A small local macOS utility for making AI agents work while you sleep — you rest, the agent doesn't.
Iverson’s WorkTool is a native macOS app built for a very specific workflow: keep the machine awake when long agent tasks are running, and schedule plain-language prompts plus original file attachments to Codex and Claude.
The goal is simple: if your AI plan gives you a limited work window, for example a 5-hour usage block, you should be able to put that window to work at 2 AM instead of waiting until you wake up. The app helps you start the right agent task at the right time, so your computer can keep working through the night.
It is not trying to be a full automation platform. It is closer to a quiet daily workbench for researchers, PhD students, writers, and developers who repeatedly start the same AI-agent routines.
If you use Codex or Claude every day, the annoying part is often not the model.
It is the ritual around the model:
- open the right app
- paste the same morning prompt
- attach the right paper, spreadsheet, script, or draft
- hit submit
- make sure the computer does not sleep halfway through a long run
- remember when the next limited usage window starts
For agent-heavy work, that last point matters.
If the useful work window is roughly 5 hours, sleeping through it is wasteful. If the window refreshes at a time you did not plan around, your day starts with waiting, copying prompts, attaching files, and manually waking up the agent again.
There is a subtler lever here too. On plans with a rolling usage window, the refresh clock is anchored to when you start a window. Scheduling the first send at a deliberate overnight hour doesn't just put the idle hours to work — it shifts when the next window refreshes, so a fresh quota can land right before your workday instead of midway through the afternoon.
Iverson’s WorkTool turns that repeated setup into a small local app. You choose when the prompt is sent. You choose what files are attached. You keep the Mac awake. The quota rules still belong to the third-party service, but the timing of your own workflow becomes much more deliberate.
- Schedule (evening) — In Auto Message, write the prompt for Codex and Claude, attach the files, and set the daily send time.
- Keep going — Turn on KeepGoing and close the lid (battery is fine). The Mac stays awake and its network stays alive.
- Wake to results — At the scheduled time the prompt and files are pasted and submitted. You wake to finished work — and, on rolling-window plans, a fresh quota aligned to your morning.
KeepGoing toggles macOS power settings so long-running work is less likely to be interrupted by sleep — even with the lid closed and no charger attached.
- Enable or disable keep-awake mode
- Keeps the Mac awake with the lid closed, on battery (
pmset disablesleep), so closing the laptop doesn't end an overnight run - Keeps network connections alive so scheduled sends and long jobs don't drop offline (
pmset tcpkeepalive) - Disables idle sleep and enables wake-on-network while active (
pmset sleep 0,womp) - Uses a small
pmsethelper, installed and uninstalled from the app UI - Helps overnight agent runs continue while you are away
Auto Message schedules prompts to Codex and Claude.
- Pick a start date
- Pick a daily send time
- Enable or disable each target
- Write a different message for Codex and Claude
- Attach one or more original files
- Optionally submit after paste
- Install or uninstall the macOS LaunchAgent from the app UI
- Helps align scheduled prompts with the usage window you want to use
Files are attached as original files. They are not expanded into plain text before being sent.
The project has evolved from a keep-awake utility into a small overnight agent workbench. These are the user-facing changes that materially changed how it works:
| Version | What changed for users |
|---|---|
| v0.4.2 | Updated Codex delivery for the current ChatGPT desktop app (Codex mode). Existing Codex settings now open bundle ID com.openai.codex and automate the ChatGPT process automatically. Prompts and attachments need no reconfiguration; reinstall the schedule only when moving the app to a different path. |
| v0.4.1 | Added the standard macOS Edit menu. Message fields now support familiar shortcuts including Cmd+V, Cmd+C, Cmd+X, and Cmd+A, so prompts can be pasted instead of typed manually. |
| v0.4.0 | Changed attachments from expanded file text to original file attachments. Codex and Claude now receive the actual document, spreadsheet, PDF, script, or Markdown file selected by the user. |
| v0.3.0 | Added multi-file selection for each target. A single scheduled prompt can now carry several research papers, datasets, drafts, or scripts. |
| v0.2.0 | Added Auto Message: per-target prompts for Codex and Claude, daily scheduling through a macOS LaunchAgent, start-date and time selection, dry runs, and optional automatic submission. |
| v0.1.0 | Added KeepGoing: a local macOS keep-awake tool for long-running work, including lid-closed operation and network continuity. |
See CHANGELOG.md for the complete chronological record.
The app currently has fixed rows for:
- Codex
- Claude
This is intentional. The project was built around one personal workflow first. More targets can be added later, but the current version optimizes for these two apps.
- Download the latest
.zipfrom GitHub Releases. - Unzip it.
- Move
Iverson’s WorkTool.appto/Applications. - Open the app.
- Grant the permissions described below.
Release builds are currently ad-hoc signed and not notarized by Apple. macOS may show a Gatekeeper warning on first launch. If you are uncomfortable with that, build from source instead.
Requirements:
- macOS 12 or later
- Xcode Command Line Tools
Build:
./Scripts/build_app.shOutput:
dist/Iverson’s WorkTool.app
This app needs Accessibility access for automation.
Open:
System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Accessibility
Allow:
Iverson’s WorkTool, for manual test sends from the appkeepgoing-automessage, for scheduled sends from the LaunchAgent helper
Why this is needed:
- activate Codex or Claude
- focus the chat input
- paste text
- paste file attachments
- press Return when
Submit after pasteis enabled
Iverson’s WorkTool is local-first.
- No analytics
- No telemetry
- No network upload
- No remote server
- No cloud sync
Messages and selected file paths are stored locally at:
~/Library/Application Support/KeepGoing/auto-message.json
Scheduled logs are stored locally at:
~/Library/Application Support/KeepGoing/Logs/
The selected files are placed on the macOS pasteboard as file attachments for the target app. The app itself does not read and upload the file contents.
See PRIVACY.md for the longer version.
The schedule uses a macOS LaunchAgent:
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.iverson.keepgoing.automessage.plist
The app writes and loads this file when you click Install Schedule.
Click Uninstall to unload and remove it.
If you uninstall the schedule, no future scheduled send should run.
KeepGoing uses:
/usr/local/bin/keepgoing-helper
The helper is a zsh script bundled in Resources/keepgoing-helper, not a compiled binary.
The helper calls pmset through a limited sudoers rule:
/etc/sudoers.d/keepgoing
Helper commands:
keepgoing-helper status
keepgoing-helper enable
keepgoing-helper disableRun the lightweight behavior tests:
./Scripts/run_tests.shBuild the app:
./Scripts/build_app.shSources/ Swift Cocoa source
Resources/ icon, helper, install scripts
Scripts/ build and test scripts
Tests/ lightweight Swift behavior tests
docs/screenshots/ screenshots for README and releases
dist/ local build output, ignored by Git
Before publishing a release:
- Run
./Scripts/run_tests.sh. - Run
./Scripts/build_app.sh. - Zip
dist/Iverson’s WorkTool.app. - Create a GitHub Release.
- Upload the zip.
- Mention that users must grant Accessibility permission.
This project is not affiliated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Codex, or Claude.
Product names are used only to describe the local apps this utility can automate.
MIT. See LICENSE.