tap the cup to keep the screen on, or pick 30m, 1h, 2h or ∞. While it's on, a cup shows beside the notch, so you don't forget it. Under the hood it's the same thing caffeinate does with -d: an assertion that stops the display from sleeping, released when the time runs out or you turn it off.

Scripts and Shortcuts can switch it too, with a link:

open "halo://awake?minutes=60"
open "halo://awake/off"

Which one to pick

• One long command: caffeinate -i in front of it.
• Always on while plugged in: the Lock Screen and Battery settings.
• Now and then, without Terminal: Halo's Keep awake tile, or caffeinate -d -t with the seconds you need.

Questions

More guides: External monitor brightness on a Mac · Show notifications in the MacBook notch · All guides

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