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gorhill
uMatrix
JavaScript2014–2025
gorhill / uMatrix · Archived

uMatrix

uMatrix: Point and click matrix to filter net requests according to source, destination and type

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102Distinct people
123Mentions
4Explicit recommenders
4.7KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

uMatrix: Point and click matrix to filter net requests according to source, destination and type

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

I love uMatrix, but all evidence is that they stopped developing it in 2021. https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix I don't know the implications of that, it's the only tool I've…

neltnerb used a recommendation phrase. 4 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 12:54:37 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year123 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2014-12-27 13:39:25 UTC to 2025-12-17 19:45:41 UTC.

01020302014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments20142015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 15 mentions; 0 submissions, 15 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 18 mentions; 0 submissions, 18 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 16 mentions; 0 submissions, 16 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 27 mentions; 1 submissions, 26 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 12 mentions; 0 submissions, 12 comments20192020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 9 mentions; 1 submissions, 8 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 11 mentions; 3 submissions, 8 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 8 mentions; 0 submissions, 8 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2025

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC15015
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC18018
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC16016
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC27126
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC12012
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC918
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC1138
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC808
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
uMatrix Definitely for advanced users. Keep Github issues for actual bugs. User support is /r/uMatrix. Forked and refactored from HTTP Switchboard. Install manually the latest release, or install from: Firefox AMO To help find issues with ongoing development: uMatrix dev build in Releases (click the latest uMatrix.webext.signed.xpi link of the last pre-resease.) Chrome store To help find issues with ongoing development: uMatrix dev build in Chrome store Opera store You may contribute with translation work: For in-app strings, on Crowdin: uMatrix on Crowdin. For description (to be used in AMO, Chrome store, etc.), submit a pull request. Reference description is here (feel free to improve as you wish, I am not a writer). HTTP Switchboard's documentation is still relevant, except for uMatrix's differences with HTTP Switchboard. You may contribute with documentation: uMatrix's wiki. Warnings Regarding broken sites uMatrix does not guarantee that sites will work fine: it is for advanced users who can figure how to un-break sites, because essentially uMatrix is a firewall which works in relaxed block-all/allow-exceptionally mode out of the box: it is not unexpected that sites will break. So this means do not file issues to report broken sites when the sites are broken because uMatrix does its job as expected. I will close any such issue without further comment. Using uMatrix logger is key to un-break sites: the logger will show you all that uMatrix does internally. I expect there will be community driven efforts for users to help each others. If uMatrix had a home, I would probably set up a forum, but I do not plan for such thing, I really just want to code, not manage web sites. If you need help to un-break a site when using uMatrix, you can try Wilders Security, where you are likely to receive help if needed, whether by me or other users. uMatrix can be set to work in allow-all/block-exceptionally mode with a single click on the all cell in the global scope *, if you prefer to work this way. This will of course break less sites, but you would then lose all the benefits which comes with block-all/allow-exceptionally mode -- though you will still benefit from the 62,000+ blacklisted hostnames by default. License GPLv3.
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

