For keeping a MacBook awake with the lid closed, pick Clamshell. It overrides lid sleep by setting the lid sleep state directly, not only with an idle-sleep assertion, its thermal cut-off is always on, and it needs no admin rights or helper. It keeps any job running, not only detected agents.
Clamshell for Mac keeps the Mac awake with the lid closed while armed. No sudo, no monitor. Free for 7 days, then $9.99 once.
Download free trialApple Silicon, macOS 14+. Notarized by Apple. 3.6 MB. Or buy now, $9.99. On your phone? Send the Mac download link to yourself.
Clamshell for Mac is built for one job: you arm it, close the lid, and the Apple Silicon MacBook keeps running with the built-in display black until you disarm or open the lid. It sets the lid sleep state through an unprivileged system control and holds an idle-sleep assertion while armed, so it needs no admin rights. Hold My Lid is built around agent awareness: lifecycle hooks for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and others tell it when an agent is working, and it lets the Mac sleep when they go idle.
Why Clamshell is the better pick
- It controls lid sleep directly. Clamshell sets the clamshell sleep state on the macOS power manager and adds an idle-sleep assertion. Hold My Lid's FAQ describes holding the PreventUserIdleSystemSleep assertion. That assertion on its own, which is what
caffeinateuses, does not normally stop lid sleep, so whichever tool you pick, run a two-minute lid-closed test. - Thermal safety you cannot switch off. Serious or critical thermal pressure disarms Clamshell toward normal lid sleep and blocks arming until the Mac cools. Hold My Lid's site does not state a thermal cut-off.
- No admin rights, nothing left behind. No sudo, privileged helper or
pmsetsetting, and the lid change is never saved across a restart. Hold My Lid's site does not state its setup requirements. - Any job, not only detected agents. Downloads, renders, builds or SSH sessions stay up for as long as you keep it armed. Hold My Lid's wake lock follows the agent activity it detects.
- A dark display that agents can still use. With the lid closed the built-in display stays black, while agents can still use the screen, and the Mac locks when you open the lid.
Close the lid and keep working. Try Clamshell free for 7 days with no payment details, then $9.99 once for one Mac. 14-day money-back guarantee.
Download free trialApple Silicon, macOS 14+. Notarized by Apple. 3.6 MB. Or buy now, $9.99.
Side-by-side comparison
Every Hold My Lid cell comes from its own pages, checked October 2, 2026. "Not stated" means we could not find it on their official pages; it does not mean the feature is missing.
| Clamshell Recommended | Hold My Lid | |
|---|---|---|
| How closed-lid works | Unprivileged IOKit clamshell sleep-state control plus an idle-sleep assertion while armed. Not pmset. |
Holds the PreventUserIdleSystemSleep power assertion, per its FAQ. |
| Thermal safeguard | Always on. Serious or critical thermal pressure disarms toward normal lid sleep and blocks arming until cooled. | Not stated. |
| Admin or helper | None. No sudo, admin rights, kernel extension, driver, or privileged helper. | Not stated. |
| Restore behavior | Option-close and menu arming cover the next close; on lid open the Mac locks. Right-click and Shortcuts arming stay until disarmed. Never persists across a restart. | Releases the wake lock when watched agents go idle. Crash and lid-open behavior not stated. |
| Closed-lid support | Yes, with no external display. | Yes, with no external display, per its FAQ. |
| Battery safeguard | Optional low-battery disarm at a level you choose, off by default. Re-applies on every plug or unplug. | Configurable cut-off threshold, an only-when-plugged-in mode, and Low Power Mode respect. |
| Price | 7-day free trial, then $9.99 once for 1 Mac or $19.99 for 3 Macs. 14-day money-back guarantee. | Free trial, then $9.99 once as an early-bird price, normally $14.99. One license covers up to 3 Macs. |
| Agent auto-detection | No. Arm from scripts with clamshell://arm and clamshell://disarm, or Shortcuts actions. |
Yes. Lifecycle hooks for Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini, Pi, Copilot CLI and Hermes; process detection for Cursor and Cline. |
| Availability | clamshell.dev and Setapp. | Direct download and a Homebrew tap (shobhit99/tap/holdmylid). |
| Platform | Apple Silicon MacBooks, macOS 14 or later. | macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel. |
| Source code | Closed source. | Not stated. |
For agent runs, the Clamshell wrapper calls open "clamshell://arm" before the run and open "clamshell://disarm" after. The Claude Code lid-closed guide has a complete script.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an admin password for Clamshell?
No. Clamshell uses an unprivileged system control, so there is no sudo, admin prompt, kernel extension or privileged helper. Hold My Lid's site does not state its setup requirements.
Does Clamshell leave anything behind?
No. Clamshell never changes the persistent pmset SleepDisabled setting, its lid change is never saved across a restart, and it restores normal lid sleep when you disarm or quit.
Does it stop if the Mac gets too hot?
Clamshell does, always. Serious or critical thermal pressure disarms it toward normal lid sleep and blocks arming until the Mac cools. Hold My Lid's site does not state a thermal cut-off.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, for both. Clamshell is free for 7 days with no payment details, then $9.99 once for one Mac or $19.99 for three, with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Hold My Lid lists a free trial and a $9.99 early-bird price, normally $14.99, for up to 3 Macs.
What is the difference between Hold My Lid and Clamshell?
Hold My Lid watches coding agents through lifecycle hooks and keeps the Mac awake only while they work. Clamshell for Mac keeps an Apple Silicon MacBook awake with the lid closed while you have it armed, with no admin rights or helper, and restores normal lid sleep when you disarm or open the lid.
Does Hold My Lid detect Claude Code automatically?
Yes. It integrates with Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode through lifecycle hooks, and detects Cursor and Cline by process. Clamshell does not detect agents; a wrapper script can arm it with clamshell://arm and disarm it with clamshell://disarm.
Which works on Intel Macs?
Hold My Lid, per its FAQ. Clamshell supports only Apple Silicon MacBooks on macOS 14 or later.
If you need Intel support or a wake lock that follows your agents automatically, Hold My Lid covers that.
Clamshell is the pick for a closed lid. No admin rights, thermal safety always on, and nothing saved across a restart. Free for 7 days, then $9.99 once.
Download free trialApple Silicon, macOS 14+. Notarized by Apple. 3.6 MB. Or buy now, $9.99.
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Sources checked October 2, 2026: Hold My Lid's homepage, pricing and FAQ. Clamshell details come from its own documentation and changelog. Clamshell is the publisher of this comparison. Product names belong to their respective owners.