🚫 LinkedIn Feed Blocker

Created by andrewpollack, this project is a lightweight Chrome extension designed to strip away the distractions of the LinkedIn home feed while ensuring the rest of the platform remains fully operational.

🎯 Project Overview

The primary goal of this tool is to eliminate the ~~infinite scroll of social posts~~ while maintaining access to the professional utility of the site.

Key Functionalities

Feed Erasure: Completely hides the primary feed located at /feed.
Pagination Block: Stops the infinite-scroll mechanism from loading more posts.
Selective Preservation: The following features remain completely untouched:
- User Profiles
- Job Search & Listings
- Direct Messaging
- Notifications
- General Search

The Motivation: "I like LinkedIn for finding jobs and chatting with recruiters." After experiencing the chaos of the standard home page, the author decided to build a cleaner alternative.

Visual Comparison

State	Experience
Before
After

🛠️ Installation Guide

Since this is a minimal project, you can install it manually by following these steps:

Step 1: Download or git clone the repository to a permanent folder on your local drive.
Step 2: Launch Google Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions.
Step 3: Toggle the Developer mode switch in the upper-right corner.
Step 4: Load the extension from your local folder.

Note: The extension will stay active until you manually remove it or disable it via the extensions menu.

⚙️ Technical Implementation

The extension operates using a combination of CSS for visual hiding and JSON rules for network blocking.

Logic Flow

Component Breakdown

File	Purpose	Detail
`feed.css`	Visual Suppression	Hides the feed and the post composer.
`rules.json`	Network Filtering	Blocks specific API requests.
`manifest.json`	Configuration	Defines extension permissions and metadata.

CSS Logic

The extension targets the specific data-testid used by LinkedIn to identify the feed:

[ data-testid = "mainFeed" ] { 
    display : none !important ; 
}

Network Logic

To prevent the browser from wasting resources on infinite scrolling, rules.json targets the specific pager ID: sduiid=com.linkedin.sdui.pagers.feed.mainFeed

Nuance: By targeting the mainFeed pager specifically rather than a general pagination endpoint, the extension avoids breaking pagination on other critical pages (like job searches).

👨‍💻 Developer Notes

Updating the Extension

If you modify manifest.json, rules.json, or feed.css, follow this sequence to apply changes:

Go to chrome://extensions.
Locate LinkedIn Feed Blocker.
Click the Reload icon $\circlearrowright$ .
Refresh your LinkedIn tab.

Productivity Formula

The effectiveness of this tool can be expressed as: $\text{Focus} = \text{Professional Utility} - \text{Feed Distractions}$

📄 Additional Information

License: MIT License
Repository: andrewpollack/linkedin-feed-blocker
Language: Minimalist implementation using Web Extensions API.