PixelDancer Power Helper
Free companion app that lets PixelDancer's Agent Mode keep your Mac awake when the lid is closed — even on battery, with no external display.
PixelDancerPowerHelper.dmg · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Signed & notarized by Apple
What's in the download
A standard .dmg
disk image containing one app:
- 📦 PixelDancer Power Helper.app — small SwiftUI installer with two buttons
When you run the installer it adds one tiny background service (a launchd plist + a Swift binary) that PixelDancer can talk to when you start Agent Mode. The installer itself can be quit afterwards.
How to install (1 minute)
- 1
Download the
.dmgUse the button above. macOS may show a download warning — the file is Apple-notarized, click through.
- 2
Open it and drag the app to Applications
The DMG opens to a Finder window. Drag PixelDancer Power Helper.app onto your Applications folder shortcut.
- 3
Launch PixelDancer Power Helper from Applications
A small window opens. Click Install.
- 4
Approve in System Settings
macOS opens System Settings → Login Items & Extensions. Find PixelDancer Power Helper Daemon in the list, toggle it ON. You may be asked for your password.
- ✓
Done
Close the helper app — it doesn't need to keep running. Open PixelDancer's settings — Agent Mode now shows a green "Power Helper installed" banner, and closing your Mac's lid during a session no longer puts it to sleep.
Why is this a separate download?
PixelDancer is distributed through the Mac App Store. App Store apps run in a sandbox:
a security layer that prevents them from running privileged system commands. Disabling
closed-lid sleep requires one such command — pmset disablesleep
— that no sandboxed app can call.
Power Helper is distributed outside the App Store as a regular notarized Mac app. After you approve it once, it sits quietly in the background and runs that single command on PixelDancer's behalf when Agent Mode starts.
This is the same approach used by Amphetamine + Amphetamine Enhancer, Macchiato, and AlDente Pro — well-established pattern for Mac utilities that need to step a tiny bit outside the sandbox.
What the background service actually does
Exactly two operations. Hardcoded. Nothing else:
- ▸
/usr/bin/pmset -a disablesleep 1— when Agent Mode starts - ▸
/usr/bin/pmset -a disablesleep 0— when Agent Mode ends
No network access. No file system writes outside the macOS log directory. No telemetry. Source code is open — auditable on GitHub.
Uninstall
- Open PixelDancer Power Helper.app again and click Uninstall.
- Drag the app from Applications to the Trash.
Or, manually: System Settings → Login Items & Extensions → toggle the helper daemon off.