AtControl
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Help · Getting started

Getting started

Install

AtControl is in public beta. Join the Mac beta on TestFlight and install AtControl for Mac from the TestFlight app; the beta page explains what the beta asks of you.

Move the app to your Applications folder if macOS did not do it for you. (Agent mode needs the app at a stable path; if it is running from Downloads or a disk image the agent setup button says so.)

The first switch

AtControl opens as a window with one big switch in it: “Mac stays awake” when it is on, “Screensaver may start” when it is off. Turn it on. From now on the screensaver stays away and the Mac does not go to sleep on its own — until you turn it off, a timer ends, or one of the stop blocking rules fires (lid closed, screen locked, low battery; see Keeping the Mac awake).

Under the switch you will see when blocking started and for how long it has been on.

The setup assistant

On a fresh install the window carries a small setup assistant over the bottom of the page. It has three steps and never scrolls:

  1. The switch. Turn it on (the assistant waits for you); or “Not now” to leave.

  2. Keep it running. Where AtControl should live — Window, Menu Bar, or Both (recommended: a window to learn it in and a menu bar item to live in; a window-only app quits with its window) — and Launch at Login.

  3. Anything else? Three optional tiles:

    • Watch it from my phone — 2 min, needs your phone. Turns on iPhone sync and opens the pairing window; the proof is a paired device. See Pairing a Mac.
    • An AI agent should hold it awake — the two ways in, the shortcuts, and Copy for Your Agent. The proof is your agent checking in. See Agents.
    • Tell me if someone connects — 30 sec. Turns on remote-access monitoring. See Remote-access monitoring.

    A tile turns green when the app has observed the thing set up — a paired phone, an agent command in the journal, monitoring on — never because a button was pressed. “Done for now” closes the assistant; everything it offered stays in Settings.

The assistant appears once.

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