My kid watched YouTube on my account for an afternoon. The next day, my entire home feed was Roblox videos.
That moment made me realize how fragile YouTube recommendations really are — one session and everything gets polluted.
Before that, I was already running three separate YouTube accounts: one for work, one for hobbies, one just for music. It kept things clean, but constantly switching between them was exhausting. I'd always put it off, and the algorithm would gradually turn into chaos.
The problem with existing solutions
- Separate accounts — too much friction to switch constantly
- Incognito — loses all subscriptions and history
- Block YouTube entirely — too aggressive, I use it for learning
None of them let me just say: "right now I'm in work mode, show me work stuff."
What I built
ContextTube — a Chrome extension that adds a floating button to YouTube. One click switches your mode:
- 🔵 Work — filters to tech, programming, business, productivity
- 🟢 Hobby — gaming, music, anime, lifestyle
- ⚪ All — normal YouTube
- ✏️ Custom — build your own with any keywords (Pro)
All filtering happens locally in your browser. No data collected, no account needed.
How it works
It tags each video element with a data-ycs attribute based on keyword matching against the title and channel name, then uses CSS to hide non-matching videos. English keywords use word-boundary regex (\bkeyword\b) to avoid false matches.
Links
- Chrome Web Store: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/contexttube/klalfnbbjmnelkfoooehmgnodclghkcc
- Free with 3 built-in modes. Pro ($4.99 one-time) for unlimited custom modes.
Would love feedback from fellow devs!
