Keep R running while screen is off in Big Sur (11.0.1)

Question

I've just switched from Windows/Linux to a Macbook Pro, and am having trouble with sleep/screen off. My work involves running very long (multiple day) processes in R, so I need to be able to leave things running for a long time with the screen off, so as not to waste energy. At the moment it seems that if the screen goes to sleep, all processes are paused. Is there a way to get the linux/windows behaviour where the screen can time out but everything keeps running?

(Other similar questions I've found all refer to previous versions of MacOS and/or desktop versions, the system preferences seem to be completely different.)

Answer 1

The fastest way to always stop sleep is the built-in Terminal command caffeinate which will let you set various options on preventing sleep.

Another way is to disable sleep when plugged into battery under Settings, which is likely the easiest method as it has a visual indicator by way of the charger.

The Amphetamine app is yet another method, and it has a friendlier UI compared to Terminal as well as extra options.

By default all apps sleep when the display is off unless the app specifically requests otherwise.