Astra Deck

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

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, 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
Return YouTube Dislike — show dislike counts via RYD API	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
Refined Comments — card layout with clean thread lines	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
Auto Quality (Max/4K/1440p/1080p/720p/480p) / Enhanced Bitrate	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
Local Download Button (via MediaDL / yt-dlp)	On
MP3 Download Button	On
Auto-Download on Visit	Off
Download Thumbnail (maxres)	Off
Download Quality selector (best/2160/1440/1080/720/480)	Best

Downloads use the built-in MediaDL server which bundles yt-dlp + ffmpeg. Install via the one-click installer in the settings panel — no manual setup required.

Comments

Feature	Default
Comment Search — filter bar above comments	Off
Comment Navigator — J/K keyboard navigation	Off
Sort Comments Newest First	Off
Creator Comment Highlight	Off
Handle Revealer — show original channel name next to @handle	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)	Off
Timestamp Bookmarks (inline notes, persistent storage)	Off
Transcript Viewer (sidebar with clickable timestamps)	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+Alt+Y / 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)

document_idle
  ytkit.js           ISOLATED world — all features, DOM manipulation, settings UI
  background.js      Service worker — fetch proxy, downloads, cookie bridge, panel toggle

• Single ISOLATED world script — no MAIN world scripts in the extension build
• 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 (strips Cookie, Authorization, Set-Cookie, etc.)
• Response body capped at 10 MB, fetch timeout capped at 60s
• HTTP methods validated, download URLs protocol-checked (HTTP/S only)
• 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 install
node build-extension.js                    # Build at current version
node build-extension.js --bump patch       # Bump and build
node build-extension.js --bump minor --with-userscript  # Include userscript artifact

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)

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Related

Project	Description
YoutubeAdblock	Standalone aggressive ad blocker with deeper proxy hooks
Chapterizer	Offline AI chapter generation via NLP (formerly YTKit's ChapterForge)

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License

MIT — Matthew Parker