# Caffeine Modes

> Caffeine Modes is a menu-bar app for macOS that controls Amphetamine, the keep-awake app from the Mac App Store. It adds three modes: Work keeps the Mac and its displays awake; Night turns the displays off, locks the Mac and keeps it working; Travel locks the Mac and keeps it working for a set time, also with the lid closed.

- Page: https://apps.andreaslar.com/caffeine-modes/
- In short: Work, Night and Travel modes for Amphetamine. Keeps your Mac working with the screens off or the lid closed.
- Price: free.
- Licence: MIT.
- Signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
- Also available as a DMG from https://github.com/andreasnlarsen/caffeine-modes/releases.
- Requires: macOS 13 Ventura or later. Apple silicon or Intel. Amphetamine 5.3.2 or later. On Apple silicon, Amphetamine Power Protect when Setup asks for it.
- Source code: https://github.com/andreasnlarsen/caffeine-modes

## Install

Homebrew (https://brew.sh) must be installed first.

```sh
brew install --cask andreasnlarsen/tap/caffeine-modes
```

## More about what it does

- Every start of Work, Night or Travel asks for confirmation.
- After you unlock from Night or Travel, you choose Off or Work.
- Travel does not keep the displays off: a display can wake or reconnect without ending Travel. Amphetamine's timer ends Travel.
- Starting Work turns off Amphetamine's closed-display mode, so the lid follows normal macOS behaviour.
- With the lid closed, a mode can be started or replaced only when the Mac has external power and an active external display. Otherwise open the lid first. Off is always available.
- The battery requirement is set in Settings under General. Caffeine Modes reads Amphetamine's setting and does not change it.
- A task can still fail when a disk, a device or the network connection it needs is removed.
- The menu also has “Launch at Login”.

## The picture on the page

The Caffeine Modes menu, opened from the menu bar. Its first line reads “Work · Mac and displays stay awake”. Below are “Off”, “Work” with a tick, “Night” and “Travel”, then “Settings…”, “How Modes Work…”, “Launch at Login”, “About Caffeine Modes” and “Quit Caffeine Modes”.

Its caption: “Example of the menu.”

## Questions

### How do I start it?

Install Amphetamine (https://apps.apple.com/app/amphetamine/id937984704) from the Mac App Store and open it once.

Open Caffeine Modes. Go to “Settings…”, then “Setup”, and use the action beside each item.

### Doesn't Amphetamine already do this?

It has every piece. Caffeine Modes sets them together for each mode and checks the result.

### What do the three modes do?

Work keeps the Mac and its displays awake.

Night turns the displays off, locks the Mac and keeps it working.

Travel locks the Mac and keeps it working for 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes. The lid can be closed.

### Can I put the Mac in a bag?

No. A closed Mac that's working gets hot. Don't run it in an enclosed bag.

### What about the battery?

Night and Travel start only when Amphetamine is set to end sessions at 15% battery. Amphetamine does the cutoff, so it holds if Caffeine Modes quits.

### Why does it ask to control other apps?

That's how it starts and ends Amphetamine sessions. It doesn't ask for Accessibility access.

### Does it send anything anywhere?

No. No analytics, no telemetry, no network code.

### What does it need?

macOS 13 Ventura or later. Apple silicon or Intel. Amphetamine 5.3.2 or later.

On Apple silicon, Amphetamine Power Protect when Setup asks for it.

### Night didn't turn a display off

Night stays on, and the menu says what happened. Choose “Retry Display Sleep” or “Turn Off Night”.

### Homebrew says “untrusted tap”

Run `brew trust andreasnlarsen/tap` once. Then install again.

### How do I update or remove it?

Update with `brew upgrade --cask caffeine-modes`.

Turn the mode off first. Then remove with `brew uninstall --cask caffeine-modes`.

This is the plain-text copy of https://apps.andreaslar.com/caffeine-modes/ for programs. Last updated 2026-11-12.