youtube.com
ALLOWStated Reason
"Looking up a Rust tokio tutorial for my backend concurrency bug"
Matches your defined study context
Browser extension
ChromeFirefoxEdge
Why are you opening that site?
Ask yourself first
A pause before familiar sites.
Write down what you came to do.
Before you continue to youtube.com, say what you're here for.
Take a moment before continuing.
You can continue now.
Today · not visited yet
3 exceptions leftA quiet mirror to reflect your intent. Where you go is always your call.
Optional capability · AI intent judgmentSub-second judgmentInteractive demo below — does not call real AI
AI that understands your intent, not a blanket block-or-allow switch
Reads your reason against each site's purpose. Learning passes; idle scrolling waits.
youtube.com
BLOCKStated Reason
"Just bored, scrolling to see what's new for 10 minutes"
Impulsive entertainment — does not match your focus rules
Clarify follow-up
When your reason is ambiguous, WhyFirst asks one quiet follow-up before deciding.
You
"Just looking around"
WhyFirst
What are you here for, specifically?
You
"Looking up the official Rust async docs chapter"
Intent is clear once clarified — matches your site purpose.
ALLOWContext awareness
Custom site purpose
You define what each site means: tutorials pass, the feed waits.
When on, your note, domain, and site purpose go to the endpoint you choose.
Philosophy · Agency
You are in complete control.WhyFirst simply wakes up your awareness.
On a web designed for endless feeds, we often click on impulse. WhyFirst never judges your choices — it simply pauses the inertia, ensuring your own intention decides whether the visit makes sense.
Wake up the impulse, never punish it
Break the automatic impulse. A gentle pause at the moment of entry — not a barrier or punishment, just a moment to wake up from autopilot.
Your intent decides whether a rule applies
Your intent defines the outcome. You define the purpose of every site. Your stated reason decides whether this visit aligns with your self-set boundaries.
Freedom to stay or leave
Rest when you need rest, focus when you want focus. Write a reason or use an exception — without guilt, streaks, or moral pressure.
Granular Rules · Per-Site Experience
Tailor the pause for every site you visit.
Not all web pages are equal. Configure custom site purposes, granular path rules (Pro), and pause durations for each site in your settings.
youtube.comPer-site settings · saved locally
The feed gets a 2s pause; a specific watch page passes.
Site purpose
Give each site your own context
“Only for programming tutorials and conference replays; music outside work hours.”
AI BaselineIntervene on drift
Give a site your own context. AI judgment and your own review both use it as the measure — technical talks pass at work, feed scrolling gets a nudge.
Path rules (Pro)
Exempt the paths that matter
youtube.com/watch*
Pass through · watching a chosen tutorial or talk
youtube.com/
2s pause · the algorithmic feed gets the nudge
Down to the path and page type. A specific watch page flows freely without delay; only the feed that eats attention gets the pause. Path rules are part of Pro.
Intervention strategy
Set the pause and the exception budget
- Pause length
- 2 s (Pro: 1–30 s)
- Daily exceptions
- 3 per day
- AI clarifying question
- Clarify · on demand
Longer pauses for high-temptation sites, a light buffer for daily tools. With a daily exception budget there is no need to switch the extension off in a hurry.
Product interface · Authentic mirror
A mirror, not a score
No streaks, no scores. Just your raw visits and pauses, multi-dimensional insights into when and why you open a site, and a transparent estimate of time saved.
Sample data30-day sample trajectory (weekday commutes, lunch, and late evenings) — not personal browsing history.
Today’s overview
Raw counts · no scores12Pauses today
5Returned freely
7Conscious visits
We record visits and pauses only. Time saved is estimated from abandoned attempts × average visit duration.
Where the time went
Time saved so far
22h 15mEst. time saved (30d)
Dots mark the days the running total passed 2h · 8h · 15h.
When visits happen
Visits by weekday and hour
7×24 grid over 30 days. Darker cells hold more attempts; dashed outlines mark the busiest hours.
Attempts / hr0123–45
Peak: Tue/Thu 21:00 (5) · Wed 12:00 (4)What was turned away
Where attempts ended up
Every attempt through the confirmation page to the concrete outcome it reached.
What was turned away
What your reasons were for
Only visits judged by AI are categorised; everything else stays unclassified.
236Attempts
- Clear purpose90 · 38%Abandoned 22%
- Inertia or hesitant38 · 16%Abandoned 71%
- Declined to explain50 · 21%Abandoned 86%
- Unclassified58 · 25%Abandoned 41%
Where the time wentShow domains
Sites: how often and how long
Right = more attempts, up = longer stays; bubble size is total time and colour is abandoned share.
Abandoned share≤25%26–50%51–75%76–100%
Privacy, stated clearly
No account needed for local use. AI connects only when you turn it on.
Sent to AI (opt-in only)
- Your written reason
- The domain you open
- Your site purpose
- The endpoint you choose
Your reason text is never retained.
Never collected, never read
- Page paths
- Browsing history
- Page content
- Account cookies
WhyFirst has never built a browsing-data database.
Kept 100% on device
- Per-site rules
- Intent history
- Local statistics
- Exception budget
In this browser's local storage. Uninstalling removes them for good.
Boundary: purchases and sign-in carry only your email, orders and licence. The version check sends a random anonymous install ID — never browsing data.
Start with a single pause
Free
$0 forever
- Up to 5 site rules
- Fixed pause, 3 daily exceptions
- 30 free AI judgments with verified account
Pro · Lifetime License
US$7.99 one-time · regular $16
- Unlimited rules with paths & exceptions
- Custom pause & full history export
- Launch includes 10,000 AI judgments
Early bird limited to the first 100. Regular Pro includes 5,000 AI judgments, not unlimited.
Install WhyFirst.Make every visit a conscious choice.
Desktop Extension
WhyFirst runs on your desktop browser
WhyFirst is an extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. Send the link to your email or copy it to install on your computer.
View desktop store listings anyway ▾
Free · 2 minutes to set up · Uninstall anytime
Upcoming apps
Coming soonDesktop and mobile apps are on the way.
macOS and Android are in private beta; Windows is planned.
- macOSPrivate BetaDesktop
- WindowsRoadmapDesktop
- AndroidPrivate BetaMobile
Platforms and timing may change.