Scenes: save a setup and switch your whole Mac in one click

A scene is a saved setup: which power-ups are on, where the sliders sit, and which power settings to switch on. Make one for each way you work — Focus, Desk, Travel — and switch between them from the sidebar.

Build a scene

1. Click the + beside SCENES in the sidebar — “Build a new scene”.
2. Type a name (“Scene name — e.g. Focus, Desk, Travel”) and pick one of the 12 icons.
3. Choose what's in it, in either of the two ways below.
4. Click Save scene. It stays grey until the scene has a name.

Start from my current setup

The large button at the top — “Grab everything that's on right now, then fine-tune.” — fills the scene with whatever is on at this moment: every power-up that's on, every power switch that's on, Never sleep, and any slider you've actually changed. The full list then opens so you can adjust it.

Or pick power-ups manually

Open the list and tick exactly what you want. It's grouped into Power (Never sleep and the power switches), Sliders, and every power-up category, Advanced ones included. For a slider, tick it, then set the value it should switch to. Select all and Clear help with big changes; the count at the top shows how many items the scene holds.

Building or editing a scene never changes your Mac. Only switching to it does.

Switch to a scene

Click it in the sidebar. Here's exactly what happens:

• Power-ups are set exactly. Ones in the scene are switched on, and every other power-up is switched off. That's what makes a scene a clean switch.
• Sliders in the scene move to their saved values. Sliders that aren't in it are left alone.
• Never sleep and power switches in the scene are turned on. Switching scenes never turns them off — that would mean a password prompt at an unexpected moment — so turn them off yourself in Browse all › Power or On now.

Scenes don't cover Dark Mode, Keep awake, Hot Corners, the screenshot folder, the display timer, private folders, the lock-screen message or the Network tools.

Edit, update or delete

Right-click a scene in the sidebar:

Switch to this scene

The same as clicking it.

Edit…

Reopens the editor with the scene's contents, name and icon.

Update to current setup

Replaces the scene's contents with what's on right now, keeping its name and icon.

Delete

Removes it straight away. There's no confirmation.

The number beside each scene is how many items it holds.

Good to know

• If a scene includes Tidy windows for a call, switching to it minimizes your windows every time, and needs Accessibility permission. Without that permission Mainspring refuses the whole switch — nothing is changed — and a banner explains why.
• Give Mainspring Full Disk Access first. A scene switch goes through every power-up, including Safari's. If Mainspring can't read Safari's settings — the rows that show Allow… — the switch stops at the first of them, and power-ups further down the list are left as they were. Grant access as described in Use power-up switches.
• Scenes are saved on your Mac.
• To switch scenes automatically — when you plug in, at a set time, when an app opens — see Automations.