JigTail
Keeps your Mac awake — only when it actually needs to.
A tiny, free, native menu-bar app that waits until you're idle, then nudges the cursor just enough to hold off sleep and the screensaver, so a render, build, download, or backup can finish unattended.
macOS 13+ · Apple Silicon · Signed & notarized
Free · Open source · No accounts, no telemetry
A live, compressed replica of the real popover
“Screensavers and sleep don't know the difference between you stepping away and you waiting on a five-hour export.”
Why JigTail exists
What it does
Small and specific: it holds off sleep while you're away, and disappears the second you're back.
Conditional triggers
Skip the idle wait entirely. Jiggle only while a specific app is running, the CPU is busy, or Music or Spotify is playing — combined with simple OR logic.
Idle-aware
Sits quietly until you've actually stepped away. The instant it detects real input again, it stops.
One-tap manual control
A knob in the menu-bar popover shows exactly what's happening — off, waiting, or actively jiggling — with a live countdown ring.
Sleep prevention
Holds an IOPMAssertion for the session as a belt-and-suspenders measure alongside the cursor nudge itself.
Launch at login
Starts itself via macOS's modern SMAppService — no login-item hacks.
Matches your theme
Light, dark, or system — independent of the rest of macOS.
Nothing leaves your Mac
JigTail asks for exactly two permissions, both used only for the jiggle itself.
Every setting — idle threshold, jiggle interval, triggers, theme — stays in local UserDefaults. Accessibility lets it move the cursor; Apple Events, only if you turn on the music trigger, lets it ask Music or Spotify whether they're playing.
Looks native, because it is
Built with SwiftUI on a neumorphic design system shared with PawseKeys, and it follows your system appearance automatically.
Build it yourself
MIT licensed and small enough to read in an afternoon. Rather compile it yourself than grab the signed DMG? It takes three commands.
macOS 13 Ventura or later · Apple Silicon · Xcode 15+