DEV Community: Akshit

How I built a browser extension that converts at 64% (and kept it under 20KB)

Akshit — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:14:59 +0000

Hey everyone!

I’m Akshit, a MERN stack developer, and I want to share a recent win with a side project that’s been taking off lately.

Like a lot of you, I get annoyed when YouTube automatically turns on auto-generated captions. You turn them off, click another video, and they’re back. It’s a tiny friction point, but it breaks the flow.

I looked for solutions, but I absolutely hate bloated software. I’m the kind of guy who squeezes every last drop of performance out of my hardware, and I believe code should be exactly the same. I didn't want an extension that ate up RAM or injected heavy scripts just to hide some text.

So, I built No CC: Hide YouTube™ Captions & Subtitles.

My primary goal was extreme efficiency. No unnecessary background scripts, no heavy libraries, just pure, clean, native code.

The result? The entire extension including all icons and assets is under 20KB.

What started as a personal tool to fix a minor annoyance has suddenly started gaining some real traction. I recently checked my dashboards across Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, and I’m about to cross the 200 Weekly Active Users milestone!

Here are a few stats from the last 30 days that blew my mind:

64.6% Conversion Rate: Roughly 2 out of 3 people who visit the Chrome store page install it.

80% Retention: People who install it are actually keeping it.

Global Reach: The top install regions are the US, Germany, and Japan.

Seeing an ultra-lightweight tool I built in my room scale globally has been an amazing feeling and it validates that users do care about performant, bloat-free software.

I’d love for the Dev community to tear it apart (or try it out!)

If you watch a lot of YouTube and hate the auto-captions, I’d be honored if you gave it a spin. Because it's so lightweight, you literally won't even notice it's running except that those annoying CCs will be gone forever.

NO-CC Page Link
Chrome Web Store
Firefox Add-ons
Edge Add-ons

My ask: If you find it useful, dropping a quick review or rating on the store would mean the absolute world to me. It helps small, independent tools like this get visibility over the bloated corporate extensions.

Also, if you have any questions about building cross-browser extensions or optimizing assets to get under that 20KB mark, ask away in the comments!

[Boost]

Akshit — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:23:03 +0000

April Fools Challenge Submission ☕️🤡

Akshit

Apr 4

Adtube: I Made YouTube 10x Better (You’re Welcome)

#showdev #devchallenge #418challenge #webdev

Comments 1

2 min read

Adtube: I Made YouTube 10x Better (You’re Welcome)

Akshit — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 15:36:09 +0000

This is a submission for the DEV April Fools Challenge

What I Built

I built AdTube (Faketube): a fully functional YouTube-like web app designed to make your experience as frustrating as possible.

It looks clean. It feels familiar. It works.

But every interaction is engineered to betray you.

Clicking a video triggers unskippable ads
Premium doesn’t remove ads
The more you interact, the worse it gets

This project intentionally solves zero real-world problems.

Instead, it explores how far we can push dark patterns, user frustration, and anti-value design… while still keeping the system technically robust and believable.

Demo

Live Demo: https://adtube.si4k.online

Try to:

Watch a full video
Escape ads
Buy Premium
Find all hidden teapots ☕

Good luck.
You’ll need it.

Code

GitHub Repo: https://github.com/akshitkamboz13/adtube

The codebase includes:

A global "Chaos Engine" using Zustand
A custom video player with forced ad interruptions
A fake streaming system using chunked video playback
A TTS system for some dynamic ad voiceovers
Hidden Easter egg tracking system (☕ 0/5)

How I Built It

Next.js (App Router)
Tailwind CSS for UI
Framer Motion for animations and chaos effects
Zustand for global ad state management
Custom TTS pipeline using Google Translate proxy
LocalStorage-based persistence for user behavior tracking

The entire system is designed to simulate a real product while intentionally degrading user experience over time.

Prize Category

Best Google AI Usage

While I did not directly integrate a live API, I used Google AI tools during the creative and content generation process.

Video assets were generated using Google Veo 3, helping create surreal, synthetic content that fits the chaotic nature of AdTube.
I experimented with Google Antigravity concepts to inspire unconventional interaction patterns and anti-UX behaviors in the product.

This project explores how AI-generated media and experimental thinking can enhance satire, user manipulation, and absurd product design.

Best Ode to Larry Masinter

The system includes multiple hidden HTTP 418 "I'm a teapot" Easter eggs triggered through user interactions such as:

Clicking ads
Searching for "teapot"
Attempting premium checkout

Community Favorite

The project is designed to be shareable, frustrating, and strangely addictive — encouraging users to explore, suffer, and laugh.

If you managed to survive AdTube…
you probably deserve Premium.
Unfortunately, Premium also shows ads.