Lidwork — keep your Mac awake with the lid closedKeep your Mac awake
with the lid closed.
Click once, close the lid, walk away. A build, a render, Claude Code or Codex mid-task keeps running — no external monitor, no Terminal, no admin password. And if Lidwork quits, crashes or hangs, its small background part turns its lid hold off, so normal sleep comes back. It also stops at your battery limit or when the Mac gets too hot.
Lives quietly up top. yellow star = staying awake · grey star = normal sleep. Option+click the star to flip it without opening the menu.
Quick answer
With the lid open, macOS’s built-in caffeinate -i keeps a Mac from idle sleep. With the lid closed and no external monitor, macOS sleeps anyway — the usual switch that overrides it is sudo pmset -a disablesleep 1, and it stays on until you run sudo pmset -a disablesleep 0.
Lidwork does the lid-closed part from the menu bar, without sudo, and turns normal sleep back on by itself: when you turn it off, when the app quits or crashes, when your battery hits the limit you chose, and when the Mac gets too hot. All the free ways, step by step →
Actually works in your bag
Caffeine apps only block idle sleep. Lidwork stops lid-close sleep too — no monitor, lid shut, still running.
Survives its own crash
A small background part of Lidwork holds a 30-second lease. If Lidwork quits, crashes or hangs, it turns normal lid sleep back on by itself.
Never pretends
The menu says in plain words what Lidwork asked macOS to do, and if something went wrong. macOS gives apps no way to read the lid-sleep switch back, so Lidwork never claims more than it knows.
No password, ever
Lidwork runs inside the App Sandbox. Allow its background part once — macOS lists it in Login Items. After that, one click, or Option+click the star.
Battery cutoff that holds
Pick 10%, 20% or 30% — there’s no “off”. On battery, normal sleep returns the moment the charge is at or below it.
Updates from the App Store
Updates come through the Mac App Store, checked and signed by Apple. Every 1.x update is included.
How it compares
Honest, dated and checkable — as of Oct 2026.
| Tool | Lid closed, no monitor | Password | If the app crashes | Battery / heat cutoff | Notarized or App Store | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lidwork | Yes | None — allow its background part once | Its background part turns lid sleep back on: at once after a crash, within 30 s after a hang; if it can’t, the menu says so | 10 / 20 / 30%; stops at serious heat | Mac App Store | $9.99 once, every Mac on your Apple Account |
caffeinate | No — lid close still sleeps | No | Nothing to undo: the assertion ends with the process | No | Built into macOS | Free |
| Amphetamine | Yes, Closed-Display Mode; Apple Silicon needs the separate Power Protect | Admin password or Touch ID once, to install Power Protect | — | — | Mac App Store | Free |
pmset disablesleep by hand | Yes | sudo every time | Stays on until you undo it | No | Built into macOS | Free |
| Clamshell | Yes (Apple Silicon, macOS 14+) | None — no helper | Vendor: restores on disarm, quit or restart | — | Yes (vendor) | $9.99 (1 Mac) / $19.99 (3 Macs); 7-day trial |
| Keepresso | Yes, via optional admin helper | Once per run, or none after approving its helper | Helper restores settings after a crash | — | Yes | Free, GPL-3.0 |
Sources: vendor sites, GitHub and clamshell.dev’s comparison, checked 29 Oct 2026. “—” means not published or not verified by us. Spot a mistake? app@ykv.lv · Detailed comparisons →
Safe in a bag? Here’s exactly what happens
The questions everyone asks, answered with the real numbers.
In a bag
Fine for a commute or a walk across town. A closed Mac has almost no airflow, so under real load it runs warm — don’t seal it in a backpack for hours.
Heat
Lidwork stops keeping the Mac awake when macOS reports it’s seriously hot — but no app can cool a closed bag, and it gets warm well before that. Fanless MacBook Airs warm up fastest. Hot to the touch? Open the bag.
Battery
Cutoff at 10% (default), 20% or 30% — always on. “10%” means at 10% or below — not a polling cycle later. Unknown or stale battery data counts as “stop”.
After a crash
Quit, crash, force-quit, a hang or a reboot mid-session: normal lid sleep comes back — at once after a crash, within 30 seconds after a hang. Every time Lidwork starts, it first sets sleep back to normal.
If something goes wrong
No pretending: if Lidwork can’t turn sleep back on, or its background part was stopped, the menu says so in plain words and offers Let Mac Sleep Again.
Your other tools
macOS has one lid-sleep switch that all apps share, and it can’t tell who flipped it. Don’t run Lidwork together with another closed-lid tool. If one left sleep off, Help ▸ Let Mac Sleep Again fixes it in one click.
