# specialunderwear/Hosts.prefpane

a Cocoa GUI for /etc/hosts

Repository: https://github.com/specialunderwear/Hosts.prefpane
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hostsprefpane
Homepage: http://niggazpullintriggaz.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-i-managed-to-edit-etchosts-without.html
Language: Objective-C
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2020-09-25T18:42:53+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5498, "days_push": 2168, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_readme
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1632, forks 122 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:14.139122+00:00)

## What it is
A macOS System Preferences pane providing a Cocoa GUI for editing /etc/hosts, with input validation and per-entry enable/disable toggles. It lets users manage host file entries without touching the terminal or becoming root manually.

## Use cases
- edit /etc/hosts on mac without terminal
- toggle hosts file entries on and off
- point a domain to localhost for local development
- test a website before DNS switchover
- skip a load balancer by overriding DNS
- manage hosts entries with a GUI instead of emacs

## When to choose
- you're on macOS and want a native GUI for the hosts file
- you frequently switch between environments by toggling host entries
- non-technical teammates need to override DNS for testing

## When to avoid
- you need hosts file management on Linux or Windows
- you want scripted or automated hosts file changes
- you need a maintained tool with recent updates (last release 2020)

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: gui, file-system, networking, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, networking, operating-systems, apple-ecosystem
- platform: -
- tags: hosts-file, system-preference-pane, cocoa, objective-c, dns, local-development, macos, desktop

## Member repositories
- specialunderwear/Hosts.prefpane (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:14.139122+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 2026-08-30T03:47:48.272509+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - homepage: http://niggazpullintriggaz.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-i-managed-to-edit-etchosts-without.html (fetched 2026-08-29T11:20:21.263236+00:00, sha 1132020916a7)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.