Granular path rules
Allow the Rust tutorial on youtube.com, gently pause on the YouTube home feed. Exact domains, subdomains, and URL paths — you decide what counts as intentional.
A soft-friction browser extension
Why are you opening that site? Ask yourself first.
Why First inserts one gentle, glassy pause before the sites that eat your attention — so 'just a quick look' becomes a conscious choice, not a reflex.
Also on Firefox · No account · No sign-up
This is the check-in Why First shows you before a site you have flagged. Click the button below, like you would on autopilot.
What it does
Four quiet superpowers
Willpower apps block you and shame you. Why First just asks one quiet question at the exact moment of impulse — and lets the facts about your own behavior do the rest.
Private by architecture
No browsing-data backend and no account. Domains, rules, reasons and stats stay in your browser's local storage and are not sent to us. The one optional exception is Pro config sync: switch it on and your browser vendor (Google for Chrome, Mozilla for Firefox) carries rules and settings between your devices — reasons, history and stats never sync.
A mirror, not a score
Raw counts and honest minutes — 9 visits, 47 minutes today. No streaks, no scores, no judgment. Just the shape of your attention, shown back to you.
Soft friction, hard to resent
A glassy pause with a slow breath, not a red warning wall. Every limit can be adjusted or turned off — the pause works because you let it.
Your reasons never leave your machine
Local-first isn't a setting. It's the whole architecture.
browser.storage.local by default
Rules, check-in reasons and statistics live in the browser's local extension storage, and none of it is sent to us. The one optional exception is Pro config sync (off by default): when you switch it on, your browser vendor — Google for Chrome, Mozilla for Firefox — carries rules and settings, and nothing else.
No page content, no cookies
Why First sees the domain you're heading to — never the page's text, forms, cookies, or anything you type into other sites.
No analytics, no account
No remote analytics, no crash beacons, no email signup. Browsing never depends on our servers: the only service Why First runs is a stateless Pro license check that holds no browsing data and no account.
Pricing
Free forever. Pro once, forever.
No subscriptions. Pay once for Pro and keep every current and future Pro feature for life.
Free
$0 forever
- Unlimited rules on any site
- Intent check-in & cooldown (up to 10s)
- Today & 7-day stats per site
- Dark / light Liquid Glass UI
- Chrome & Firefox
Pro — Lifetime
$5.99 regular $10 one-time, lifetime updates
- Everything in Free
- 10,000 AI Credits for AI intent judgments
- URL path rules & allowlist exceptions
- Strong pause (8s breath) per rule
- Full-history stats & JSON export
- Optional config sync across your devices (rules & settings only, via your browser's own sync — off by default; reasons, history and stats never sync)
- All future Pro features, forever
Includes 10,000 AI Credits. Need more? Extra credits are US$5 per 10,000.
Pro is a lifetime license key you activate once. Activation sends the license key, an anonymous install ID, the product ID, the app version and your browser family to our stateless license service — never a domain, a URL, a reason or a statistic — and we keep no customer or browsing database. Every later request — the background refresh and deactivation — sends only the signed credential and the app version. Offline, Pro keeps working through a grace period of 60 days by default (configurable between 30 and 90), then falls back to Free until the next successful check.
Prices in US dollars.
FAQ
Honest answers
Is this another website blocker?
No. Blockers build walls; Why First asks a question. Every intervention can be continued past, and every rule can be paused or deleted. It works by awareness, not by force.
What data do you collect?
No browsing data reaches us, ever. Why First has no account and no database of what you browse; rules, domains, reasons and statistics stay in your browser's local extension storage and are not sent to us. The only exception is the Pro config sync you can switch on, and then your browser vendor (Google or Mozilla) — not Why First — carries rules and settings between your devices; reasons, history and statistics never sync. If you buy Pro, the only network requests the extension makes are license activation and, later, the background refresh or deactivation. Activation sends the license key, an anonymous install ID, the product ID, the app version and your browser family; the refresh and deactivation requests send only the signed credential and the app version. None of them ever carries anything about your browsing. Enabling optional config sync is the only other flow, and it moves rules and settings only — never reasons, history or statistics.
How does the Pro lifetime license work without an account?
You buy once through our payment partner and get a license key. You paste it into the extension; activation sends the license key, an anonymous install ID, the product ID, the app version and your browser family to our stateless license service — no login, no email, no browsing data. Refresh and deactivation send only the signed credential and the app version. The service returns a signed credential that is stored locally, so the extension verifies Pro on its own from then on. A device that stays offline keeps Pro through a grace period of 60 days by default (configurable between 30 and 90); after that it falls back to Free (your rules, stats and reasons are never deleted) until the next successful check. While you are online the extension refreshes the license in the background, normally about once a week or two; refunded or revoked keys stop working at the next successful check, which is why we do not promise an exact revocation time.
What are AI Credits, and how far do 10,000 go?
AI Credits pay for AI intent judgments: when a rule asks Why First to judge whether the reason you typed actually matches the site you are opening, that judgment is charged to your balance. One judgment costs between 200 and 1,000 credits depending on how much text the model has to read, so 10,000 credits cover between 10 and 50 judgments. Pro includes 10,000; further credits are US$5 per 10,000. The extension can also be pointed at your own AI endpoint with your own API key, and then no credits are spent at all.
Which browsers are supported?
Chrome and Firefox at launch, on the same Manifest V3 codebase with pixel-identical UI. Edge works via the Chrome Web Store. Safari is not promised yet.
Can I turn it off for a while?
Any time. Pause one rule from the toolbar popup, or disable everything in settings. Why First is a tool you hold, not a cage you live in.
Install it. The next impulse is yours to keep.
Add to Chrome Add to Firefox
Not in the stores yet. The Chrome Web Store and Firefox Add-ons listings come next; these badges become install links the day they go live.
Free · 2 minutes to set up · Uninstall anytime