Till Brooklyn.
No sleep till Brooklyn.
A menu bar or system tray app with one job: keep your computer awake. Click the bridge and pick 1 hour, 3 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, choose your own hours and minutes with Freestyle…, or use Ever!. A timed session releases itself when it runs out. The Mac version also has a separate Closed-Lid Mode for audio with the laptop shut.
The menu counts down the time left, and Freestyle remembers your last custom duration. You can keep the computer awake while letting the display follow its normal timer, or turn the display off immediately. No preferences window, no account, and no telemetry. Your exact deadline survives if you reopen the app, while a timer that expired in the meantime stays off.
Installing on Mac
- Unzip the download and drag Till Brooklyn.app into your Applications folder — do this before you open it. The app can update itself there, and on macOS 13–15 Closed-Lid Mode needs a fixed location for its helper.
- The app is signed by me rather than notarised by Apple, so the first launch needs a nudge: right-click the app → Open, then click Open again in the dialog. Double-clicking it the normal way will just refuse.
- If macOS blocks it anyway, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the Till Brooklyn line.
- A bridge appears in the menu bar. Click it and pick a length under No Sleep! That’s the whole app. Only the first launch needs this — after that it opens like anything else.
To get rid of it: untick Closed-Lid Mode if you ever used it, quit from the menu, then drag the app to the Trash. It leaves behind a couple of preferences. On macOS 13–15, an approved helper may also leave one entry under Login Items & Extensions; version 1.6 installs no privileged helper on macOS 26.
Installing on Windows
- Unzip the download wherever you want to keep it. There is no installer and no extra runtime: the folder contains one portable TillBrooklyn.exe.
- Open TillBrooklyn.exe. The build is not code-signed, so Microsoft Defender SmartScreen may show Windows protected your PC. If you downloaded it from this page, choose More info → Run anyway.
- A bridge appears in the notification area beside the clock. If Windows tucks it away, open the ^ hidden-icons menu. Click the bridge and pick a length under No Sleep!
To get rid of it: quit from the tray menu and delete the executable. The app installs no service or background helper; it leaves only its small saved-session entry under your Windows user profile.
How it works
Both versions use the operating system’s own keep-awake request. There is no helper process to babysit and no power setting is permanently changed.
| macOS | Always holds an idle-system power assertion; by default it also holds the idle-display assertion used by caffeinate -di. |
|---|---|
| Windows | Uses SetThreadExecutionState to require the system, plus the display unless you choose to let it turn off. |
Those requests belong to the running app, so they are released when the length you picked runs out, when you turn the session off, when you quit, and also if the app is force-quit or crashes. Nothing can get stuck on. The countdown is checked against the wall clock rather than a plain interval, so a stretch of real sleep in the middle doesn’t quietly push the deadline back.
On a Mac, you can watch the assertions come and go with pmset -g assertions | grep "Till Brooklyn".
Display controls
By default, an awake session keeps both the computer and its display on. Tick Allow Display to Turn Off and Till Brooklyn keeps the computer awake while the screen follows your normal dim, lock, and display-sleep timer. The choice is remembered, and changing it during a timed session leaves the original countdown alone.
Turn Display Off Now is the one-shot button: it switches the screen off immediately without ending the awake session or changing the saved choice. Both controls are available on Mac and Windows.
Closed-Lid Mode · Mac only
Closing the lid isn’t an idle event, so no ordinary power assertion touches it. The only lever that works on battery is the system’s SleepDisabled setting, and changing it requires an administrator. Closed-Lid Mode is a separate switch in the menu for the times you want audio to keep playing with the laptop shut.
On macOS 26, the downloadable build shows the standard administrator prompt when you turn the mode on. That approval lasts until you turn the mode off or quit the app, so enabling it again asks again. Nothing is installed under Login Items. On macOS 13–15, the app keeps using its small helper and the one-time approval under System Settings → Login Items & Extensions.
What changed in 1.6: macOS 26 rejects this app’s ad-hoc-signed helper before it can launch, which is why older builds ended with Administrator authorization failed. Version 1.6 avoids that broken path. It asks macOS to run fixed Apple system tools for the current session, watches both the app and a private marker, and restores normal sleep when either disappears. On macOS 13–15, an update can still orphan the old helper approval; if the menu says ⚠︎ Helper approved but not responding, use Retry… to register the new copy.
The flag is cleared when you untick it, when you quit, and by the privileged session itself if the app disappears — so it cannot survive a crash and leave your Mac unable to sleep. A Mac running with the lid closed has nowhere to dump its heat, so untick it before the laptop goes in a bag.
What it deliberately doesn’t do
Neither version overrides an explicit Sleep command, scheduled sleep, or critical-battery protection. Closing a Windows laptop lid still follows your normal Windows power setting. On a Mac it does too unless you deliberately tick the Mac-only Closed-Lid Mode.
The Mac version checks GitHub once a day for updates. When it finds one, Update and Restart downloads and verifies the new version, replaces the app in Applications, quits, and reopens it automatically — without opening a browser. The Windows version makes no automatic network request; its Download updates… item simply opens this download page. Neither version sends account or telemetry data.
Architecture limits: the Mac build is Apple Silicon only, and the Windows build is x64 only. Neither will launch on Intel Macs, 32-bit Windows, or Windows on ARM without x64 emulation.