What exactly Lidwork changes: macOS’s lid-sleep switch for apps, plus a standard “don’t idle-sleep” request — nothing else. No Terminal commands, no other power settings. Turning Lidwork off, a crash or a cutoff lets go of both. macOS doesn’t let apps read that switch back, so Lidwork tells you what it asked for and whether macOS accepted — never more.
For the stuff that takes a while
Anything that should keep going while you don’t.
AI agents on the move
Claude Code, Codex or Cursor keeps building while you walk to the office — check in from your phone, laptop zipped in your bag.
Renders & exports
Final Cut, a DaVinci render, a Logic bounce — let it finish on the train.
Big up- & downloads
Push the 4K cut, pull a dataset — without hovering over your desk.
Long builds & Docker
Compile, build images, run the whole test suite with the lid shut.
Remote access
Keep your Mac reachable over SSH or Tailscale while it’s closed.
Backups & sync
Let Time Machine or a cloud sync finish before you unplug and pack up.
Three steps
- 1
Get it
Download Lidwork from the Mac App Store and open it. The first time, it asks to add its small background part — macOS lists it in Login Items.
- 2
Click the star
Choose Keep Awake with Lid Closed, or Option+click the star. It turns yellow — your Mac won’t sleep, lid open or shut.
- 3
Close the lid and go
Shut the laptop and go — on a desk, or for a short trip in a bag. Normal sleep comes back when you turn it off, when the battery hits your limit, or when the Mac gets too hot.
$9.99
once, on the Mac App Store
No subscription, no in-app purchases, no licence key.
Coming soon to the Mac App Store- On every Mac signed in to your Apple Account
- All 1.x updates included
- Refunds through Apple
FAQ
Will a MacBook stay awake with the lid closed without an external monitor?
Normally no — macOS sleeps the moment you close the lid unless an external display, power and a keyboard are attached (clamshell mode). Lidwork removes that requirement: turn it on, close the lid, and your Mac keeps running with nothing plugged in.
How is Lidwork different from caffeinate or Amphetamine?
caffeinate and most keep-awake apps block idle sleep; close the lid and the Mac still sleeps. Amphetamine can keep a closed MacBook awake, but on Apple Silicon only with its separately installed Power Protect. Lidwork does lid-closed by default, needs no password, and its background part turns sleep back on even if the app crashes.
What happens if Lidwork crashes or I force-quit it?
Lidwork’s background part notices at once and turns normal lid sleep back on. If the app freezes instead, it does so when the 30-second lease runs out. Every time Lidwork starts, it first sets sleep back to normal. macOS gives apps no way to read the lid-sleep switch back, so Lidwork reports what it asked for — and if it can’t turn sleep back on, the menu says so in plain words.
Is it safe to carry my Mac in a bag while it’s awake?
For a commute or a walk across town, yes. A closed Mac has almost no airflow, so it runs warm under load, and fanless MacBook Airs warm up fastest. Lidwork protects the battery with a cutoff (10%, 20% or 30%) and stops when macOS reports the Mac is seriously hot, but it can’t cool a closed bag — don’t leave a busy Mac sealed in a bag for hours.
Will it ask for my password?
No. Lidwork runs inside the App Sandbox and never asks for an admin password. The first time, it asks to add its small background part — the part that turns sleep back on if Lidwork crashes — and macOS shows it in System Settings → General → Login Items.
Can I keep Claude Code or Codex running with the lid closed?
Yes — that’s a big reason Lidwork exists. Start the agent (ideally inside tmux), turn Lidwork on, close the lid. The agent keeps working, and you can check on it over SSH or Tailscale from your phone. Step-by-step guide.
What do I get for $9.99?
Lidwork, paid once on the Mac App Store, with every feature from the first launch — on every Mac signed in to your Apple Account. Every 1.x update is included, with macOS compatibility fixes for at least two years. No subscription, no in-app purchases.
How does buying work?
Click Download on the App Store and buy it once with your Apple Account — Apple handles the payment and the tax. No licence key, no account with us. Changed your mind? Ask Apple for a refund at reportaproblem.apple.com. Before you delete the app, choose Remove Background Access… so its background part goes away cleanly.
Where can I get Lidwork?
Only on the Mac App Store. There’s no other edition to buy and no direct download.
Which Macs does Lidwork support?
Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 and newer) on macOS 14 Sonoma or later. The app also installs on Intel Macs, but we haven’t confirmed the lid-closed part there yet — email app@ykv.lv before buying for an Intel Mac.
Is this the app that used to be called Lidless?
Yes. Lidwork was called Lidless until October 2026 — same app, same developer, new name.