Vigil
Vigil is a macOS menu bar app that prevents sleep during unattended AI coding agent runs by monitoring lifecycle hooks from Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, pi, and OpenCode. Unlike generic keep-awake tools that rely on CPU load heuristics, Vigil receives direct state signals from agents (working, waiting for input, finished, failed), so it knows precisely when to hold the Mac awake and when to release it. It displays active sessions in the menu bar with elapsed time and status, applies configurable grace periods for input waits (5-30 minutes), and follows sub-agents to maintain the session state across delegated tasks. The tool runs entirely on-device with no data collection, costs $3.99 one-time per two-Mac license, and is designed for development teams and agencies that run long agent tasks without manual supervision.
Vigil is a macOS menu bar app, integrating with Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and Cursor. InnovaAI scores it 5/10 for agency resale.
Agency Audit
Vigil is a macOS menu bar app that prevents sleep during AI coding agent sessions, releasing the hold when agents finish, fail, or timeout. It integrates directly with Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, Codex, pi, and OpenCode via lifecycle hooks, eliminating guesswork about agent state. For agencies running client development work through AI agents, Vigil solves a specific operational friction: unattended agent runs that fail silently when the Mac sleeps. The $3.99 one-time purchase and 30-day refund make it low-risk to test, but adoption depends on whether your agency's workflow centers on long-running agent tasks.
5.0/10
33%
1d about a day
- Your development team runs unattended AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) on client projects and loses work when the Mac sleeps mid-task.
- You need to resell a lightweight automation tool to clients who rely on AI agents for code generation or migration work and want to avoid manual sleep management.
- You operate on macOS exclusively and want a one-time purchase tool with no ongoing licensing complexity to bundle into retainer offerings.
- Your development team uses Windows or Linux; Vigil is macOS-only and offers no cross-platform alternative.
- You need white-label or client-facing branding; Vigil displays its own brand in the menu bar and status pill with no customization option.
- Your clients run AI agents infrequently or manually supervise them; Vigil's value proposition is unattended long-running sessions, not interactive coding.
Profit Path
$3.99 one-time
$500–$1.5K/project
Monthly Recurring
Planning benchmark at United States price levels. Not a measured market survey.
Platform Features
Core capabilities of Vigil
Lifecycle hook integration
Vigil connects to Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, Codex, pi, and OpenCode through native lifecycle hooks, so it knows exactly when agents are working, waiting for input, or finished. Agencies don't have to guess from CPU load or manually check terminal windows.
Automatic sleep release
When an agent finishes, fails, crashes, or exceeds a configurable grace period (5-30 minutes for input waits), Vigil automatically releases the Mac sleep hold. This prevents unnecessary power drain and respects the developer's sleep preferences without manual intervention.
Sub-agent session tracking
Vigil follows sub-agents spawned during a main agent run, keeping the Mac awake as long as any child process is working. This prevents premature sleep when agents delegate tasks to other agents or tools.
Menu bar session visibility
Active agent sessions appear in the macOS menu bar with status (working, waiting for input, idle), elapsed time, and a one-click option to bring the host app forward even through tmux. Developers can monitor multiple concurrent tasks without switching windows.
Configurable grace period for input waits
Agencies can set a 5-30 minute grace period when agents are waiting for user approval or input. This gives developers time to step away without the Mac sleeping mid-approval, then releases the hold if no action is taken.
No data collection
Vigil runs entirely on the local Mac and does not send agent output, session logs, or any work data to external servers. Agencies can resell it to clients without privacy or data residency concerns.
What Makes Vigil Different
Unique advantages vs similar tools in this niche
Uses lifecycle hooks to know agent state without polling
vs Generic keep-awake utilities that rely on CPU load or manual togglesLifecycle hooks tell Vigil when an agent is working, waiting, or done, so it never has to guess from CPU load.
Automatically releases sleep hold when agents finish or fail
vs Manual keep-awake apps that require user to toggle offFinished, failed, crashed, or quiet for too long: Vigil releases the hold.
Follows sub-agents to maintain session state
vs Tools that only track main agent processA session stays Working while its sub-agents work, even after the main turn ends.
Investment ROI Calculator
Value equation analysis for Vigil, based on the Hormozi framework
What is the Hormozi framework? A four-factor score: (what the service delivers × how reliably it delivers) divided by (how long it takes × how much effort it requires). A higher Value Multiplier means a better return on the time and money invested: faster, easier, and more proven results.
1.7× value multiple: a one-time investment of $3.99, then $0/mo platform cost. Agencies charge $500–$1.5K/project; margins are almost entirely labor-based.
Why This Succeeds
Higher is betterClient Results Potential
What your clients actually get
Incremental gains: position as part of a larger solution stack
Vigil is a macOS menu bar app that keeps your Mac awake while coding agents work, then releases the hold when they finish, fail, or wait too long.
Reliability Score
How consistently this delivers results
Early-stage track record: validate with a small pilot first
One payment. No subscription or Vigil sign-in. One key activates two Macs. No trial; 30-day refund.
