yt-focus-mode

youtube distraction blocker extension i made to save my own brain

what is this

basically a minimal chrome extension that hides all the addictive parts of youtube (recommendations, shorts, comments, autoplay, etc). it also has a built-in scheduler so u can set focus sessions for specific days/times.

why i built this

i have a serious doom scrolling habit 😭. i was using this extension called unhook for a while, but i always had to manually turn it on/off and it didn't have any scheduling features. so i decided to build my own version that works automatically when i need to focus.

features it has

• Homepage hiding: hides the entire feed, shorts, and explore tab
• Video page cleanup: removes sidebar recommendations, end screens, and comments
• Global tweaks: disables the mini player, notifications, and live chat
• Smart Scheduler: set days of the week and a time window (like mon-fri 9am-5pm) and it auto-activates the blocker

tech

• react + vite
• typescript
• manifest v3

how to run / install locally

1. clone this repo
2. run npm install
3. run npm run build
4. open chrome and go to chrome://extensions/
5. turn on "developer mode" in the top right
6. click "load unpacked" and select the dist folder generated by the build command

usage

just click the extension icon in your browser to open the popup.

• use the Settings tab to manually toggle what you want hidden on youtube.
• use the Schedule tab to set up your automated focus windows.

notes

made this cuz i needed something that actually auto-blocks distractions when im supposed to be working lol.

feel free to use it for your own focus sessions or tweak the code!