Auto-detects your AI toolsYour agents work.
Your Mac stays awake.
OpenLid senses when Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, or an SSH session is running and keeps your Mac awake automatically — for as long as they're working. No menus to remember, no toggles to flip.
macOS 14+ • Native SwiftUI • Free
Auto-detects Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and SSH sessions out of the box.
Custom triggers coming soon.
The overnight problem
“I’ll just leave it running overnight.”
Famous last words before:
- your Mac sleeps
- your build stops
- your SSH session dies
- your agent silently gives up
OpenLid fixes that.
Why OpenLid
A small utility doing one thing very well.
Auto-detects your tools
Notices the moment Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, or an SSH session starts — and keeps your Mac awake until they're done. Nothing to toggle.
Built for AI coding
Designed around the workflows you actually run — agent sessions, long inference jobs, overnight builds, remote shells.
Manual override, always
Pick 30 minutes, 4 hours, until 6 AM, or indefinitely — whenever you want to take direct control.
Tiny native utility
Lives in the menu bar. SwiftUI, lightweight, no dock icon, no background daemon you can't see.
Native UI
Set it once.
Forget it forever.
Flip on auto-detect and OpenLid handles the rest — start Cursor, run Claude Code, open an SSH session, and your Mac just stays awake. Tap the menu bar to override or stop.
CLI & integrations
Drive it from your shell.
One install, a four-line shell wrapper, and OpenLid responds to anything that can run a command — shell scripts, build hooks, Raycast, Alfred, Shortcuts, your editor's run-task.
Under the hood it’s an openlid:// URL scheme, so anything that can open a URL can drive the app without an extension or daemon.
Modern developers
FAQ
Common questions.
My screen still goes dark after a few minutes — isn't OpenLid supposed to stop that?
That's the display sleeping, not the Mac. OpenLid keeps the system awake by default (so agents keep running) but lets the display nap to save power. On a Mac mini or desktop Mac where the screen is your only awake signal, enable Preferences → Keep display awake too and the screen stays lit alongside the system.
Does it work with the laptop lid closed?
Only with an external display and a USB peripheral connected — what macOS calls clamshell mode. A standalone MacBook with the lid closed sleeps at the firmware level, and no app (OpenLid, Amphetamine, or anything else) can override that. Mac minis, Studios, and desktops are unaffected.
Which AI tools does it auto-detect in v1?
Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and SSH sessions, out of the box. Custom triggers (any process or app you pick) are coming. You can also use the manual session durations for anything not on the auto-detect list.
Will it slow down my Mac or drain the battery?
OpenLid uses negligible CPU — it's a tiny menu bar utility that just holds a power assertion. The real power use comes from whatever you're running (Cursor, builds, inference) — which would be drawing power regardless. The only thing OpenLid prevents is the OS deciding to nap before they finish.
Does OpenLid send any data anywhere?
No. No accounts, no analytics, no telemetry. The only outbound network request is a periodic check for app updates. That's it.
How do I uninstall?
Drag OpenLid.app to the Trash.
Still stuck? [email protected].
Your agents are still working.
Download OpenLid for macOS.
macOS 14+ • Native SwiftUI • Free
Running with the lid closed requires an external display.