lockin.sh

Block distractions. Ship code.

A lightweight CLI tool that blocks distracting websites and apps on macOS. No subscriptions, no bloated apps — just a single binary that does its job.

lockin.sh · GitHub

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Install

curl -fsSL https://lockin.sh/install | sh

The script detects your architecture (Apple Silicon or Intel) and installs the binary to /usr/local/bin/lockin.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/0xmanny/lockin.git
cd lockin
make install

Requires Go 1.21+.

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Usage

Start blocking

lockin

This blocks distracting websites and apps immediately. lockin will prompt for your password (modifying /etc/hosts requires root), activate blocking, and return you to your terminal. App monitoring runs silently in the background.

Check status

lockin status

Shows whether lockin is active and lists all blocked websites and apps.

Change the blocklist

lockin config

Opens an interactive picker to toggle which websites and apps are blocked. If lockin is active, changes are applied immediately.

Stop blocking

lockin stop

Restores /etc/hosts and stops all blocking. This works even if the start process crashed.

Uninstall

lockin uninstall

Fully removes lockin: restores /etc/hosts, stops the daemon, removes the LaunchDaemon, config directory, and binary.

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Configuration

On first run, lockin creates a config file at ~/.lockin/config.yaml with sensible defaults:

blocked_websites:
  - twitter.com
  - x.com
  - facebook.com
  - instagram.com
  - tiktok.com
  - reddit.com
  - youtube.com
  - netflix.com
  - twitch.tv

blocked_apps:
  - Messages
  - Telegram
  - Discord
  - WhatsApp

settings:
  poll_interval: 3s

Edit this file to customize your blocklist. The www. variants of all websites are automatically included.

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How It Works

Website blocking — Adds entries to /etc/hosts that redirect blocked domains to 127.0.0.1. This is kernel-level DNS interception with zero network performance impact. No proxy, no packet inspection. Persists until you run lockin stop.

App blocking — A lightweight background daemon polls running applications via macOS System Events every few seconds and gracefully quits blocked apps using AppleScript. Falls back to force-quit if needed.

Safety

• Your /etc/hosts is backed up to ~/.lockin/hosts.bak before any modification
• Managed entries are wrapped in # LOCKIN-START / # LOCKIN-END markers
• lockin stop restores your original hosts file and stops the background daemon
• The daemon PID is stored in ~/.lockin/lockin.pid for clean shutdown
• A LaunchDaemon (/Library/LaunchDaemons/sh.lockin.cleanup.plist) automatically runs lockin stop on reboot, so your hosts file is always restored even after a crash or power loss

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Project Structure

lockin/
  cli/                  # Go CLI tool
    cmd/                # Cobra CLI commands
    internal/
      blocker/          # Website + app blocking logic
      config/           # YAML config management
    main.go
    go.mod
  web/                  # Next.js landing page + docs
  install.sh            # Curl installer script
  Makefile              # Build and cross-compile targets

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Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21+
• Node.js 18+ (for the landing page)
• macOS (the CLI uses macOS-specific APIs)

CLI

make build              # Build for current platform
make build-all          # Cross-compile for arm64 + amd64
make dev                # Cleans lockin state, build, run binary

Run the landing page

cd web
npm install
npm run dev

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Here's how to get started:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b my-feature
3. Make your changes and test locally
4. Submit a pull request

Please open an issue first for major changes so we can discuss the approach.

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License

MIT