{"slug": "tamp-shows-when-another-app-is-keeping-your-mac-awake", "title": "Tamp – shows when another app is keeping your Mac awake", "summary": "Tamp, a free and open-source macOS menu bar app and CLI, launches to show users when another app is keeping their Mac awake. The tool wraps Apple's caffeinate utility and uniquely displays external keep-awake activity, addressing a common frustration for developers using AI agents like Claude Code. Available for macOS 13+ via Homebrew, Tamp offers a shared state between its GUI and CLI, timers, and independent control over display, system, and disk sleep.", "body_md": "Free & open source · macOS 13+\n\n# Tamp keeps your Mac awake.\n\n*And tells you when something else does.*\n\nTamp is a menu bar app and CLI wrapping Apple's built-in\n**caffeinate** — and the only keep-awake tool that shows when\n**another app** is caffeinating your Mac.\n\n[Star on GitHub](https://github.com/vyskoczilova/tamp)\n\nUniversal binaries (Apple Silicon + Intel) · no Xcode needed · MIT\n\n## Why Tamp\n\n### It tells the truth\n\nIf any other tool — Amphetamine, a script, an AI agent's hooks — runs\n`caffeinate`\n\n, Tamp's icon fills and the status says so. No more\nwondering why the Mac won't sleep.\n\n### One state, two faces\n\nThe menu bar app and the `tamp`\n\nCLI share a single source of\ntruth. Toggle in the terminal, watch the icon change. Set a timer in the\nmenu, read it with `tamp status --json`\n\n.\n\n### Nothing exotic\n\nKeep-awake is Apple's own `caffeinate`\n\n, wrapped — not\nreimplemented. Display, system and disk sleep controlled independently.\nMIT-licensed, ~1 MB, no background daemon.\n\n## Command line\n\n``` bash\n$ tamp on                # keep awake until turned off\n$ tamp for 2h            # … for two hours\n$ tamp until 17:30       # … until half past five\n$ tamp on --no-display   # let the screen sleep, keep the Mac up\n$ tamp status\n☕️ On — caffeinated by another app.\n$ tamp off               # yours stops; other apps' sessions are never touched\n```\n\n## Real-world integration\n\nThis is why Tamp shows when another app is caffeinating your Mac: I got\ntired of not knowing if Claude Code was still working. A couple of lines\nin my\n[Claude Code hooks](https://gist.github.com/vyskoczilova/d5206f81f80e999cd4b2133c24712d8b)\nmirror straight into Tamp's state — same icon I already glance at for\neverything else.\n\n## Compared\n\n| Tamp | Amphetamine | KeepingYouAwake | Caffeine | |\n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| Menu bar app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |\n| CLI sharing state with the app | ✓ | — | — | — |\n| Shows other apps' keep-awake | ✓ | — | — | — |\n| Keep awake until a clock time | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |\n| Homebrew install | ✓ tap | App Store | ✓ cask | ✓ cask |\n| Open source | ✓ MIT | — | ✓ MIT | ✓ MIT |\n\nBased on each project's published documentation, July 2026. Amphetamine's trigger system covers automation Tamp doesn't attempt — if you need that, use Amphetamine.\n\n## Questions\n\n## Is Tamp free?\n\nYes — free and open source under the MIT license.\n\n## What macOS version does it require?\n\nmacOS 13 Ventura or later. Homebrew installs universal binaries for Apple Silicon and Intel.\n\n## Do I need Xcode?\n\nNo. Installing via Homebrew needs nothing extra; building from source needs only the Swift 6+ toolchain (Command Line Tools are enough).\n\n## How is it different from Amphetamine or KeepingYouAwake?\n\nTamp ships a CLI and a menu bar app that share one state, and it uniquely shows when *another* app is keeping your Mac awake instead of pretending the machine is free to sleep.\n\n## Does it drain my battery?\n\nNo. Keep-awake itself is Apple's native `caffeinate`\n\n; Tamp adds a menu bar icon and a lightweight in-process check that notices external keep-awake activity while idle.\n\n## Can I keep only the display awake?\n\nYes — display, system and disk sleep are independent, per run (`tamp on --display --no-system`\n\n) or as saved preferences in Settings.\n\n## How do I uninstall it?\n\n`brew uninstall tamp`\n\n, delete `/Applications/Tamp.app`\n\n, and optionally remove `~/Library/Application Support/Tamp`\n\n. The repo ships an `uninstall.sh`\n\nthat does all of it, login item included.\n\n## How do I report a bug or contribute?\n\nOpen an [issue](https://github.com/vyskoczilova/tamp/issues) or pull request on GitHub — I read all of them. For anything else, email [karolina@kybernaut.cz](mailto:karolina@kybernaut.cz).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/tamp-shows-when-another-app-is-keeping-your-mac-awake", "canonical_source": "https://tamp.kybernaut.cz/", "published_at": "2026-07-07 10:40:53+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-07 10:59:49.719863+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["Tamp", "Apple", "Amphetamine", "KeepingYouAwake", "Caffeine", "Claude Code", "Homebrew", "GitHub"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/tamp-shows-when-another-app-is-keeping-your-mac-awake", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/tamp-shows-when-another-app-is-keeping-your-mac-awake.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/tamp-shows-when-another-app-is-keeping-your-mac-awake.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/tamp-shows-when-another-app-is-keeping-your-mac-awake.jsonld"}}