A little app. A long night.Nightwatch
Somebody stays up so you do not have to.
Keep your Mac awake exactly as long as needed.
A tiny menu bar app that knows when to let go.
Still on watch.
Your screen can rest while your Mac keeps working.
Your hours
Its shift
Ten more minutes. A few more hours. Until morning. Pick how long your Mac stays awake, and leave the countdown in the menu bar.
Or choose “while pilots are flying” and let your agents set the hours.
- Minutes
- Hours
- Until a time
- Indefinitely
- While pilots are flying
They start a turn
It takes a shift
Nightwatch starts by itself when Claude Code, Codex, or Kimi begins a turn. No timer to remember.
Your pilot gets to work
Nightwatch notices the session journal was just written.
Your Mac stays awake
The screen can go dark. The machine keeps working.
Nightwatch lets go
Once your pilots have been quiet for a few minutes, its shift ends.
It reads the time, never the contents. Nightwatch checks only when each session journal was last written. Nothing leaves your Mac. No account, no sign in, no server, no analytics.
Give it
a reason
- 01 While an agent is working
- 02 While on power
- 03 While the CPU is busy
- 04 Between two times of day
A watch
With limits
Save something for later
If the battery falls below your chosen level, Nightwatch ends the session and tells you why.
Know when to call it
If macOS reports that your Mac is critically hot, Nightwatch ends the session and says which guard stepped in.
Close the lid
Keep the shift
This direct download can keep your Mac awake with the lid closed. On battery. With nothing plugged in.
Closed lid mode needs a small helper. You approve it once with your admin password, in a prompt from macOS.
Three steps
Then step away
Open the DMG
Download Nightwatch, then open Nightwatch.dmg.
Drag to Applications
Put Nightwatch in your Applications folder.
Open Nightwatch
It lives in your menu bar. Pick a session and let it keep watch.
A few
last things
Is it free?
Yes. Nightwatch is free. No account or sign in needed.
Does it read my code?
No. The fleet trigger checks only when each session journal was last written, never what is inside. Nothing leaves your Mac.
Why does it ask for my password?
Closed lid mode needs a small helper. macOS asks for your admin password once to approve it. You need that helper if you want your Mac to stay awake with the lid closed.
Mac App Store or direct download?
Same app, same price, free. The Mac App Store version is sandboxed, so it cannot install the helper and cannot keep your Mac awake with the lid closed. If you want closed lid mode, take the direct download.
Do I need Ground Control?
No. Nightwatch is part of Ground Control and works perfectly on its own.
How do I uninstall it?
If you installed the helper, turn it off in the app first. Then quit Nightwatch and drag it from Applications to the Trash.
You call it a night
It keeps watch
A little peace of mind. All 1.7 MB of it.
Opens without warnings. No account. No analytics.
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