Priority modifiers

Actions such as allow, block, flee, or blot can have their priorities modified by a + symbol to raise priority, or a - symbol to lower priority.

Priority is a Plucky mechanic that is invisible to the user, but is essential in determining which rules should be preferred against overlapping rules.

Examples of priority

Here are some examples of overlapping rules, and which one has priority.

block image
allow amazon.com

Images are blocked generally, but amazon.com is allowed as a specific host, so allow amazon.com has priority.

allow otherwise
block program code.exe

Most things are allowed by default, but block code.exe has priority because it is a specific block rule.

flee word tacos
unflee host wikipedia.org word tacos

The word “tacos” is fled on all hosts except wikipedia because a specific exception has been made for it via unflee.

The above 3 examples show that Plucky prefers to give priority to more specific actions over less specific actions in cases where rules overlap.

Manually overriding priority

There are cases where it’s useful to manually prioritize a rule, rather than let Plucky decide.

Some obvious examples of such use-cases would be focus sessions for work or studying, or aiding sleep by removing distractions. This is where the + and - symbols are useful.

To manually override an action’s priority, append + to the action to raise its priority or - to lower it.

Most priority to least

action+++
action++
action+
action
action-
action--
action---

Rules are capped at 3 modifiers. So +++ and --- are as high/low as you can go.

Block more during sleep time

This example will block websites (including whitelisted sites) during sleep time, but leave important (allow+) things accessible.

when 0-7,23-24 block+ text/html
allow facebook.com                # blocked
allow instagram.com               # blocked
allow+ mail.google.com            # allowed

Facebook and Instagram will be blocked from 11pm until 7am, but Gmail will be allowed.

Study session

Quickly set up a focus session for study or work.

allow gmail.com
allow reddit.com
allow+ khanacademy.org
when now+2h block+ otherwise

For 2 hours from the time the bottom command is entered, everything except khanacademy.org will be blocked.

allow outranks blot

While this behavior may change in the future, until this page is updated any kind of allow will outrank any kind of blot. To apply a blot to an “allowed” host or url, instead make the host or url an “unblocked” host or url.

Instead of this:

pluck + allow wikipedia.org
pluck + blot+ word pizza

Do this:

pluck + unblock wikipedia.org
pluck + blot word pizza