Tamp is a free and open-source utility for macOS designed to prevent a Mac from entering sleep mode. It operates both as a menu bar application and a command-line interface (CLI), providing users with flexible options to control their system’s sleep behavior. Tamp wraps Apple’s built-in caffeinate tool rather than reimplementing it, ensuring native compatibility and reliability. A distinguishing feature of Tamp is its ability to indicate when another application or process is keeping the Mac awake, not just when Tamp itself is active. This is reflected visually in the menu bar icon and through status commands, helping users identify external sources that may be preventing sleep, such as scripts or other keep-awake utilities. The application allows independent control over display, system, and disk sleep settings, either per session or as saved preferences. Users can activate keep-awake mode for a specified duration, until a particular clock time, or indefinitely, and can choose to let the display sleep while keeping the system awake. Tamp’s menu bar app and CLI share a single state, so actions taken in the terminal are immediately reflected in the app’s interface and vice versa. The CLI supports commands such as toggling keep-awake, setting timers, and checking status in both human-readable and JSON formats. Tamp is distributed as universal binaries compatible with both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, requiring macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. Installation is available via Homebrew, and there is no need for Xcode unless building from source, which only requires the Swift 6+ toolchain. The tool is licensed under the MIT license and does not run a background daemon, keeping its footprint minimal. Tamp is intended for users who need precise control over their Mac’s sleep settings and transparency about what processes are affecting system sleep, such as developers, power users, or anyone running long tasks that should not be interrupted by sleep. The project is maintained by Karolína Vyskočilová and welcomes contributions through GitHub.
Tamp is a CLI tools & terminal product. It focuses on preventing unwanted Mac sleep and identifying which apps are keeping the Mac awake. Tamp is an open-source project aimed at macOS users and developers. The project is open source (MIT). It runs on the web, the command line, and macOS, and it can be self-hosted.
Behind Tamp is vyskoczilova, based in Czechia, and the product first shipped in 2026. The project is developed in the open on GitHub with 57 commits in the last 90 days. Among its 5 catalogued features are menu bar app, CLI integration, and sleep prevention.
Latest indexed changes and source events
Tamp – shows when another app is keeping your Mac awake verified by the PulseGate indexer
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