Astra Deck

Premium YouTube enhancement extension for Chrome and Firefox with 150+ features — theater split, DeArrow, downloads with format/quality controls, transcript viewer, video/channel hiding, and deep playback customization.

Download Latest Release

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Installation

Chrome / Edge / Brave

Option A — CRX sideload:

1. Download astra-deck-chrome-v*.crx from the latest release
2. Open chrome://extensions/, enable Developer mode
3. Drag and drop the .crx file onto the page

Option B — Unpacked:

1. Download or clone the extension/ folder
2. Open chrome://extensions/, enable Developer mode
3. Click Load unpacked and select the extension/ folder

Firefox

1. Download astra-deck-firefox-v*.xpi from the latest release
2. Open about:addons, click the gear icon, select Install Add-on From File
3. Select the .xpi file

Requires Firefox 128+.

Userscript (Tampermonkey / Violentmonkey)

A userscript build is also available. Install Tampermonkey or Violentmonkey, then click here to install.

Some features (SharedAudio, Return YouTube Dislike, SponsorBlock per-category, Cobalt downloads) are only available in the userscript. The extension uses a MediaDL-only download path.

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Features

Core

Feature	Default
Theater Split — fullscreen video, scroll to reveal comments side-by-side	On
Video Hider — hide videos/channels from feeds with X buttons, keyword filter, regex, duration filter	On
Video Context Menu — right-click player for downloads, VLC/MPV streaming, transcript, screenshot	On
Settings Panel — searchable, categorized, instant-apply, export/import/reset	On
Comment Search — filter watch-page comments inline	Off
DeArrow — replace clickbait titles/thumbnails via crowdsourced database	Off

Interface

Feature	Default
Logo Quick Links — hover dropdown with History, Watch Later, Playlists, Liked, Subs	On
Hide Sidebar / Hide Shorts / Hide Related / Hide Description	On
Subscriptions Grid / Homepage Grid Align / Videos Per Row	On
Styled Filter Chips / Compact Layout / Thin Scrollbar	On
Square Search Bar / Square Avatars	On
Compact Unfixed Header / Force Dark Everywhere	Off

Watch Page

Feature	Default
Watch Page Restyle — glassmorphism accents, refined metadata	On
Native Comments Layout — keep YouTube comments clean without extension restyling	On
Expand Video Width / Disable Ambient Mode	On
Hide Merch, AI Summary, Hashtags, Pinned Comments, Info Panels	On
Clean Share URLs — strip tracking params	On
Auto-Expand Description / Sticky Chat / Scroll to Player	Off

Video Player

Feature	Default
Always Best Quality — picks highest available stream, prefers 1080p Premium when offered	On
Auto-Resume Position (configurable threshold)	On
Custom Progress Bar Color (color picker)	Off
Remaining Time Display / Time in Tab Title	Off
A-B Loop / Fine Speed Control / Persistent Speed / Per-Channel Speed	Off
Codec Selector (H.264/VP9/AV1) / Force Standard FPS	Off
Video Screenshot / Video Zoom (Ctrl+scroll, up to 5x)	Off
Cinema Ambient Glow / Nyan Cat Progress Bar	Off
Speed Indicator Overlay / Custom Speed Buttons (0.5x-3x)	Off
Pop-Out Player (Document PiP) / PiP Button / Fullscreen on Double-Click	Off

Content Filtering

Feature	Default
Remove Shorts / Redirect Shorts to Regular Player	On
Channels open on Videos Tab	On
Hide Collaborations / News / Playlists / Playables / Members Only	On
Hide Watched Videos (dim or hide) / Grayscale Thumbnails	Off
Anti-Translate / Not Interested Button / Open in New Tab	Off
Disable Infinite Scroll / Disable SPA Navigation	Off

Downloads

Feature	Default
Download Options Popup — format, quality, and save directory per download	On
Video Formats — MP4, MKV, WebM	MP4
Audio Formats — MP3, M4A, Opus, FLAC, WAV	MP3
Quality Selector — Best, 4K, 1440p, 1080p, 720p, 480p	Best
Custom Save Directory — override per download or set globally	Downloads
Context Menu — quick "Download Video" and "Download Audio" on right-click	On
Auto-Download on Visit	Off
Download Thumbnail (maxres)	Off

Downloads use Astra Downloader, the bundled local yt-dlp + ffmpeg companion. The extension probes 9751 plus fallback ports (9761, 9771, 9781, 9791, 9851) and only accepts health responses that identify as the Astra downloader service.

