A minimal, dark-mode terminal screensaver for macOS and Linux. Perfect for when AI agents are working on your laptop and you don't want anyone to touch it — with an optional real OS lock that keeps the machine awake (and even keeps running with the lid closed) so the agent never stops.

pip:

pip install agent-working

uv:

uv tool install agent-working

Homebrew:

brew install infinity811/tap/agent-working

pipx (Linux):

pipx install agent-working

agent-working

Press Ctrl+C to exit. The plain command shows the animated "DO NOT TOUCH" display and prevents the machine from sleeping while it runs.

These compose — the typical "leave it locked and working" invocation is:

agent-working --lock --lid

agent-working --lock

Locks the OS screen so nobody can touch the laptop, while keeping the machine awake so your agents keep running behind the lock screen.

• macOS — keeps the system awake with caffeinate -i (works on AC and battery) while letting the display lock. The lock itself uses login.framework's SACLockScreenImmediate — a real, immediate, secure lock with no Accessibility permission required.
• Linux — inhibits idle/sleep via systemd-inhibit and locks the session (loginctl lock-session, with xdg-screensaver / gnome-screensaver / dm-tool fallbacks).

Unlock normally; the timer and caffeinate keep running until you press Ctrl+C.

Why you don't see the animation while locked: the lock is the real, OS-owned secure lock screen, and no terminal app can draw on top of it. Instead, on macOS --lock sets a "agents working - please do not touch" message on the native lock screen (via LoginwindowText). That needs admin, so --lock prompts for sudo once; your previous message is restored on exit. Decline sudo and it still locks, just without the custom message. The animation reappears the moment you unlock.

By default, closing the lid triggers clamshell sleep that caffeinate cannot override, so the agent pauses. Add --lid to keep working with the lid shut:

agent-working --lock --lid

This disables lid-close sleep via pmset disablesleep 1 (needs sudo once) and restores your previous setting automatically on exit. macOS only — on other platforms the flag is ignored with a notice.

--lid shows a prominent warning and requires explicit confirmation before changing anything:

• Type anything other than y → the lid feature is cancelled (the lock still works; the Mac just sleeps on lid close).
• No terminal to ask (piped/automated) → it refuses rather than silently keeping the lid awake. Pass -y/--yes to accept the risk non-interactively.

⚠️ Heat & battery warning. With the lid shut and no airflow, a Mac running at full power can overheat. Use --lid only while plugged into power and on a hard, open surface — never in a bag or under cover.

• Dark red, sleep-friendly display
• "DO NOT TOUCH" ASCII banner with a live timer of how long agents have worked
• Live AI news from TechCrunch / The Verge (refreshes every 30 min)
• Prevents sleep automatically (caffeinate on macOS, systemd-inhibit on Linux)
• --lock — real secure OS lock + custom lock-screen message, while staying awake on AC and battery
• --lid — keep agents running with the lid closed (macOS), with a mandatory safety confirmation and automatic restore on exit

• macOS or Linux
• Python 3.8+
• --lock message and --lid use sudo on macOS (you'll be prompted once)

MIT