Implementation Challenges
Lower is betterTime to First Revenue
How long until you can start earning
Fast launch: about a day to first delivery
Get started within hours: minimal setup required
Setup Effort
What it takes to get running
Near-turnkey: minimal setup before you can sell
Low effort: self-service setup with guided onboarding
Viable opportunity. Vigil returns 1.7× on investment. Focus on the highest-margin service packages to maximize return.
Pricing
Vigil platform cost to your agency
Vigil: $3.99 one-time
Vigil
- Keeps Mac awake while coding agents work
- Releases hold when agents finish, fail, or wait too long
- Menu bar app for macOS 14 and later
- Supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, pi, and OpenCode
No verified white-label program for Vigil: client-facing delivery runs under the platform's native branding.
Market Intelligence
How agencies monetize Vigil: real offer economics and market positioning
- Agencies using AI coding agents for client projects
- Development teams running long agent tasks
- Individual developers relying on AI agents
- Windows or Linux users
- Agencies not using AI coding agents
Project-Based
ai-toolsAgency charges per-project fee for implementation. Ongoing optimization as optional retainer.
Offer Economics: What You Charge vs. What It Costs
Margin includes platform cost + agency labor at $75/hr.
Freelance developers or solo practitioners adopting AI coding agents for the first time on macOS
Funded startups or small engineering teams (2–10 devs) standardizing AI coding agent workflows across multiple Macs
Mid-market software companies with 10–50 engineers running multi-agent AI coding pipelines on macOS fleets
Enterprise engineering organizations standardizing AI coding agent governance and uptime reliability across large macOS developer fleets
Scale Economics: Based on Starter Offer
Using Vigil Solo Dev Setup at $700/client. Platform: $0/mo. Labor: 4h/client × $75/hr.
Net = MRR - platform cost - labor (4h/client × $75/hr).
Investment Decision Framework
Strategic vetting analysis for Vigil
Consider
Favorable fit, worth a closer look
Buy If
4You need to resell a lightweight automation tool to clients who rely on AI agents for code generation or migration work and want to avoid manual sleep management.
Your development team runs unattended AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) on client projects and loses work when the Mac sleeps mid-task.
You operate on macOS exclusively and want a one-time purchase tool with no ongoing licensing complexity to bundle into retainer offerings.
Your agency tracks multiple concurrent agent sessions and needs visibility into which tasks are working, waiting for input, or idle from the menu bar.
Skip If
4Your clients run AI agents infrequently or manually supervise them; Vigil's value proposition is unattended long-running sessions, not interactive coding.
You require HIPAA, SOC2, or formal compliance certification; Vigil does not publish compliance statements and is designed for internal developer use, not regulated environments.
Your development team uses Windows or Linux; Vigil is macOS-only and offers no cross-platform alternative.
You need white-label or client-facing branding; Vigil displays its own brand in the menu bar and status pill with no customization option.
Bottom Line
Vigil is a macOS menu bar app that prevents sleep during AI coding agent sessions, releasing the hold when agents finish, fail, or timeout. It integrates directly with Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, Codex, pi, and OpenCode via lifecycle hooks, eliminating guesswork about agent state. For agencies running client development work through AI agents, Vigil solves a specific operational friction: unattended agent runs that fail silently when the Mac sleeps. The $3.99 one-time purchase and 30-day refund make it low-risk to test, but adoption depends on whether your agency's workflow centers on long-running agent tasks.
Reality Check
Vigil only runs on macOS 14 and later, so Windows-based development teams cannot use it. The tool also depends on agent-specific lifecycle hooks; if a coding agent doesn't expose hooks or stops supporting them, Vigil cannot track that agent's state and will not prevent sleep.
Low effort: self-service setup with guided onboarding
Academy for Vigil
Work through it in order: the course for this service first, then the modules behind it.
Course for this service
Vigil Agency Implementation, Unattended AI Agent Delivery
Learn how to deliver AI coding agent projects profitably by automating Mac sleep management through Vigil's lifecycle hooks. This course teaches agencies to set up multi-agent workflows, configure grace periods for client handoffs, and bill retainer services around hands-off agent execution without manual supervision.
Open the courseNo Academy modules are published for this service yet. Browse the full Academy
Core concepts
The mental model you need to price and scope the work.
- Vigil Sleep-Hold WindowConcept
Vigil holds a Mac awake only while a coding agent is actually working, then releases when the agent finishes, fails, or waits too long for input. That release timing is the framework: the sleep-hold window is the gap between your longest unattended agent run and the point where a sleeping Mac would kill it. An agency running overnight Claude Code refactors on a client codebase sets the grace period to match the client's expected input-wait window, so a 40-minute agent run never dies at the 15-minute idle mark. Because Vigil tracks working, waiting, and idle states through lifecycle hooks rather than guessing from CPU load, the window is measurable per agent. Price the deployment against the cost of one failed overnight run: Vigil costs $3.99 one-time and activates two Macs, while a single re-run eats a billable morning.
