Scalpel - Cut Distractions, Not Connections

Precision content blocker for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and more. Remove Shorts, Reels, feeds and distractions.

Scalpel — Cut Distractions, Not Connections Scalpel is a precision content blocker for Chrome that lets you surgically remove the specific features that waste your time across 9 major platforms, without nuking entire websites. Instead of blocking all of YouTube, you block just Shorts. Instead of killing Instagram entirely, you block just Reels and Explore. You stay connected to what matters and cut out what doesn't. 87 Individual Blocking Features Across 9 Platforms & Custom URL Blocking: YouTube (21 features): Shorts, Home Feed, Sidebar recommendations, Comments, Autoplay, Trending, Music, Gaming, Movies & TV, News, Sports, Learning, Fashion & Beauty, Podcasts, Playables, Watch Later, History, Playlists, Liked Videos, Subscriptions, and Your Channel. Instagram (9 features): Reels, Stories, Explore, Suggested Posts, Home Feed, Search, Messages, Notifications, and Create Post. TikTok (11 features): Search, For You feed, Explore, Following feed, LIVE streams, Friends feed, Upload Video, Activity/Notifications, Messages, Profile, and Suggested accounts. Reddit (6 features): r/all, r/popular, Explore, Notifications, Recommended posts, and Comments. Twitter / X (12 features): Home Timeline, Explore, Notifications, Messages, Lists, Bookmarks, Communities, Premium ads, Verified Orgs suggestions, Profile, Trending topics, and Who to Follow. LinkedIn (12 features): Home Feed, My Network, Jobs, Messaging, Notifications, Me Menu, Work tab, LinkedIn Learning, Posts, Ads, Connection Suggestions, and Events. Facebook (12 features): Home Feed, Watch, Marketplace, Groups, Gaming, Stories, Reels, Messenger, Notifications, Menu, Suggested content, and Ads. Spotify (3 features): Search, Home Feed, and Entire Platform. When blocking Search and Home Feed, your existing playlists remain accessible from the sidebar so you can still listen to music while cutting out discovery rabbit holes. ChatGPT (1 feature): Entire Platform block. Every single feature can be toggled independently. Click once to block, click again to unblock. The platform dropdown stays open while you toggle, so you can enable multiple blocks in one go without the menu collapsing on you. Beyond the 9 built-in platforms, you can block any website by URL. Add a URL pattern (like "https://gemini.google.com/app"), give it a name, and it's blocked with the same premium block screen. Custom URLs support enable/disable toggling and the full schedule system, mentioned later on. 4 Built-In Quick Modes + Unlimited Custom Presets: Work Mode blocks the most common time-wasters across all platforms: YouTube Shorts, Home Feed, and Trending; Instagram Reels, Stories, Explore, and Home Feed; TikTok For You, Explore, and LIVE; Reddit r/all and r/popular; Twitter Home Timeline and Explore; Facebook Home Feed, Watch, and Reels; Spotify Search and Home Feed. Study Mode goes further, adding YouTube Sidebar and more Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook blocks on top of Work Mode defaults. Deep Focus blocks nearly everything distracting across all platforms, including notifications, suggested content, ads, and even ChatGPT entirely. This is the maximum concentration mode. All Off instantly disables every block and clears all individual feature toggles. One click to freedom. Every built-in mode is fully customizable. Hover over any mode button to reveal the edit pencil icon, click it, and you get the full configuration modal with two tabs: Features (toggle any of the 87 features on or off for that mode) and Schedule (set when the mode should be active). The original defaults are loaded the first time you open the config, and from there you can tailor it to your exact needs. Everyone's workflow is different — maybe you need LinkedIn Jobs unblocked during Work Mode, or you want Reddit comments available during Study Mode. Customize freely. Custom Presets let you create unlimited additional modes beyond the four built-ins. Click "New Preset" in the presets row, give it a name and an emoji icon, and you're taken straight to the configuration modal to choose which features it blocks and set its schedule. Each preset gets its own edit and delete buttons. Presets work identically to the built-in modes: click to activate, click again to deactivate, click the pencil to reconfigure. Schedule System: Every individual feature and every mode (built-in or custom) supports three scheduling modes: Always Blocked - Active 24/7 with no exceptions. Scheduled Times - Active only during specific time periods you define. You set the days of the week and the start/end times. Overnight periods are supported (for example, 9 PM to 6 AM). You can add as many time periods as you need. Never Blocked - Completely disabled regardless of any other setting. Five quick templates are included to save time: 9-5 Workday (Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM with a lunch break), College Schedule (Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4 PM), Night Blocker (every day, 9 PM to 6 AM), Weekend Detox (Saturday and Sunday, all day), and Deep Work (Monday through Friday, 2 PM to 4 PM). Click any template to instantly load its time periods, then adjust as needed. The schedule system applies to both individual feature toggles and quick modes. A mode's schedule determines when the mode's blocks are active. An individual feature's schedule overrides the mode if you've toggled it separately. Usage Limits: For any individual feature, you can set a daily time limit instead of a hard block. Enable the usage limit, choose a preset (5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes) or type any custom value from 1 to 999 minutes, and the feature stays accessible until you hit your limit. Once the limit is reached, the feature is completely blocked until midnight when the counter resets. The schedule modal shows your current usage for the day with a progress bar, so you always know how much time you have left. Full Audio and Video Killing: When Scalpel blocks a page, it doesn't just overlay a visual block screen. It actively pauses and mutes every video and audio element on the page, clears their sources, and blanks any embedded iframes. A recurring check runs every 500 milliseconds to catch anything that tries to restart playback. This means when YouTube Shorts or TikTok or Instagram Reels get blocked, the audio stops immediately. No more hearing a video playing behind the block screen. The same media killing applies to hidden elements. When Scalpel hides a feed section that contains autoplaying videos, it pauses and mutes those videos too, not just hides them visually. Whitelist / Pause Mode: Need a quick break? The Whitelist feature temporarily disables all blocking for 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. A countdown shows in the header so you know exactly when blocking resumes. You can end the pause early at any time. If password protection is enabled, you need to enter the password to activate a whitelist. Whitelist cannot be activated during Nuclear Mode. Nuclear Mode: For serious focus sessions, Nuclear Mode locks every single setting in the extension for a duration you choose: 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, or 7 days. Once activated, nothing can be changed until the timer expires. No toggling features, no adjusting schedules, no whitelisting. It requires a double confirmation before activation. If you have a password set, it's checked before activation. The header shows a red countdown so you always know how much time remains. Password Protection: Set a password in Settings to protect your configuration. When a password is set, it's required before activating Nuclear Mode or using the Whitelist pause. This adds a friction layer that makes it harder to impulsively undo your blocking setup. Export, Import, and Sync: Export your entire configuration to a JSON file for backup or sharing. Import a previously exported file to restore settings or apply someone else's setup. Chrome Sync keeps your settings synchronized across all devices signed into the same Google account. All of these are accessible from the Settings modal. A full reset option is available with double confirmation to wipe all settings back to factory defaults. Technical Details For Nerds: Built on Chrome Manifest V3 with a background service worker, 10 content scripts (one per platform plus a universal custom URL checker), and full compliance with Chrome's Content Security Policy — zero inline event handlers anywhere in the codebase. Content scripts run at document_start for immediate blocking before any content renders. MutationObserver watches for dynamically loaded content on single-page applications like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Settings are stored in chrome.storage.sync (under the 100KB limit) with real-time usage tracking in chrome.storage.local. A one-minute alarm handles whitelist expiry, nuclear mode countdown, and usage limit resets. Thanks for choosing Scalpel. We built this extension to help you take back control of your time online, and we hope it makes a real difference in your day. If you have a moment, we'd really appreciate an honest review on the Chrome Web Store — whether it's praise, criticism, or a feature request, your feedback is what helps us improve. Every review matters and directly shapes what we build next. Thank you for being part of this.