# scottlerch/HostsFileEditor

Easily edit and manage the hosts file for Windows

Repository: https://github.com/scottlerch/HostsFileEditor
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hostsfileeditor
Homepage: https://hostsfileeditor.com/
Language: C#
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: c-sharp, hostseditor, hostsfile, tray
Last push: 2026-07-14T23:38:53+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 94/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 92, release rhythm 93, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4954, "days_push": 50, "days_rel": 51, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1252, forks 151 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:08.487478+00:00)

## What it is
A Windows desktop application for editing and managing the hosts file as a sortable, filterable table with undo/redo, presets/archives, and tray integration. It includes a headless command line for scripting and elevates via a single UAC prompt only when saving changes.

## Use cases
- edit windows hosts file without notepad
- block websites by mapping domains to localhost
- point a domain at a local dev server
- switch hosts file presets between environments
- temporarily disable the hosts file
- script hosts file changes from the command line
- merge another hosts file skipping duplicates

## When to choose
- you're on Windows and edit the hosts file regularly
- you need presets/archives for switching between dev environments
- you want a GUI with filtering, sorting, and undo/redo for host entries
- you need to script hosts file changes

## When to avoid
- you're on Linux or macOS
- you only need a one-off hosts edit and are comfortable with a text editor
- you need DNS-level or network-wide blocking rather than per-machine hosts entries

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: developer-tools, gui, cli, configuration-management, networking
- domain: developer-tools, networking, windows
- platform: windows, cli
- tags: hosts-file, system-utility, tray-app, presets, uac-elevation, csharp, dotnet, command-line, desktop

## Member repositories
- scottlerch/HostsFileEditor (main) score 94

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:08.487478+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:07:34.722293+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/scottlerch/HostsFileEditor (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:08.487478+00:00, sha 871684eaa2d2)
  - homepage: https://hostsfileeditor.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:17.320161+00:00, sha 74630ebc310c)
  - site_page: https://hostsfileeditor.com/docs/signing.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:18:17.329782+00:00, sha 6b269a7c3a7f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.