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Idle instances

Instances nobody's using suspend themselves, and wake the moment you need them.

Chapter 13 of 201 min read
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A running instance uses processor time and battery even when nothing's happening inside it. So MSL tidies up after you.

When the last session closes#

When the last shell or Linux app on an instance closes, MSL suspends it about three seconds later. The dot turns orange.

Using it again resumes it straight away — opening the Terminal tab, msl work in a terminal, opening one of its apps, or clicking Resume. Resuming from suspend is almost instant, so mostly you won't notice.

What keeps an instance awake:

  • an open shell, in the app, in Terminal.app, or from msl;
  • an open Linux app.

Left alone for a while#

Instances that have been left alone for a while may also be hibernated, to give their memory back to your Mac. Starting one resumes it exactly where it was — it just takes a few seconds rather than being instant.

Around sleep and shutdown#

While your Mac is going to sleep or shutting down, idle suspending stands aside so it can't get in the way of MSL protecting instances.

See also