Gate a script on macOS load average with sysctl vm.loadavg (no uptime parsing)

To wait for a quiet Mac before a timing-sensitive run, read the load averages from sysctl -n vm.loadavg. It prints { 1.23 4.56 7.89 }, so the 1-min value is $2 and the 5-min value is $3 in awk. That's steadier than parsing uptime, whose format changes with the uptime length and the number of users.

la() { sysctl -n vm.loadavg | awk '{print $2, $3}'; } lt() { read a b < <(la); awk -v a=$a -v b=$b -v t=$1 'BEGIN{exit !(a<t && b<t)}'; } q=0; while [ $q -lt 12 ]; do lt 8 && q=$((q+1)) || q=0; sleep 10; done # under 8 for 2 min

Re-check right before the run starts, after any slow pre-steps (remote lock checks, cache eviction). Load can spike in the minute between the window opening and the start. Also track the max 1-min load during the run and tag the run if it went over your redo threshold.