> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://dicksontsai.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Tutorial: DIY Website-Blocking Focus Timer on MacOS

> Published December 7, 2020

<iframe className="w-full aspect-video rounded-xl" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kCo9DAuLGX4" title="DIY Website Blocking Focus Timer on MacOS" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowFullScreen />

Enhance your productivity with a website-blocking focus timer using just 30
lines of Bash! Click "Read More" to access the Youtube video, explanation, and
source code.

***

There are tons of websites already that cover how to block websites on MacOS
using the
[/etc/hosts](https://tldp.org/LDP/solrhe/Securing-Optimizing-Linux-RH-Edition-v1.3/chap9sec95.html)
file.

The key insight here is that **you can treat /etc/hosts like any other file**.
You can copy it, write another file's contents into it, etc. using the familiar
Bash commands cp, mv, etc.

In this script, we use Bash to write additional websites to /etc/hosts, set a
timer, and then revert /etc/hosts back to its original contents.

USE THIS SOLUTION AT YOUR OWN RISK. Exercise to the reader: can you think of one
thing that a malicious person target in this script? Consider always checking
the content of your files before you use sudo.

Source code:
[https://gist.github.com/dicksontsai/cce96aeebe7c909ee794e42b88ca2c74](https://gist.github.com/dicksontsai/cce96aeebe7c909ee794e42b88ca2c74)