Display Manager

Keep your computer display awake from Visual Studio Code.

Display Manager adds a simple status bar control that lets you turn keep-awake mode on or off without leaving the editor. When enabled, the extension uses operating system level commands to prevent the display from going idle.

The enabled state is application-wide: changing it in one VS Code window updates all other open windows and applies to windows opened later.

Features

• toggle keep-awake mode from the VS Code status bar
• enable or disable it from the Command Palette
• restore the previous enabled state when VS Code starts
• after a configurable idle period (5 minutes by default), move to the next editor tab at a new random interval between 2 and 3 minutes
• support desktop VS Code on macOS, Windows, and Linux

How To Use

1. Install the extension.
2. Look for the Awake or Idle indicator in the VS Code status bar.
3. Click the indicator to toggle Display Manager.

You can also run these commands from the Command Palette:

• Display Manager: Toggle Keep Awake
• Display Manager: Enable Keep Awake
• Display Manager: Disable Keep Awake

Mouse movement (1.0.4 behavior)

On macOS and Windows, Awake now also moves the mouse slightly every two minutes, with Display Manager: Mouse Jiggle enabled by default. Disable this setting if you only want display/system sleep prevention. Changes apply immediately. Mouse movement stops when Awake is disabled, its duration expires, the power helper exits, or the extension shuts down normally.

Mouse movement can reset the system idle timer and prevent the configured idle threshold from being reached, so automatic tab rotation may not start while it is enabled. Third-party applications may classify activity differently; this extension cannot guarantee their presence or idle status.

On macOS the helper requires Swift and Accessibility permission. If movement fails, inspect Output → Display Awake for the error and permission guidance, then toggle Awake off and on after resolving it. On Windows, helper errors are also reported there; display sleep prevention remains active if only the mouse helper fails.

Settings

Click the gear beside Awake or run Display Awake: Open Settings for the settings screen. Choose a duration, enter custom time as H.MM, and adjust mouse movement and tab-switch timing, then click Save settings. Changes to the Awake toggle apply across windows. Changing duration while Awake is on restarts its timer; saving other options preserves the current deadline.

The screen shows whether Awake is active and its end time. Invalid custom times and tab intervals appear as inline errors. Unsaved edits stay in the form when another window changes settings. Internal timer values are omitted from this screen; the built-in VS Code settings place them in a separate internal category.

Awake time limit

Click the clock / Unlimited control next to Awake, or run Display Manager: Set Awake Duration from the Command Palette. Choose 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, Unlimited, or a custom duration in hours.minutes format. For example, 0.30 = 30 minutes, 1.30 = 1 hour 30 minutes, and 2.00 = 2 hours. Use two digits for minutes (00–59); the supported range is 0.01 to 24.00. Choosing a duration starts Awake immediately; choosing again restarts the timer from now. Cancelling the picker leaves the current session unchanged.

The clock shows minutes remaining. At expiry, keep-awake and automatic tab switching stop across VS Code windows. You can still click Awake to stop early. The deadline is preserved across window reloads and newly opened windows, so reloading does not restart the countdown. If VS Code is closed at expiry, Awake stays off when reopened. Timers also run while VS Code is minimized; if the OS suspends VS Code, expiry is handled when it resumes.

Duration Minutes sets the default for the next enable (initially Unlimited; 0 means unlimited). Custom duration starts with 0.30 in the input field. Use the clock control to change an active session. The Expires At setting stores the session deadline automatically on this machine.

Automatic tab switching

Open VS Code Settings and search for Display Manager. Change Idle Threshold Minutes to control how long the extension waits before it starts rotating tabs. The default is 5 minutes, and changes apply immediately.

Use Tab Switch Min Minutes and Tab Switch Max Minutes to control the random switch interval. Their defaults are 2 and 3 minutes. The minimum must be lower than the maximum; an invalid range falls back to the defaults.

The Enabled setting controls Display Manager across all VS Code windows. The status bar button and enable/disable commands update this setting automatically.

Status Indicator

• Idle: keep-awake mode is inactive; click to enable
• Starting Awake: waiting for the keep-awake helper to start
• Awake: keep-awake mode is active; click to disable
• Display Awake Unsupported: your current platform is not supported by the extension

Platform Behavior

• macOS: uses caffeinate -d -i to prevent display and system idle sleep while the extension host runs, and reads the system HID idle time
• Windows: uses SetThreadExecutionState, confirms the first successful power request before showing Awake, and reads the last-input time through PowerShell
• Helper failures are reported in a notification and the Display Awake output channel
• Linux: uses systemd-inhibit; automatic tab rotation requires xprintidle

Limitations

• works in desktop Visual Studio Code only
• behavior can still be affected by operating system policies, battery saver modes, or device management settings
• Linux support depends on systemd-inhibit being available on the system

Platform With Zscaler

Display Awake does not make network requests while it is running. If Zscaler or an enterprise proxy prevents installation from the Visual Studio Marketplace, install the packaged .vsix directly:

1. Obtain the .vsix through your organization's approved file-transfer process.
2. In desktop VS Code, run Extensions: Install from VSIX... from the Command Palette.
3. Select the .vsix, then reload VS Code when prompted.

Do not disable certificate validation to install the extension. If the keep-awake process is blocked after installation, ask your administrator to allow the built-in Windows PowerShell executable and review the Display Awake output channel for the blocked command or policy error.

Notes

This extension is designed for legitimate keep-awake use cases such as presentations, dashboards, monitoring, and long-running local work sessions.