I Built a macOS Focus App Because Every Other One Failed Me — Here's the Stack

I'm a developer who couldn't stop opening Twitter mid-sprint. I tried Cold Turkey, SelfControl, Focus — they all had the same problem: too many escape hatches. So I built my own solution. Here's what I learned about focus, blocking, and building native macOS apps. The Problem With Existing Focus Apps Most blockers work at the DNS or hosts-file level. That means: They block entire domains (can't watch a YouTube tutorial if youtube.com is blocked) They're easy to bypass if you know your way around /etc/hosts They don't understand the difference between the site and the feed The real dopamine trap isn't youtube.com — it's the YouTube home feed . Same with Twitter/X. The content you search for is fine. The algorithmic feed is the slot machine. What I Wanted Session-based focus — not timers, but task-tied windows Feed-level blocking — block YouTube recommendations but allow direct video links Bypass tracking — show me how many times I tried to cheat Zero config friction — start a session in