Creating your first block — FocusDragon Docs

The five-step setup

Open FocusDragon and click "New Block" in the sidebar.
Give the block a name — something concrete like "Deep work mornings" or "No Twitter until 6pm".
Under Blocked Items, add the websites (by domain) or applications you want blocked.
Under Enforcement, pick a lock type. "No Lock" lets you toggle the block off any time and is free. Timer, Password, Random Text, Frozen, and the other locked types make it harder to bail mid-session and require FocusDragon Pro.
Click Create Block, then hit Start.

What happens when a block is active

Once you hit Start, the background daemon takes over. Blocked websites resolve to a local block page (DNS-level enforcement via /etc/hosts), the browser extensions intercept matching URLs inside Safari and Chrome, and any blocked applications get force-quit if you try to open them. Enforcement keeps running even if you quit the FocusDragon window — the daemon is independent of the app process.

Most people underestimate what "No Lock" buys them. If your goal is to add a single second of friction between you and Twitter, No Lock is enough. Reach for Timer or Random Text only after you notice yourself bailing out within seconds.

AI-assisted blocks (optional)

Instead of listing every distracting site by hand, you can give the block a task context like "writing my essay" and let the AI classifier decide what counts as off-task. The classifier checks in regularly and intervenes if you drift. This requires an AI Focus subscription and needs Screen Recording permission — see the permissions doc.

You need to be signed in

Browsing and configuring blocks works without an account, but you have to sign in with Google or Apple to actually start one. The sidebar shows your auth status — if it says "Sign in" instead of your name, the Start button won't fire.