Comments

Feature	Default
Sort Comments Newest First	Off
Creator Comment Highlight	Off
Comment Handle Revealer — show original channel name next to @handle	Off
Preload Comments	Off

Live Chat

Feature	Default
Premium Live Chat styling	On
Configurable element hiding (header, emoji, super chats, polls, etc.)	On
Chat Keyword Filter	Off
Adaptive Live Layout	Off

Automation & Behavior

Feature	Default
Auto-Dismiss "Still Watching?"	Off
Auto Theater Mode / Auto Subtitles / Auto-Like Subscribed	Off
Auto-Pause on Tab Switch / Pause Other Tabs	Off
Auto-Open Chapters / Auto-Open Transcript	Off
Auto-Close Popups (cookie/survey/premium)	Off
Prevent Autoplay / Disable Autoplay Next	Off
Redirect Home to Subscriptions	Off
Remember Volume / Persistent Speed	Off

Power User

Feature	Default
Resume Playback (500-entry cap, 15s save interval)	Off
Mini Player Bar (floating progress/play/pause on scroll-past)	Off
Playback Stats Overlay (codec, resolution, dropped frames, bandwidth)	Off
Watch Time Tracker (90-day retention) + Analytics Dashboard	Off
Timestamp Bookmarks (inline notes, persistent storage)	Off
Transcript Viewer (sidebar with clickable timestamps) + Export	Off
AI Video Summary (OpenAI / Anthropic / Gemini / Ollama, BYO key)	Off
Subtitle Styling (font, size, color, background, position)	Off
Blue Light Filter (adjustable 10-80%)	Off
Focused Mode (hide everything except video + comments)	Off
Custom CSS Injection	Off
CPU Tamer (background tab timer throttling)	Off
Settings Profiles / Statistics Dashboard / Debug Mode	Off
Fit Player to Window	Off

Configurable Element Managers

Toggle individual elements on/off through the settings panel:

• Action Buttons — Like, Dislike, Share, Ask/AI, Clip, Thanks, Save, Sponsor, More Actions
• Player Controls — Next, Autoplay, Subtitles, Captions, Miniplayer, PiP, Theater, Fullscreen
• Watch Elements — Join Button, Ask Button, Save Button, Ask AI Section, Podcast Section, Transcript Section
• Chat Elements — Header, Menu, Popout, Reactions, Timestamps, Polls, Ticker, Leaderboard, Super Chats, Emoji, Bots

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Settings Panel

Click the gear icon in the YouTube masthead or player controls, or press Ctrl+Shift+Y.

• Searchable sidebar with categorized feature groups
• Toggle switches with instant apply
• Sub-feature controls for granular element hiding
• Textarea editors for keyword filters, quick links, custom CSS
• Export / Import / Reset
• Conflict detection (auto-disables conflicting features with toast notification)

The extension also has a standalone Options Page (chrome://extensions > Astra Deck > Details > Extension options) with storage stats, backup/restore, and a full settings editor modal.

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Architecture

document_start
  early.css          Anti-FOUC CSS (scoped to feature body classes)
  ytkit-main.js      MAIN world — canPlayType patching for codec/format filtering

document_idle
  core/*.js          ISOLATED world — env, storage, styles, url, page, navigation, player
  ytkit.js           ISOLATED world — all features, DOM manipulation, settings UI
  background.js      Service worker — fetch proxy, downloads, cookie bridge

• Split-context model — MAIN world for page API interception, ISOLATED world for extension APIs and DOM
• SPA-aware — hooks yt-navigate-finish, yt-page-data-updated, popstate, and video-id attribute changes
• Tiered feature init — critical features load synchronously, normal features in requestAnimationFrame, lazy features in requestIdleCallback
• Crash recovery — features that crash 3 times auto-disable with console warning
• Conflict map — 6 conflict pairs enforced at both toggle and init time
• Trusted Types compliant — all innerHTML via TrustedHTML policy wrapper
• Safe mode — append ?ytkit=safe to any YouTube URL, or ytkit.unsafe() in console to exit

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Security

• EXT_FETCH proxy uses domain allowlist — blocks SSRF to private networks
• Request/response headers filtered (Cookie, Set-Cookie, etc. stripped globally; Authorization only forwarded to explicit BYO-key/local service origins such as OpenAI/Anthropic/Ollama/MediaDL)
• Response body capped at 10 MB, fetch timeout capped at 60s
• HTTP methods validated, download URLs protocol-checked (HTTP/S only)
• Quick Links blocks javascript:, data:, and vbscript: URIs
• Explicit CSP: script-src 'self'; object-src 'self'

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Compatibility

Browser	Method	Status
Chrome / Edge / Brave	Extension (MV3)	Fully supported
Firefox 128+	Extension (MV3)	Fully supported
Chrome / Firefox	Tampermonkey / Violentmonkey	Supported (userscript)
Safari	Userscripts app	Limited

Not supported: Mobile browsers, YouTube Music, YouTube Studio, embedded players.

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Building

npm ci
npm test
npm run check
npm run build                             # Build at current version
npm run build:userscript                  # Include userscript artifact
node build-extension.js --bump patch      # Bump and build
node build-extension.js --bump minor --with-userscript

Outputs in build/:

• astra-deck-chrome-v*.zip + .crx (CRX3 signed with ytkit.pem)
• astra-deck-firefox-v*.zip + .xpi
• ytkit-v*.user.js (with --with-userscript)

Requires Node 22+ (the crx3 packager dependency needs it).

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Related

Project	Description
MediaDL	Local download server (yt-dlp + ffmpeg) with one-click installer
YoutubeAdblock	Standalone aggressive ad blocker with deeper proxy hooks
Chapterizer	Offline AI chapter generation via NLP

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License

MIT — Matthew Parker