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CommandLatch CommandLatch Docs

Use the menu-bar app

CommandLatch lives in your Mac’s menu bar (top-right of the screen) — there’s no Dock icon and no main window. The menu-bar icon is both the status indicator and the place to run actions, open Settings, and quit.

Everything here you can also do from the dashboard; the menu bar is just the fastest way to do it on the Mac itself.

The icon and its title

Section titled “The icon and its title”
  • The icon shows the CommandLatch logo normally and swaps to an hourglass while a delayed lock is pending.
  • The text next to the icon shows the single most useful fact at a glance — a pending lock countdown (4:32), or the keep-awake time remaining (2h 59m), or Reconnecting… / Offline when the connection drops. When there’s nothing to report it’s blank.
  • A 🔴 prefix appears if a system check is failing (see Security checks).

Click the icon to open the menu.

The menu

Section titled “The menu”
Status: Online                       ← live connection state
Remote Commands: Enabled             ← whether this Mac accepts commands
Keep Awake: 24m remaining            ← "off" when no session is running
Pending: Lock + Sleep in 4:32        ← "none" when nothing is queued
──────────────
Keep Awake for 30 min
Keep Awake for 1h
Keep Awake for 2h
Keep Awake (Custom)…                 ← opens Settings to type an amount
Stop Keep Awake                      ← only enabled while awake
──────────────
Lock Now
Sleep Now
Lock + Sleep
Mute
──────────────
Cancel Pending Action (4:32)         ← only enabled while a lock is pending
Disable Remote Commands              ← toggles to "Enable …"
Open Dashboard
──────────────
Settings…
Diagnostics
Check for Updates…                   ← checks now; notifies you of the result
──────────────
Quit CommandLatch

The top four rows update once a second, so the menu always reflects the live state.

Status row meanings

Section titled “Status row meanings”
  • Online — paired, connected, ready.
  • Reconnecting — a transient network blip; it recovers on its own.
  • Offline — no recent connection to the backend.
  • Not paired — finish pairing; the setup window opens for you.

Keep awake

Section titled “Keep awake”

Stops the Mac (and display) from sleeping for a set time — useful during a long download, build, or render. Pick 30 min / 1h / 2h, or Keep Awake (Custom)… to type any amount up to 24 hours (this opens the Settings window, since a menu can’t hold a text field).

While a session runs, the menu shows Keep Awake: N remaining and the icon title counts down. Stop Keep Awake ends it early.

Lock, sleep, mute

Section titled “Lock, sleep, mute”
  • Lock Now — locks the screen immediately.
  • Sleep Now — sleeps the Mac immediately.
  • Lock + Sleep — locks, then sleeps.
  • Mute — toggles output mute.

These run immediately without a confirmation step — since you’re acting directly on the Mac, the intent is unambiguous. (Volume up/down are available in the dashboard, not the menu bar.)

Cancelling a pending lock

Section titled “Cancelling a pending lock”

When a delayed Lock + Sleep is scheduled — by the Claude Code hook, a --lock-sleep-after command, or the dashboard’s “In 5 minutes” option — the menu shows Cancel Pending Action (4:32) with a live countdown. Click it to drop the lock before it fires.

The same pending lock can be cancelled three interchangeable ways: this menu item, the dashboard’s Cancel button, or commandlatch done --cancel in a terminal.

Pausing remote commands

Section titled “Pausing remote commands”

Disable Remote Commands stops this Mac from running anything sent remotely — dashboard, shortcuts, webhooks, and CLI. The menu flips to Enable Remote Commands so you can turn it back on. Use it when you want the Mac left alone but don’t want to unpair it. (The same switch is Accept remote commands in the Settings window.)

This switch lives only on the Mac — the dashboard shows whether remote commands are on or off but can’t change it.

Settings window

Section titled “Settings window”

Settings… opens a small window with everything that doesn’t fit in a menu:

SectionWhat’s there
PairingDevice name, ID, and pair date. Unpair this device removes the local pairing (and CLI config) and shows a fresh code.
Remote commandsMirrors the menu’s Disable Remote Commands toggle, here labelled Accept remote commands.
StartupStart CommandLatch on login — keep this on so the menu-bar app is always running.
Current sessionKeep-awake controls (incl. custom), a Show seconds in countdown display toggle, and the pending action + cancel.
Command-line toolInstall / status of the commandlatch terminal command. See Install → command-line tool.
UpdatesYour current version, and a Download button when a newer release is available. Updates are installed manually.
Security checksLive status of notifications, the system tools lock/sleep/keep-awake rely on, and (for transparency) Accessibility. Offers a Turn on notifications button if banners are off.
DiagnosticsPlatform, version, dashboard URL, data folder, and an Export diagnostics button (a redacted bundle to attach to a bug report).

Diagnostics

Section titled “Diagnostics”

The Diagnostics menu item (and the Settings button) exports a file to Finder, ready to attach when contacting support. It includes your app version, OS, and recent activity — but not your account credentials or keys. Details: Troubleshooting → diagnostics.

Quitting

Section titled “Quitting”

Quit CommandLatch stops the menu-bar app. While it’s quit, the Mac shows as Offline in the dashboard and won’t run any commands. Reopen it from Applications to come back online. To remove it entirely, see Uninstall.

See also

Section titled “See also”