# The "leave it on" checklist

**AI for Research Efficiency, episode 14: Where Your Agent Lives.** Windows first, the Mac beside it. Every path and
quotation is from the vendor's own page, read on 24 October 2026 (the sources are at the end). Menus move between
versions: if a path does not match your screen, search Settings for the setting's name. Ask your agent to run the
always-on check first (the skill on the companion page): it reads these settings and changes nothing.

## 1. Sleep

| | Windows 11 | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Settings > System > Power & battery > Screen, sleep & hibernate timeouts | Desktop (Mac mini, Mac Studio): System Settings > Energy. Laptop: System Settings > Battery > Options |
| Set | "Make my device sleep after", **When plugged in**: Never | Desktop: turn on "Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off". Laptop: turn on "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off" |
| Why | New defaults when plugged in: 5 minutes on modern standby devices, 15 on S3 devices (Microsoft) | Apple: "Keep in mind that delaying, preventing, or allowing disruption of sleep may increase power consumption." |

Microsoft's article does not list the dropdown's choices: check that Never is one of them on yours. The screen has its
own timer ("Turn my screen off after"); a screen that turns off is not the computer going to sleep.

**The agents' own keep-awake** (useful, not a replacement for the setting):

| Tool | What its documentation says | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Antigravity | "If an agent is running, Antigravity prevents your computer from sleeping." | on by itself |
| Codex | `features.prevent_idle_sleep`: "Prevent the machine from sleeping while a turn is actively running (experimental; off by default)." Toggle it in `/experimental` ("Prevent sleep while running"). The ChatGPT desktop app, as a remote host, can "keep the computer awake". | experimental |
| Claude Code | On a Mac, the CLI runs `caffeinate` while it works (its changelog, 2.1.83 and 2.1.287). The Desktop app has **Keep computer awake** in **Settings > This computer > System**. On Windows, the CLI's behaviour is not documented (unconfirmed). | Mac: yes; Windows: unknown |

Microsoft on how programs do this: an app can keep the PC awake "while the application is running", but this "cannot be
used to prevent the user from putting the computer to sleep".

## 2. The lid (laptops)

Anthropic: "Closing the laptop lid still puts it to sleep." OpenAI: "On a Mac laptop, remote access can stay available
with the lid open and power connected. With the lid closed, connect an external display as well. Choosing **Sleep**
still stops remote access." On Windows, we found no Microsoft article for the lid's setting (it may be called "Choose
what closing the lid does" or "Lid & power button controls"): search Settings for "lid". A desktop or a mini-PC has no
lid.

## 3. Updates and restarts

| | Windows 11 | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| What happens | "Automatic restarts after an update occur outside of the active hours." "By default, active hours are from 8 AM to 5 PM on PCs." | Apple: "Allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. During installation, your Mac might restart" |
| Where | Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Active hours | System Settings > General > Software Update |
| Set | Active hours over the hours your runs go, up to 18 hours ("Later versions support max active hours length of 18 hours"). Then restart it yourself, between runs, so Windows does not choose the moment | Install updates yourself, between runs |

An 18-hour window still leaves 6 hours for a restart (our reading): an always-on PC needs its owner to restart it on a
schedule. Claude Code: "Shutting down or restarting your machine stops running background sessions."

## 4. After a power cut

| | Windows PC or mini-PC | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Some mini-PCs list automatic power-on (Beelink lists "AUTO POWER ON" for both boxes we read); where to switch it on depends on the model: see its manual | Desktop: System Settings > Energy > "Start up automatically after a power failure" |
| Check | Unplug it at a quiet moment and see that it comes back | `pmset -g` shows `autorestart` 1 |

Then check what starts again by itself. Antigravity's daemon on a Mac starts "When you log in" and does not keep running
after you sign out; on Windows it starts at boot only when installed with an Administrator prompt. A Mac with FileVault
on may wait at the login window after a power cut (unconfirmed: test it on yours).

## 5. A session that outlives the terminal

| Tool | Its own way | What its documentation says |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | background sessions: `claude agents`, `/bg` (research preview) | "Background sessions don't need any terminal open to keep working." "Shutting down or restarting your machine stops running background sessions." |
| Antigravity | the remote-control daemon: `agy remote-control start` | it "registers as an OS service (a systemd user service on Linux, a LaunchAgent on macOS, or a Scheduled Task on Windows)"; starting at boot on Windows "requires an Administrator prompt" |
| Codex | the ChatGPT desktop app as the always-on host (`codex remote-control` in the CLI is "Experimental") | "hosts running the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS and Windows"; a Linux machine joins as an SSH host |
| Any agent, on a Mac, Linux or WSL | `tmux` (then `tmux attach` after you reconnect) | Anthropic: "If you run claude from a terminal on a remote machine, start it inside tmux or screen to keep the session running after you disconnect from SSH." tmux: "Protect running programs on a remote server from connection drops by running them inside tmux." |

On Windows, tmux needs WSL, and installing WSL needs an administrator ("Open PowerShell in administrator mode ... enter
the wsl --install command, then restart your machine", Microsoft).

