noyt

A small CLI to block YouTube system-wide.

I built this because browser extensions are easy to bypass and I kept ending up on YouTube anyway. This blocks it at the system level instead.

Demo

noyt-demo.mp4

Article

I wrote about how I built this, how the networking side actually works, and the weird rabbit hole it sent me down:

Read on Medium

Install

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap dankgarlic1/noyt && brew install noyt

Usage

It's just:

sudo noyt

It works as a toggle:

• first run → blocks YouTube
• next run → unblocks

Run it again anytime to switch states.

What it does

• adds entries to /etc/hosts
• blocks traffic via macOS firewall (pf)
• flushes DNS cache

Currently tested with:

• Chrome
• Brave

Notes

• Requires sudo
• Restart your browser after running
• Blocking may take ~1–3 minutes to fully apply
• Some parts of YouTube may briefly load — that’s normal

Transparency

This project is fully open source.

You can review the entire codebase before running anything: github.com/dankgarlic1/noyt

⚠️ Warning

This tool modifies system files:

• /etc/hosts
• macOS pf firewall rules

Use at your own discretion.

Why this exists

Because “just don’t open YouTube” stops working the moment your brain wants dopamine.

License

MIT