Adrafinil
Keeps your Mac awake only while AI coding agents are actively working, and lets it sleep when they finish.
Adrafinil
What is Adrafinil?
Adrafinil vs Similar AI Tools
| Pricing Model | Free | Free | Custom Pricing | Free, Paid |
| Free Credits | ||||
| Key Features |
|
|
|
|
| Pros |
|
|
|
|
| Cons |
|
|
|
|
| Best For |
|
|
|
|
How to use Adrafinil?
- 1Download the signed disk image from GitHub Releases.
- 2Drag Adrafinil to Applications and launch.
- 3Authorize the privileged helper on first launch.
- 4Install hooks for your agents via 'adrafinil install-hooks' or the app's UI.
- 5The app automatically manages sleep: blocks when agents work, releases when they sleep.
Adrafinil Key Features
- Agent-aware sleep management (blocks only when agents are active)
- Hook integration for 9 agents: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Aider, Hermes, OpenCode, Cline, Pi
- Sub-50ms CLI for acquire/release operations
- Reference-counted assertions for overlapping agent sessions
- Thermal cutout to prevent overheating while lid is closed
- Idle release for processes that die or go idle
- Optional process sniffing to auto-acquire without hooks
- Lid-close audio chime and lid-open summary
- Clean uninstall that removes all hooks
Adrafinil Use Cases
- Keep Mac awake during long AI coding sessions with the lid closed
- Ensure the machine sleeps normally when no AI agents are running
- Avoid overheating by auto-releasing sleep assertions on thermal threshold
Adrafinil Pricing & Free Credits
Adrafinil currently operates on a Free model.
This tool is completely free to use
Adrafinil Pros & Cons
Pros
- Agent-aware, not always-on
- Minimal resource usage
- Open source and auditable
- Supports many popular AI coding agents
- Thermal safety for lid-closed use
Cons
- Requires macOS 26.4 or later
- Requires root privileges for clamshell (lid-closed) sleep override
- Only available for macOS
What is Adrafinil best for?
- Developers using AI coding agents on macOS who want to keep their Mac awake only during active agent work
- Users who run agent tasks unattended with the lid closed
Adrafinil FAQ
Top free alternatives to Adrafinil
A cooperative gate for shell commands that AI agents run, providing previews, backups, policy enforcement, and audit for tools like Claude Code and Cursor.
Agentcard provides agent-friendly card issuing and payment infrastructure for AI agents, enabling 5-minute setup and autonomous purchases.
Oodle AI provides agent observability with fast trace search, S3-based storage, and out-of-the-box insights to detect silent failures in AI agents.
Jacquard is a small programming language designed for running, reviewing, and trusting programs written by machine-learning models and reviewed by people.
Autonomous security testing platform that finds and fixes access control vulnerabilities in live AI-built apps.
AI-powered social listening tool that monitors Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and 10+ other platforms, filters mentions with AI, and delivers them to your stack via API, Slack, or webhooks.
A unified AI gateway providing access to 300+ leading models through one EU-hosted, GDPR-compliant API with an OpenAI SDK-compatible interface.
Best alternatives AI Tools to Adrafinil
DeepSQL is an AI DBA that monitors workloads, optimizes slow queries, and cuts database costs via a self-hosted agent with MCP and Slack integration.
Open-source platform for real-time AI agent security, auditing skills and runtime with community-driven threat rules.
OpenSEO is an open source SEO platform that integrates with AI agents via MCP to provide real SEO data for keyword research, competitor analysis, backlinks, and more.
SureWire Beta is an AI agent validation platform that helps ensure your AI agents are safe and reliable through comprehensive testing.
A deadline-aware LLM router that reduces AI inference costs by automatically finding cheaper service tiers within a user-specified time window.
Run multiple AI coding agents in parallel on isolated git worktrees with a full editor and built-in developer tools.
An open-source cost controller for AI agent loops that stops loops when converged and rolls back before degradation.