ZenTube

I kept opening YouTube for one video and losing the entire evening. Not once — every single time.

So I built this.

ZenTube is a Chrome extension that removes every hook YouTube uses to keep you watching. Hide the feed, kill autoplay, set a daily limit. Open YouTube with intention, not because the algorithm invited you.

→ Add to Chrome  ·  Website  ·  Buy me a coffee ☕

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What it does

Feature	What it does
Hide Feed	Blank out the homepage so you open YouTube with purpose
Disable Autoplay	Every video ends intentionally
Daily Time Limit	Countdown timer in the corner; full-screen overlay pauses the video when time's up
Hide Sidebar Videos	Remove the "Up Next" rabbit hole
Hide Shorts	Block Shorts from the feed and remove the tab
Hide Comments	Watch without the noise below
Hide Notification Bell	Kill the urgency loop
Hide End Screens	No more clickbait cards in the last 20 seconds
Hide Merch	Remove the shelf below videos
Hide Live Chat	Cleaner viewing on livestreams
Hide Subscriptions Tab	Remove the entire subscriptions section from the sidebar
Disable Playlists	Strip playlist params from URLs so videos play standalone

Presets

• Light — Disable autoplay + hide sidebar videos
• Balanced — Recommended; adds end screens, Shorts tab, notification bell, merch
• Zen — Everything off: feed, comments, Shorts, subscriptions, live chat

Focus tracking

ZenTube tracks how long you're on YouTube and shows it in the popup: "42 min focused today · 3 hr 10 min total."

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Install

From the Chrome Web Store (recommended)

Add to Chrome

From source

git clone https://github.com/raghav4/ZenTube.git
cd ZenTube

1. Open chrome://extensions
2. Enable Developer mode (top right)
3. Click Load unpacked → select the ZenTube folder

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Development

# Generate icons (requires Node.js, no extra deps)
npm run icons

# Cut a release (bumps manifest version, generates changelog, tags, pushes)
npm run release

GitHub Actions handles the rest: zips the extension and attaches it to the GitHub Release.

Project structure

manifest.json       MV3 manifest
content.js          Content script — class toggling, timer, tracking
content.css         CSS rules keyed on html.dfyt-* classes
popup.html/js       Extension popup UI
generate-icons.js   Pure-Node PNG icon generator (no canvas)
scripts/            Release helper scripts
docs/               GitHub Pages landing page
.github/workflows/  Release + Pages CI

Releasing

npm run release
# → prompts for patch/minor/major
# → updates manifest.json version
# → generates CHANGELOG.md entry
# → commits + tags + pushes
# → GitHub Actions attaches the zip to the release

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Requirements

• Chrome 105+ (uses CSS :has())

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Support

If ZenTube helps you reclaim your time, consider buying me a coffee. It keeps the project going.

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License

MIT