FocusPocus

FocusPocus is a tiny Bash spell that toggles distractions on or off by rewriting /etc/hosts. It flips between focus (only work) and pocus (temporary play) so you can keep social sites out of reach until you truly earn the break. The project is authored by Mike Lopez.

Features

• Works entirely through /etc/hosts, so it is desktop-environment agnostic.
• Uses #distraction markers to decide which hostnames should be blocked or unblocked.
• focus (default) instantly re-enables blocking and prints a success banner when the command completes.
• pocus requires solving two random multiplication challenges before unblocking, helping you pause before drifting off-task.
• All logic lives in a single portable Bash script; no daemons or background services.

Requirements

• Bash 4+, Perl (the script now checks for it and exits early if missing), and sudo access (FocusPocus calls sudo perl -pi to edit /etc/hosts).
• /etc/hosts entries annotated with #distraction for every site you want FocusPocus to manage.
• macOS, Linux, or any Unix-like OS where editing /etc/hosts is effective.

Installation

1. Copy the focuspocus script somewhere in your PATH, e.g. /usr/local/bin/focuspocus.
2. Mark it executable: chmod +x /usr/local/bin/focuspocus.
   • Fast install one-liner (downloads the script directly from main):

     (sudo curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/easterncoder/focuspocus/main/focuspocus -o /usr/local/bin/focuspocus || sudo wget -qO /usr/local/bin/focuspocus https://raw.githubusercontent.com/easterncoder/focuspocus/main/focuspocus) && sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/focuspocus

3. Add distraction entries to /etc/hosts, for example:

   127.0.0.1 facebook.com www.facebook.com #distraction
   127.0.0.1 twitter.com www.twitter.com #distraction
   127.0.0.1 youtube.com www.youtube.com #distraction
   

4. (Optional) Create a backup copy of /etc/hosts in case you need to restore it later.

Usage

# Block distracting sites (default)
focuspocus

# Explicit focus mode block
focuspocus focus

# Attempt to unblock (requires two correct math answers)
focuspocus pocus

What happens in each mode?

• focus: Runs sudo perl -pi -e 's/^[#\s]+(.+?#distraction)/\1/' /etc/hosts to uncomment every distraction line and re-enable blocking, then prints a confirmation banner. If the edit fails, you will see an error banner instead.
• pocus: Prints a warning, then asks two multiplication questions (one single digit × one double digit). Only if both are correct does it comment out each distraction line (# prefix) and allow access. Any incorrect answer or editing error leaves the block in place and produces a failure banner.

Customizing distractions

• Add or remove hostnames by editing /etc/hosts and keeping #distraction on every line you want the script to control.
• Lines without #distraction are untouched, so you can safely keep other overrides or local domains in the file.
• Use IPv6 (::1) entries as well if your browser prefers IPv6; just append #distraction so FocusPocus can find them.

Safety notes

• FocusPocus modifies /etc/hosts directly. Always verify the file after big changes or keep it under version control.
• Commands run with sudo, so you will be prompted for your password; cancel with Ctrl+C if something looks wrong.
• If the script appears ineffective, flush your DNS cache or toggle network interfaces so the OS loads the new hosts entries.

License

FocusPocus is distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See the script header for the full notice or visit https://www.gnu.org/licenses/.