Yes, there are techies walking around with their laptops cracked open. And yes, there may also be a better way.
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Business Insider interviewed eight AI coders who keep their laptops ajar while on the move, even in public, so their agents can continue running.
The reader response was loud.
Some called it relatable; others warned against mixing code and life. Many, many commenters pointed out that there are plenty of ways to keep the laptop awake, even if the lid is firmly shut.
“AI is killing us if we don’t know you can keep the laptop running while closed,” one commenter wrote.
Here are some of people’s suggested methods and workarounds:
Caffeinate: Some referenced the terminal command “caffeinate,” which is designed to keep a MacBook from entering sleep mode while, say, giving a long presentation. This solution might be trickier for non-technical users, though. It could also drain your battery and require further terminal commands to get it to reliably work while the laptop lid is closed.Clamshell Mode: If you plug your laptop into an external monitor, this setting lets you close the screen without it going to sleep. The only issue, of course, is that your computer needs to sense a connected device. For those on the move, ex-OpenAI staffer Will DePue half-jokingly recommended a dummy USB-C plug. “It’s nice to have physical control of whether your laptop is on!” he wrote.Changing your sleep settings: In Mac’s System Settings, users can adjust their sleep preferences. Ticking “prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off” may do the trick, but requires being plugged into a power source.Amphetamine: There’s a handful of third-party software options that promise to keep your Mac running while shut. The most popular is likely Amphetamine, a keep-awake app for macOS.
There are a host of other proposed tricks; go read the story’s comments or the responses on LinkedIn. Several companies also offer cloud-based agents, though they can be more expensive.
OpenAI is also hinting that a solution for its Codex agent could be in the works: “We may be in for a treat soon,” they captioned a TikTok about the open-computer trend.
And let’s be real: life isn’t always optimized. Sometimes you’re running to the bus or catching a flight, and you don’t know the exact command to use. Vibe coders are also using these agents, and they may not know all the technical tips and tricks.
That’s when an old-school method like keeping it cracked open can do the trick. Is it pretty? No. Does it work in a pinch? You betcha.
Checking in with the open-laptop-walkers
After the story’s response, I checked back in with a handful of the open-laptop-walkers. Why didn’t they use one of these hacks?
10th grader Arav Jain wrote in an email that “there are tools like Amphetamine available, but I just found out about that yesterday.”
UX designer Andreas Kruszakin-Liboska wrote that he “didn’t know” about the tricks. “I think it’s too much friction.”
No, Kruszakin-Liboska wasn’t interested in a dongle sticking out of his computer to keep his agents running. His ideal hack: simple, clean, and “doesn’t disturb me from my busy enough day.”
Geoff Chan had recently learned about the settings changes and plug-ins. At a conference, he kept his laptop open a tad while using a coding agent on his phone. His wife and kids were there, and he told them, “Do not close the laptop.”
His wife told him to change his settings, which he did. While the computer stayed active when closed, Chan said that it wouldn’t stay connected to the hotel’s WiFi. A friend finally told him to download third-party software, which he said worked well.
Chan wasn’t surprised by the story’s active comments section.
“There’s something there that hits a nerve with a lot of developers out there,” he said. “There’s a massive change happening to their jobs.”
