Impulse Blocker

Block distracting websites when you are browsing the web. Written using WebExtensions so it will be compatible with the future releases of Firefox.

Installation and Usage

Recommended: install Impulse Blocker from the official Firefox Add-ons listing.

Install from Firefox Add-ons

Simple usage guide can be found here.

Building

If you want to build the extension yourself using the source code, follow these steps.

Dependencies

Make sure you have Node.js 24.x installed on your machine. This repository includes an .nvmrc file so version managers such as fnm and nvm can switch to the tested version automatically.

Then clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/raicem/impulse-blocker.git

Then install the dependencies using npm

npm install

If you want to build it to sideload the extension without using the Mozilla's AMO use this command.

npm run release

This will create a zip file in the web-ext-artifacts folder. This file contains everything the Firefox needs to run the extension. You can install it following instructions here and here.

Again, you can install the extension from the official Firefox Add-ons page. Simple usage instructions are here.

Mozilla source code submission

This extension uses Webpack, Babel, and CSS loaders to generate the files in extension/dist, so Mozilla reviewers need the source code package as well as the built extension package.

Build environment requirements:

• Node.js 24.x; install it from nodejs.org or use a version manager such as nvm or fnm with the included .nvmrc.
• npm, included with Node.js.

To create the source code package for Mozilla reviewers:

npm install
npm run source

This creates web-ext-artifacts/impulse-blocker-<version>-source.zip. Upload that ZIP as the source code package in AMO.

To rebuild the submitted extension package from that source package:

npm install
npm run release

This rebuilds the extension files with Webpack and creates the installable extension ZIP in web-ext-artifacts.

Contributing

The extension is open for any kinds of contribution. Please note that it requires a basic knowledge about WebExtensions API and React.

After following the steps explained in the Building section above, all you have to do is run these commands in parallel.

npm run watch will start the Webpack watcher. This will immediately build the extension and create files to be loaded into the Firefox.

npm run browser will load the built files into the isolated Firefox instance and you will be able to see the changes you make immediately.

To also open Firefox's browser console and extension developer tools, run npm run browser:debug instead.

Testing

Run the unit tests with:

npm test

Run the automated Firefox extension smoke test with:

npm run test:e2e

The end-to-end test builds the extension, launches an isolated headless Firefox profile, installs the extension temporarily, and checks its options page and persisted settings, then verifies blocking behavior against a local test server. Firefox must be installed. On a failure, diagnostics are written under test-results/e2e-firefox. Selenium Manager may download GeckoDriver the first time the test runs.

npm run browser remains the interactive development command; it does not finish on its own or report a test result.

Make sure you run through these steps to make sure the extension works.

Impulse Blocker testing

Starting and stopping

• Start the blocker with no blocked websites. It should not interfere.
• Start blocking a website. It should be blocked.
• Add a second website to the block list. It should also be blocked.
• Stop the blocker. Websites should now be free to access.
• Start the blocker again. See the websites are blocked again.

Pausing

• Pause the blocker. Websites should be free to access.
• Cancel the pause. Websites should be blocked.
• Pause the blocker again and restart the browser. It should still be paused.
• Close the browser again and wait for pause period to finish. When you open the browser it should not be in pause state and websites must be blocked.
• Add a website when the blocker is paused. It should still be paused.

Options page

• Add website from the options page. It should be blocked.
• Remove website from the options page. It should be now accessible.
• Stop extension from the options page. It should stop the blocker.
• Start the extension from the options page. It should start the blocker.
• Tick and check options and check they have the desired effect on the popup.

Contributors

Huge thanks to contributors!

• Crote
• pkonneker
• Thynix
• xeBuz
• Mattwmaster58
• LorenzoAncora