123 sources
lurtbancaster·Apr 3, 2023
My point is that if it's just Tor Browser without Tor, then there's functionally no reason to have that build be incompatible with Windows 7. Unless they deliberately coded it in like if OS=Win7/Win8 ; then Crash ; else Run Which would be a dick move, especially because Firefox, on which Tor Browser and Mullvad Browser are based, still supports Windows 7. --------- Now to your point. It is absolutely possible to run Windows 7 reasonably securely. Well..., depends on your usecase. But the way in which I keep it secure might be a little cumbersome to some. My router runs PFSense with Suricata, and I encrypt my DNS traffic. I run a combination of Peerblock(while no longer maintained, it works splendidly in whitelist mode)[1], and Simplewall Firewall[2]. I run a combination of uMatrix(which again, while no longer maintained, it works gre
Read the rest
at in whitelist mode)[3], and NoScript[4] on my Firefox web browser which I run inside Sandboxie[5]. There are also various services that are insecure and must be turned off - UPnP, Print Spooler, RDP etc. I run mostly FOSS software. The few proprietary closed source software(Games, Sublime Text) that I do run, I run them in SandBoxie or QEMU. Here are my reasons for not upgrading: I've modified my `UXTheme.dll` to significantly change my "Desktop Environment" to suit my workflow, and I've heard from people I know to be credible, that latter Windows versions(8 onwards) break system UI modifications when they update, and they don't work quite as well afterward. My modified Win7 UI is way too important to my workflow. Python have stopped releasing binaries for Win7 after 3.8.10[6] but I'm okay with it. If I do need the newer Python versions for something, I'll just use my Linux Desktop or run Linux in a virtual machine for a Python quickie. Windows 7 is extremely stable. While not as stable as Linux, I often have uptimes of over 350 days, before a BSOD, by which point I can foresee a crash coming and reboot. To lean into your metaphor, Microsoft is now shipping operating systems with "open windows" everywhere(way more open windows than my "insecure" Windows 7 has), and we, as users, are having to rebuild the ISOs they release, to make them more "privacy friendly"(yes I'm aware of the difference between privacy and security but they're really interchangeable here), and even then, we're having to use 3rd party "de-bloaters" and Batch/Powershell scripts off of Github, just so the majority of those proverbial windows are closed back up again. This really shouldn't have to be the case, but it is. Microsoft have decided that they would rather their bread be buttered by advertisers than by the actual users of their software. With Windows 7, I know there's an open window that I can't shut, but I have an electrified fence surrounding my compound, with security cameras and loaded turrets pointed towards that open window and other open windows in my house. I know where Windows 7's security limitations are, and I can mitigate against that, elsewhere. But I will admit, I don't go around recommending laypeople to use Windows 7 though, as the barrier to securing it is high. Even after securing it, the user has to be careful. In my humble opinion, Windows 7 was the last true Microsoft Operating System. It simply does what is asked of it, and moves out of the way. All Microsoft need have done was support Powershell, DirectX, give Win7 a "security updates as a service" business model(which I would've gladly paid for), and make WSL for it(Cygwin is excellent but WSL would be nicer). I know there is 0Patch, a 3rd party company who sell security updates for Windows 7, but I would've appreciated official Microsoft security updates. I would switch to Linux, if there was a robust equivalent to Autohotkey on Linux, and the games I want to run, worked on it. So yeah, I still run Windows 7. I can't see myself ever upgrading to another Microsoft OS, ever again. And I am, and I cannot emphasize this enough, exceedingly happy with it. [1] https://www.peerblock.com/ [2] https://github.com/henrypp/simplewall [3] https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix [4] https://noscript.net [5] https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie
In The Mullvad Browser
vladvasiliu·Aug 22, 2022
My understanding is that uMatrix is a bit different. By default, it will block just about all third-party requests. It can sometimes be a pain to manage, in particular for sites with many redirects and an absurd number of domains. I'm thinking Azure/Office365. It's not a full replacement for uBO either because it won't attempt to do anything fancy to block ads specifically. However, uMatrix is no longer maintained. Its GitHub page [0] says the project has been archived. I'm still using it, don't know whether there are any risks in doing so. [0] https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix
In uBlock Origin works best on Firefox
Anthony-G·Feb 6, 2022
While they often are, there’s no rule that web apps have to be a privacy nightmare. Thanks to Hacker News¹, I recently came across Learn systemd by example². The site itself is hosted by Hetzner, a German hosting provider that take user privacy seriously³ and uses Cloudflare as a privacy-conscious CDN⁴. The only third-party resources it uses are Google fonts. Users of uMatrix⁵ or uBlock Origin⁶ can easily block these resources and the web app works perfectly fine without them. I’d also use Wordle itself as an example of a reasonably user-privacy friendly web application. The only third-party resources it uses is Google Tag Manager (which is blocked by default by uMatrix). I use Firefox with a number of web extensions (Firefox Multi-Account Containers⁷, Decentraleyes⁸, uMatrix, uBlock Origin, Privacy Redirect⁹). These all provide me, an e
Read the rest
nd-user, much greater control over my online privacy than I’d have with a mobile app. I’ve also recommended Decentraleyes and uBlock Origin to non-technical friends as extensions they can install and not worry about configuration. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30071240 2. https://systemd-by-example.com/ 3. https://www.hetzner.com/legal/privacy-policy 4. https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/ 5. https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix 6. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock#ublock-origin 7. https://github.com/mozilla/multi-account-containers#readme 8. https://decentraleyes.org/ 9. https://github.com/SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect
In Play Wordle from Your Terminal

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