Caffeine

• How does Caffeine work?
• What options can I change?
• How do I use Caffeine?
• Does Caffeine work on macOS Mojave?
• Is Caffeine open source?

How does Caffeine work?

Caffeine prevents your Mac from going to sleep by using core services within macOS to instruct the system to remain active. Contrary to popular belief, it is not simply a wrapper around the built in caffinate command, but instead directly utilizes the same system APIs.

Why aren't there more options?

The goal of Caffeine is to be very simple to use, and to stay out of the way so that it doesn't interfere with your productivity.

How do I use Caffeine?

When you first launch Caffeine, the Welcome window will give you a brief introduction, as well as provide you with options to set your preferences as to how you'd like Caffeine to function.

A coffee cup icon will be placed in your menu bar, and you can simply click it to toggle Caffeine on and off:



An empty cup means Caffeine is not enabled, while a full cup means it is enabled, and your system will remain awake until you disable it again.



Finally, you can right click the icon to access a menu, which will allow you to access the preferences window, activate Caffeine for a short duration, as well as to quit Caffeine if needed.

Does Caffeine work on macOS Mojave or Catalina?

Yes! Support for macOS Mojave was introduced in version 1.1.2. Due to stronger security and privacy controls, you'll be prompted to grant Caffeine access to use Accessibility features on your Mac.

If you are experiencing issues with granting Caffeine permission on your system, or Caffeine does not appear to be working, please see the section on System Permissions for more information regarding these systems.

Is Caffeine open source?

Yes, Caffeine is open source software. It is licensed under the MIT license, and the source code can be viewed here.