AutoControl - Script to enable automation for SelfControl

Installation

• Download autocontrol.applescript from the GitHub repository

• Create a Keychain password entry for SelfControl

  • Open Keychain -> Create Password -> Set Keychain Item Name and Account Name to SelfControl
  • Set Password to your user admin password

Why? SelfControl requires your user admin password to start a block. The script uses this new Keychain entry to enter the user admin password automatically

• To start a block, run osascript PATH/TO/autocontrol.scpt 120 where 120 represents the duration of your desired block in minutes. By default, if no duration is specified, the block duration will be set to 1 hour. This can be changed inside the script.

How to Automate

I recommend using cron for scheduling your blocking.

To start, open your terminal and enter crontab -e to edit your cron entries

For documentation on how to format cronjob times, visit crontab.guru

Some example entries:

Everyday at 9AM, start a 3 hour block

00 9 * * * osascript ~/scripts/autocontrol.scpt 180

Every weekday at 10PM, start a 2 hour block

00 22 * * 1,2,3,4,5 osascript ~/scripts/autocontrol.scpt 120

Notes:

• cron may not work if it does not have Full Disk Access.

  • To enable, go to System Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Full Disk Access -> Click + -> Press command+shift+G -> Type /usr/sbin/cron -> Press Enter -> Select the cron file -> Click Open

• Support for multiple blocklists in currently unavailible, however, coming soon.