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Pin-Tube: Minimalist YouTube Web Extension

A lightweight, privacy-first browser extension that completely overhauls the YouTube viewing experience. It natively injects a custom 'Pinned Videos' shelf into the homepage, removes distracting Shorts and tags, and allows you to seamlessly resume videos from the exact timestamp you left off.

2026Creator & Lead Engineer
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Pin-Tube: Minimalist YouTube Web Extension

Key Achievements

  • Engineered a dynamic, single-codebase build pipeline (Node.js/Terser) supporting both Chrome and Firefox (Manifest V3).
  • Developed custom vanilla JS DOM manipulation scripts to seamlessly inject a 'Pinned Videos' shelf directly into the native YouTube UI.
  • Implemented precise, sub-second timestamp saving to resume playback seamlessly.
  • Created a robust JSON state import/export functionality for cross-device synchronization without relying on cloud databases.
  • Eliminated doom-scrolling by algorithmically hiding the YouTube Shorts shelf, Shorts sidebar links, and keyword recommendation tags.
  • Successfully passed strict Mozilla Add-on automated validations with zero warnings by completely removing unsafe innerHTML usage and leveraging secure DOM APIs.
  • Designed a custom Pin/Unpin SVG icon that natively integrates with the YouTube video player controls.
  • Maintained 100% privacy by keeping all data local via `chrome.storage.local`.

Technologies

Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+)HTML5 / CSS3Chrome Extension API (chrome.storage)Firefox WebExtensions APIManifest V3Terser (Minification)Node.js (Build Automation)Git & GitHub Actions

Project Details

Pin-Tube was born out of a personal need to regain control over the YouTube homepage. The modern YouTube algorithm is designed to maximize watch time through hyper-addictive features like Shorts and keyword recommendation chips. Pin-Tube acts as a digital minimalist tool, stripping away these distractions to provide a clean, intentional browsing experience.

The core feature allows users to 'pin' any currently watching video or playlist directly to a custom, natively-styled shelf at the absolute top of their YouTube homepage. This shelf acts as a personal watch-later queue that remembers the exact timestamp where playback was stopped, effectively turning YouTube into a personalized, resume-friendly platform.

  • Cross-Browser Architecture: Maintained a single vanilla JavaScript codebase that compiles into specialized artifacts for Chrome and Firefox using a custom Node.js build pipeline.
  • Privacy-First Design: All data is stored strictly on the user's local machine (`chrome.storage.local`). Absolutely no telemetry, analytics, or external servers are used.
  • State Portability: Users can export their entire pinned library as a lightweight JSON file and import it on any other device or browser, ensuring they never lose their data.
  • Secure Execution: Entirely eliminated the use of unsafe HTML parsing (`innerHTML`) in favor of secure `document.createElementNS`, achieving a 100% security pass rate from Mozilla reviewers.

A significant technical challenge was dynamically injecting the pinned shelf into YouTube's complex, Single-Page Application (SPA) architecture (Polymer framework). This required advanced DOM observation using `MutationObserver` to ensure the custom elements load reliably regardless of how the user navigates through the site.

Links: You can view the landing page at xforbes.com/pin-tube, download it from the Chrome Web Store, or view the open-source code on GitHub.

Gallery

Pin-Tube custom homepage shelf with pinned videos
Pin-Tube native player integration and UI controls
Pin-Tube dashboard for managing and exporting saved videos