How to Keep a Mac Awake
A practical guide to keeping macOS awake for downloads, builds, backups, remote sessions, and coding agents without forcing the screen to stay on.
Keeping a Mac awake is not the same as keeping the display on. For long-running work, the useful goal is usually this: let the screen turn off, but keep the system, network, and processes running.
Quick answer
Use caffeinate for one-off terminal jobs, Lidless for locked-screen background work, and macOS settings for machines that stay plugged in most of the time.
The three common ways
| Situation | Best option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One command needs to finish | caffeinate | Built into macOS and temporary |
| You lock the screen and walk away | Lidless | Keeps the system awake while the display can sleep |
| A desktop Mac or always-plugged workstation | macOS settings | Simple, persistent policy |
Method 1: Change macOS power settings
This is a good fit for a Mac mini, iMac, or MacBook that usually stays plugged in on a desk.
Open power settings
Open System Settings. On a MacBook, go to Battery. On a desktop Mac, use Energy Saver.
Open Options
On MacBook models, click Options. The exact wording can vary by macOS version and hardware.
Prevent sleep on power adapter
Enable Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off. On desktop Macs, the wording is usually Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off.
Let the display sleep
In Lock Screen, keep a reasonable display timeout such as 5 or 10 minutes. The display can sleep while the Mac keeps working.
Apple also notes that preventing sleep uses more power, so this setup is best for plugged-in use.
Method 2: Use caffeinate for a temporary job
caffeinate is built into macOS. It creates a temporary power assertion and releases it when the command ends.
# Keep the system awake until you press Ctrl-C
caffeinate# Keep awake for two hours
caffeinate -t 7200# Keep the Mac awake while a build runs
caffeinate -i npm run buildThe -i flag prevents idle system sleep, but does not force the display to stay on. For every flag and pattern, see What Is the Mac caffeinate Command?.
Method 3: Use Lidless for locked-screen work
If your real workflow is "start a task, lock the screen, come back later," Lidless is the more convenient option. It holds a system keep-awake assertion in the background, while the display can still turn off normally.
Install and open Lidless
Follow the getting started guide.
Turn on Keep awake
Open the menu bar panel and enable Keep awake. On a laptop, also consider Only when plugged in.
Start your long task
Run your build, backup, download, video encode, Codex thread, or Claude Code session.
Lock the screen
The screen can go dark, but the Mac keeps running.
How to check whether it is working
Run:
pmset -g assertionsWhen Lidless or caffeinate is active, you should see a sleep-prevention assertion such as PreventUserIdleSystemSleep.
Common mistakes
Keeping the display on instead of the system awake.
Long tasks usually do not need a lit display. Let the screen sleep and keep the system awake.
Closing a MacBook lid and expecting the same behavior.
Lid-closed behavior is stricter and depends on power, displays, input devices, and macOS policy. For unattended work, lock the screen instead of closing the lid.
Setting everything to Never.
That works, but it can waste battery. Prefer task-level or plugged-in-only keep-awake rules.