FocusDragon asks for a few macOS permissions during setup. Each one unlocks a specific capability — none of them are blanket asks, and most blocks work without all of them. Grant them as you need them.
Background Service (Login Item)
This is the always-on daemon that enforces your blocks even when the FocusDragon window is closed or quit. Without it, blocks would stop the moment you quit the app — which is exactly the bail-out path FocusDragon exists to prevent. macOS asks once at setup and the daemon is registered through the macOS Login Items system.
Full Disk Access
Required. The background daemon needs Full Disk Access to modify /etc/hosts, which is how FocusDragon blocks domains at the DNS level — system-wide, across every browser, including ones we don't have an extension for. Without it, DNS-level blocking silently does nothing. The daemon executable ships inside the FocusDragon app bundle (at Contents/MacOS/FocusDragonDaemon), so granting Full Disk Access to FocusDragon.app covers it.
Screen Recording (AI Focus only)
Needed for the AI focus assistant. While a block with a task context is running, the classifier captures a downscaled, compressed screenshot of your main display at regular intervals and sends it to FocusDragon AI for the focused/distracted/unclear call. Without Screen Recording the AI classifier can't see anything and AI-mode blocks won't start.
Accessibility (AI Focus only)
Lets the AI read window titles and visible text on native apps — Slack, Teams, VS Code, anything that isn't a browser tab. It's also what makes force-quit-on-drift work as the AI's intervention. Required for AI blocks; you'll be deep-linked to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility if it's missing.
Notifications
Used to surface drift interventions, lock countdowns, and session reminders. Optional — if you deny, blocks still enforce, you just won't get the heads-up overlays.
How to grant or revoke
Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, then scroll to the specific pane (Full Disk Access, Screen Recording, Accessibility, etc.), find FocusDragon, and toggle it on. You may be asked to restart FocusDragon afterwards.