hey hn, wanted to share something i've been working on for a bit.

most focus apps like opal are static. they block a list of websites and that’s it. once you start a timer, you’re locked in. can’t quit, can’t delete, can’t reason with it.

but real focus isn’t that binary. sometimes i actually need to use youtube or reddit for a task, like watching a physics lecture or checking a solution. blocking everything just doesn't work. also, sometimes "harmless" sites like wikipedia pages or news pages send me into rabbit holes. you can't realistically block every one of these.

so i tried to build something that uses the context on your screen to figure out whether you're focused.

i set a task (e.g. “studying physics – waves + optics”), describe what i’m doing, and how long i want to focus.

then the app uses my browser's context to check if i'm on-task or off-task, based on what i'm doing - not just what site i'm on.

if i'm off-task, blocks the site. even after it's blocked, you can explain to it why you really need the site - if the app thinks the reason's valid, it lets you in. this takes care of most false positives.

still early and it's only a chrome extension, but it works and it’s helped me a lot.

happy to hear feedback and would be curious to hear if people would pay for this.

there's also a demo video on the extension page for those curious.