## 6. Reaching it

| | Claude Code | Codex | Antigravity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | `/remote-control`, `claude --remote-control`, or server mode `claude remote-control` | the ChatGPT desktop app: Settings > Connections > Control this Mac or PC ("you can't set it up from the Codex CLI or IDE extension"; the CLI lists `codex remote-control` as "Experimental") | `/remote-control`, `agy --remote-control`, or the daemon `agy remote-control start` |
| From | claude.ai/code or the Claude app | the ChatGPT app (iOS, Android) or another desktop app | "any web browser ... signed in to the same Google Account" |
| Plans (as of 24 October 2026) | **Paid:** "available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. API keys are not supported." | **Paid:** Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise (the feature table), not with an API key | none named (its error says "verify that your account plan supports Remote Control") |
| Network | "never opens inbound ports on your machine" | "A secure relay layer keeps trusted machines reachable ... without exposing them directly to the public internet." | a reverse tunnel per session |

Claude Code also says: "While Remote Control is connected, the session transcript, including your messages, Claude's
responses, and tool activity, is stored on Anthropic servers."

**For everything else: SSH over a private network.**

- **SSH server, Windows:** Settings, Optional features, add OpenSSH Server; then in Services set "OpenSSH SSH Server" to
  Automatic. Needs an administrator. "Installing OpenSSH Server creates and enables a firewall rule named
  `OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP`. This rule allows inbound SSH traffic on port 22." Keep that port on your own network: never
  forward it on your router.
- **SSH server, Mac:** System Settings > General > Sharing > Remote Login. Apple: "Allowing remote login to your Mac can
  make it less secure."
- **Keys, not passwords:** Microsoft: password sign-in "becomes vulnerable to brute force intrusions"; "Each private key
  file is the equivalent of a password and should stay protected under all circumstances."
- **Tailscale** (one mesh network; a campus VPN does the same job): "Connections between tailnet devices work seamlessly
  across firewalls and Network Address Translation (NAT) without requiring port forwarding or complex firewall rules."
  Its Personal plan: "$0 for up to 6 users"; "This is a free plan and is only suitable for non-commercial use of
  Tailscale." Whether your research counts as non-commercial is for you (or your campus) to read in its terms. OpenAI's
  advice fits here: "use a VPN or mesh networking tool instead of exposing the app server directly to the internet."
- **Windows Remote Desktop:** "The PC you want to connect to (the remote PC) must be running Windows Pro edition of
  Windows." The PC you connect from can run any edition, or macOS (Windows App).
- **Chrome Remote Desktop:** for Mac, Windows or Linux; a PIN guards each computer, and "all remote desktop sessions are
  fully encrypted".

## 7. Securing it

| | Windows | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Updates on your schedule | active hours, then restart it yourself (section 3) | install updates yourself, between runs |
| Disk encryption | BitLocker on Windows Pro, Enterprise or Education; Device Encryption ("available on a wider range of devices, including those running Windows Home"): Settings > Privacy & security > Device encryption. "If you're using a local account, Device Encryption isn't turned on automatically." | FileVault (System Settings > Privacy & Security). Apple: on Apple silicon or a T2 chip "your data is encrypted automatically. Turning on FileVault provides an extra layer of security". |
| Nothing open to the internet | no port forwarding on the router; reach it over a private network | the same |
| Keys | SSH keys, not passwords; least-privilege accounts ("trusted keys, least-privilege accounts, and no unauthenticated public listeners", OpenAI) | the same |

A BitLocker PIN at startup protects a stolen box and also stops an unattended restart until someone types it (our
reading of Microsoft's BitLocker page): choose with that in mind.

## Sources (read 24 October 2026)

Microsoft: How to adjust power and sleep settings in Windows; Manage device restarts after updates; SetThreadExecutionState;
Get started with OpenSSH Server for Windows; Key-based authentication in OpenSSH for Windows; How to use Remote Desktop;
Device Encryption in Windows; BitLocker overview; How to install Linux on Windows with WSL. Apple: Set sleep and wake
settings for your Mac; Change Energy settings on a Mac desktop computer; Update macOS on Mac; Allow a remote computer to
access your Mac; Protect data on your Mac with FileVault. Anthropic: Remote Control; Agent view; Desktop scheduled tasks;
the Claude Code changelog. OpenAI: Remote connections; Configuration reference; Developer commands. Google: Antigravity
FAQ; Remote Control. Tailscale: Pricing; What is Tailscale. Google: Chrome Remote Desktop. tmux: Getting Started.
Beelink: EQ14 and SER8 product pages. The companion page links each one.