- Visible Artifact, Invisible ProcessConcept
AI productivity tools are the lowest-leverage category for agency revenue because clients can self-serve in minutes. The strategic angle is bundling them into a workflow redesign engagement where the tool is the visible artifact, but the billable work is the process design that surrounds it. This framework reframes the tool as a Trojan horse for higher-margin consulting. For example, an agency might deploy Calendly with AI scheduling for a client, but the real value is redesigning the client's intake and follow-up processes to reduce no-shows by 20%. The tool is the entry point; the process is the profit. Agencies that sell the tool alone compete on price; those that sell the process own the relationship.
- Artifact Over ArchitectureConcept
AI productivity tools are the lowest-leverage category for agency revenue because clients can self-serve in 90 seconds. The strategic value lies not in the tool itself but in the workflow redesign that surrounds it. Agencies that sell the tool as a standalone line item compete on price against direct subscriptions. Those that frame the tool as the visible artifact of a broader process engagement capture margin on the architecture: intake workflows, approval gates, and escalation paths. For example, a scheduling assistant like Calendly becomes the artifact, while the agency's real deliverable is the meeting-to-delivery pipeline it designs around it. With 45% of executives skipping AI oversight, agencies that bundle governance into the redesign answer a compliance need clients cannot solve alone. The tool is the hook; the process is the product.
Decision and risk
How to judge the fit, and the ways it goes wrong.
- When to Adopt Vigil: Only If Your Client's Agent Runs Are Unattended and Mac-BasedEvaluation Rule
Deploy Vigil only where unattended macOS agent sessions are the norm, and bundle the license into a paid hook-configuration engagement rather than selling it as standalone software.
- AI Productivity Rule: Sell the Redesign, Not the ToolEvaluation Rule
Bundle any AI productivity tool into a workflow redesign engagement where the tool is the visible artifact and the process design is the billable work.
- Vigil: Buy vs Skip (Mac Agent Teams Running Unattended Sessions)Decision Framework
IF your agency's delivery runs long AI coding agent sessions on macOS 14 or later and you need the Mac to stay awake until Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, pi, or OpenCode actually finishes, fails, or times out, THEN Vigil at $3.99 one-time is a near-zero-risk purchase backed by a 30-day refund. IF your delivery stack is Windows or Linux, or your agents only run in short interactive bursts, THEN skip it because Vigil has no build for those platforms and no value when sessions never outlast the display sleep timer.
- The Vigil Timeout Trap: Why Agencies Fail With Vigil on Long Agent RunsFailure Pattern
- The 90-Second Commodity Trap: Why AI Productivity Tools Stall Agency RevenueFailure Pattern
Delivery system
Blueprints and procedures for running it as a service.
- Vigil Client Agent Uptime Deployment (5-7 days)Implementation Blueprint
A managed rollout that installs Vigil on a client's macOS developer fleet, wires lifecycle hooks into their AI coding agents, and hands over a monitored sleep-hold policy so unattended agent runs stop dying mid-task.
- Vigil Agent Hook Deployment and Sleep Hold Configuration (Onboarding)Operating Procedure
11 modules selected for Vigil
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers about pricing, setup, implementation
Vigil is a macOS menu bar app that keeps your Mac awake while AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, pi, OpenCode) are running, then automatically releases the sleep hold when the agent finishes, fails, or waits too long for input. It uses lifecycle hooks to track agent state precisely, so it never has to guess from CPU load. Agencies can resell it to clients who run unattended agent tasks and need to prevent accidental sleep interruptions.
Vigil offers 1 pricing tier, at $3.99 one-time (Vigil). Agencies typically achieve 33% profit margins when reselling to clients.
No verified white-label program. Client-facing surfaces, including the menu bar and status pill, display the Vigil brand. You cannot customize the branding or hide the Vigil name when reselling to clients.
Yes. Vigil integrates natively with both Claude Code and Codex via lifecycle hooks. It also supports Cursor, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, pi, and OpenCode. Integration is automatic once you install the hooks in Settings > Agents; existing hooks remain intact.
Setup takes approximately 5-10 minutes per client Mac. The process is: drag Vigil to Applications, open it, enter the license key, then click Install hooks in Settings > Agents. No additional configuration is required; hook errors never stop the agent from running.
Vigil is best suited for development teams and agencies running long AI coding agent tasks, such as database migrations, code generation, or API gateway updates. It is also relevant for SaaS teams automating code reviews or documentation rewrites with AI agents. Any client whose workflow includes unattended agent runs on macOS will benefit.
No. Vigil is macOS-only and requires macOS 14 or later. Windows and Linux users cannot use it.
If you close Vigil, the sleep hold is released immediately and your Mac can sleep. If your Mac restarts, Vigil must be relaunched to resume tracking agent sessions. For unattended long-running tasks, keep Vigil open and your Mac plugged in to avoid interruptions.