Why this works
Microsoft Edge and Brave are both built on Chromium, the same engine Chrome uses. Extensions written for Chrome run unchanged inside them — you just have to flip a one-time switch that says "yes, I want extensions from outside this browser's own store." Once that's on, installing FocusDragon is exactly the same flow as Chrome.
Microsoft Edge
- 1. Open Edge.
- 2. In the address bar, type edge://extensions and press Return.
- 3. In the left sidebar, toggle on "Allow extensions from other stores". Edge will pop a warning dialog about third-party extensions — click "Allow".
- 4. Now navigate to the Chrome Web Store listing for FocusDragon (the same link the Mac app uses for Chrome).
- 5. Click "Add to Chrome" (the button label doesn't change inside Edge). Confirm the permissions dialog.
- 6. Open edge://extensions again. Find FocusDragon → Details → set "Site access" to "On all sites".
- 7. Pin the icon by clicking the puzzle-piece in the toolbar and then the pin icon next to FocusDragon.
Edge enterprise policy (managed devices, school laptops, corporate-issued Macs) often disables "Allow extensions from other stores" via group policy. If the toggle is greyed out, your IT admin has it locked. There is no workaround on a managed machine — you'll need IT to either whitelist FocusDragon or unblock Chrome Web Store installs.
Brave
- 1. Open Brave.
- 2. In the address bar, type brave://extensions and press Return. Brave already accepts Chrome Web Store installs out of the box — no "allow other stores" toggle to flip.
- 3. Navigate to the FocusDragon listing on the Chrome Web Store.
- 4. Click "Add to Brave" (button label adapts in Brave). Confirm.
- 5. Back in brave://extensions, find FocusDragon → Details → set "Site access" to "On all sites".
- 6. Pin the icon via the puzzle-piece menu in the toolbar.
Brave Shields gotcha
Brave's built-in Shields feature aggressively blocks scripts, fingerprinting, and cross-site requests. On most sites this is fine — FocusDragon's extension runs in its own privileged context that Shields doesn't touch. But if you've turned Shields up to "Aggressive" globally, the content script that reads page text for the AI classifier can be blocked.
- 1. Click the Brave Shields lion icon in the address bar on any site where the extension seems inert.
- 2. Drop the "Block scripts" setting from "Aggressive" to "Standard" — at least for sites you actually want FocusDragon to classify (work tools, social media, etc.).
- 3. Reload the tab.
Most users never hit the Shields issue — Standard is the default and works fine. Only tweak this if you've previously raised Shields manually.