Sanctum
Pause before YouTube pulls you into another loop
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Sanctum - Pause before YouTube pulls you into another loop

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Sanctum is a Chrome extension that helps you use YouTube intentionally instead of getting pulled into recommendations, autoplay, and Shorts. It adds gentle friction through pause prompts, viewing intentions, mindful breaks, and short reflections. The goal is not to block YouTube, but to help you notice when your original intention starts to drift. For this OpenAI Day release, GPT-5.6 helped refine the UX, copy, and interaction flows.

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Maker
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Hi Product Hunt! 👋 I built Sanctum because I often opened YouTube with a clear purpose, then lost that purpose to recommendations, autoplay, and Shorts. Most tools treat distraction as something to block completely. I wanted to explore a gentler approach: adding a small pause at the right moment, so users can notice what they are about to do and choose again. Sanctum includes viewing intentions, pause prompts, mindful breaks, and lightweight reflections. For this OpenAI Day release, I used GPT-5.6 to review the UX, clarify the language, and refine key interaction flows. Sanctum is still evolving, and I would especially appreciate feedback on one question: Does the added friction feel helpful, or does it interrupt the experience too much? Thanks for taking a look. I’m happy to answer any questions!
OpenAI
OpenAI Day
What did GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna unlock that made your launch possible?
Maker
GPT-5.6 helped me turn Sanctum from a working Chrome extension into a clearer, more launch-ready product. It reviewed the onboarding and intervention flows, identified moments that could feel confusing or overly intrusive, refined the product copy, and helped me explain the product’s core value more precisely. Most importantly, it helped me evaluate Sanctum’s central design balance: adding enough friction to interrupt mindless YouTube use without becoming another rigid blocker. This accelerated product decisions and reduced the number of manual iterations needed to prepare the OpenAI Day release.