SAI Guard

Keep your Windows machine awake. Click to run. That's it.

SAI Guard prevents your Windows PC from going to sleep, locking the screen, or activating the screensaver - without simulating keystrokes or mouse movements.

Perfect for:

• 🤖 AI agents running long autonomous tasks (coding agents, browser agents, RPA bots) - keeps the host awake so the run never stalls
• 🖥️ Virtual machines running unattended automation (RPA, CI/CD agents, test runners)
• 📺 Presentations and demos
• ⬇️ Long downloads or uploads
• 🔧 Remote sessions that you don't want to disconnect
• 💻 Any machine that needs to stay awake

Download

➡️ Download SAIGuard.exe - single file, no installer, no dependencies.

Just double-click it. A green shield appears in your system tray. Done.

How it works

SAI Guard calls the Windows SetThreadExecutionState API every 30 seconds with these flags:

Flag	What it does
ES_CONTINUOUS	Keeps the state until explicitly cleared
ES_SYSTEM_REQUIRED	Prevents sleep and hibernate
ES_DISPLAY_REQUIRED	Keeps the display on, prevents screen lock

No fake keystrokes. No mouse jiggling. No interference with automation or testing.

This is the same proven API used by Microsoft PowerToys Awake, Caffeine, and similar tools.

Features

• Click to run - double-click the .exe, it works immediately
• System tray - green shield icon, right-click menu to pause/resume
• Auto-start - automatically registers to start with Windows on first run
• Single instance - won't launch duplicates
• Logging - heartbeat log file to verify it's running
• Pause/resume - toggle from the tray without closing
• Zero dependencies - runs on any Windows 7/8/10/11/Server, 32 or 64 bit
• Tiny - under 10 KB
• Open source - MIT license

System tray menu

Option	Description
Guarding: ON	Click to pause/resume (or double-click the icon)
Start with Windows	Toggle auto-start on boot
Open log file	View the heartbeat log
About	Version info
Exit	Stop guarding and quit

Building from source

No SDK or toolchain required. Windows ships with a C# compiler.

git clone https://github.com/krishnamallam/SAIGuard.git
cd SAIGuard
build.bat

That's it. build.bat uses csc.exe from .NET Framework 4.x (built into every Windows since Vista). The output is a single SAIGuard.exe.

Manual build

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\csc.exe ^
    /out:SAIGuard.exe /target:winexe /optimize+ ^
    /r:System.Windows.Forms.dll /r:System.Drawing.dll ^
    SAIGuard.cs

Deploying to VMs at scale

For unattended VMs (RPA, CI agents, etc.):

1. Copy SAIGuard.exe to the VM
2. Double-click it once - it auto-registers for startup
3. That's it. It survives reboots.

Or deploy silently:

copy SAIGuard.exe C:\SAIGuard\
reg add "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /v SAIGuard /d "\"C:\SAIGuard\SAIGuard.exe\"" /f
start "" "C:\SAIGuard\SAIGuard.exe"

Verify it's running

tasklist | findstr SAIGuard
type "%~dp0logs\sai_guard.log"

Antivirus false positives

SAI Guard is a tiny, unsigned executable that registers itself to auto-start - behaviour that heuristic/ML detectors (e.g. Malwarebytes MachineLearning/Anomalous, Windows Defender) may flag even though it is harmless. It is a false positive.

On a single machine: Restore it from quarantine and add it to the Allow list.

To roll it out across managed VMs, pick one:

• Allow-list by hash (most precise): allow the published SHA256 - see SAIGuard.exe.sha256 on the latest release - in your AV console.
• Allow-list the install path, e.g. C:\SAIGuard\.
• Report the false positive to your AV vendor so it is whitelisted for everyone (Malwarebytes: Help -> Report a false positive).
• Best fix - code-sign the .exe. A signed build from an org certificate clears these detections; signing is already wired into the release workflow (add the cert as a repo secret).

FAQ

Does it work with RDP? Yes. The API call works regardless of how you're connected.

Does it interfere with AutoMate / Selenium / Playwright? No. It uses a Windows API flag - no simulated input. Completely safe for any automation.

Will antivirus flag it? Sometimes - it's a small unsigned executable that sets itself to auto-start, which trips heuristic/ML detectors. It's a false positive. See Antivirus false positives for how to allow-list it (and sign it).

Can I run it as a Windows Service instead? The .exe is a GUI app (system tray). For service mode, wrap it with NSSM or use Task Scheduler with "Run whether user is logged on or not".

What's the difference vs PowerToys Awake? SAI Guard is a single 10KB file with no installer and no dependencies. PowerToys is a 200MB+ suite. If all you need is keep-awake, SAI Guard is simpler.

About

SAI Guard is a tiny, single-file Windows tray utility that keeps a machine awake by calling the Windows SetThreadExecutionState API - no simulated keystrokes, no mouse jiggling, no background bloat. It was built to keep unattended automation hosts - AI agents, RPA bots, CI/CD runners, and test machines - from sleeping, locking, or disconnecting mid-run.

Maintainer	Medialogic AI
Source	github.com/krishnamallam/SAIGuard
Latest build	Download from Releases
Runtime	.NET Framework 4.x (built into Windows - nothing to install)
Platforms	Windows 7 / 8 / 10 / 11 / Server, 32 & 64-bit
License	MIT

License

MIT - see LICENSE