7elewen · for macOS
Close the lid. Stay awake.
7elewen is a menu-bar utility that keeps your MacBook running in clamshell mode. It dims the display to zero the moment the lid shuts, and brings it back the instant you reopen. Infinite uptime, one loop.
Free & open source macOS 26+ Runs 100% on your Mac
Closing the lid will put your Mac to Sleep
The problem
You love clamshell mode. Your Mac doesn't.
Close the lid, everything dies
On a MacBook, shutting the lid forces sleep — external display off, downloads paused, backups stalled.
Clamshell mode is by no means free
Native clamshell only works plugged in, on AC power, at exactly the right moment. Miss the timing, and it sleeps anyway.
Every workaround is brittle
Amphetamine-style apps fight it, a terminal alias is easy to forget, and you're one reboot away from a stalled pipeline.
What it does
Four things, done properly.
Clamshell mode shouldn't be a hack. 7elewen gives your Mac the “always on” behavior it deserves — with the restraint of a native app.
Stays awake, lid closed
7elewen applies `pmset disablesleep` and takes native power assertions, so your Mac keeps computing with the lid shut. External display, downloads, exports — all of it keeps going.
Auto-dims on close
Brightness drops to 0 the instant the lid shuts and restores to exactly where you had it when you open. Your display never burns away needlessly.
Lid-angle sensing
Reads the physical lid angle straight from Apple’s internal sensor at 2.5 Hz — not a guess, not a timer. Hysteresis thresholds keep it rock-solid.
Optional Low Power Mode
Flip on Low Power Mode while the lid is closed to stretch battery on long clamshell sessions — it turns itself back off on open.
Getting started
Three steps. Then forget about it.
Download 7elewen
One tiny, notarized binary. Drag it into Applications and you're done.
Grant once
A single admin prompt installs a precise, passwordless sleep rule. Nothing runs without your explicit okay.
Close the lid
Flip the menu-bar toggle to orange and shut the lid. Your Mac stays at 24/7.
Under the hood
Not a wrapper. A native app.
7elewen talks to your Mac the way macOS wants to be talked to — no Electron, no background daemons, no browser in disguise.
$ pmset disablesleep 1
· SleepDisabled 1
· lid-close sleep → blocked
$ IOPMAssertion
· PreventUserIdleSystemSleep ✓
running 24/7 · no telemetry
Runs locally
No accounts, no cloud, no telemetry. Everything happens on your Mac and stays there.
Reverses cleanly
Quit the app and macOS returns to stock. Normal sleep, brightness, and Low Power Mode all restore.
Open by default
Every permission, every command, every line of Swift is on GitHub for you to audit before you install.
Questions
Before you close the lid.
Yes — Macs are designed to run for long stretches, but 7elewen is careful, not reckless. It only blocks the sleep your lid would force, and it pairs that with an optional Low Power Mode plus display auto-dim so your panel and battery aren't needlessly stressed.
No more than any clamshell configuration. It dims the display to zero and can flip Low Power Mode on while the lid is shut, so the drain is minimal. Most users run it plugged into power anyway — that's the point of an external display.
Everything reverts. 7elewen restores normal sleep, returns your brightness to where you had it, and cancels Low Power Mode if it turned it on. There's nothing lingering to clean up — quit and it's back to stock macOS behaviour.
Once, ever. Sleep control via `pmset` needs root, so 7elewen installs a narrow, auditable rule that allows exactly four commands and nothing else. Read the sudoers rule yourself — it's in the repo.
Any Apple-silicon MacBook running macOS 26 Tahoe or newer. Lid-angle sensing uses Apple's internal HID sensor, which every MacBook exposes. No third-party drivers, no kexts.
Your Mac has a 24/7 mode now.
Free, open source, and tiny. Close the lid and keep working — the way your Mac always should have behaved.
macOS 26+ · Apple silicon · MIT licensed