Barred Keep-Awake Menu Bar App With Fan Control, Charge Limit and Hardware Meters

1Features

Keeps the Mac awake, including with the lid shut
Fans pinned at maximum RPM or left to macOS
Battery charge limit of 80% for Macs that stay plugged in
Brightness keys for external monitors over DDC/CI
Monitor input switching with Control+Option+1 to 4
CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, RAM and disk meters
Touch ID in place of the admin password
Signed, notarized and updated with Sparkle

2Applications

Long builds, downloads and model runs
Laptops used closed on a desk with an external monitor
Macs that run as servers on a shelf or in a rack
One monitor shared between several computers

Download Barred.zip 1768 KB, free

SHA-256 473e27417389a6c8bff6e50c75177aa79a3e6bda6567874a320bd21bbc5764db

3Description

Barred is a small menu bar app that keeps a Mac awake and puts a few hardware controls in one menu. The owl has its eyes shut while the Mac sleeps normally and open while Barred is keeping it awake. Its head outline circles faster as CPU load goes up. Every switch is remembered across launches.

Figure 1. Hover or tap to open its eyes.

9:41

Keep Awake (even with lid shut)
Start on Boot
Show Owl
Show CPU
Show GPU
Show NPU
Show RAM
Show Disk
MetersIcons%
FansAutoMax
Charge LimitOff80%
Laptop ScreenLeftBelowRight

Quit Barred⌘Q

Figure 2. The Barred menu.

4Menu Reference

Control	Function
Keep Awake	Blocks idle sleep and lid-shut sleep. Dropped when Barred quits.
Fans	Auto leaves the fans to macOS, while Max pins them at full RPM.
Charge Limit	Stops charging at 80% and resumes at 75%, for a Mac that stays plugged in.
Meters	Disk, RAM, GPU, Neural Engine and CPU, as icons or percentages.
Laptop Screen	Moves the built-in display left, right or below the monitors.
Brightness keys	Dim the external monitor under the pointer, down to black.
Control+Option+1 to 4	Switch that monitor to HDMI 1, HDMI 2, DisplayPort or USB-C.

5Installation and Permissions

Unzip Barred.zip, move Barred.app to Applications and open it. The app is notarized by Apple, so it opens without a warning. Keep Awake, Fans and Charge Limit run as root, so macOS asks for a password the first time. Touch ID can replace the password after a one-time setup, and brightness keys need Accessibility. The only network traffic is a daily update check.