If you’re like me, your YouTube homepage is filled with algorithm-recommended videos on all sorts of topics.
For me, IT-related content dominates, especially AI and programming, but I’m also subscribed to quite a few channels on other topics: music, sports, health, entertainment, etc.
In fact, thanks to the little app I created yesterday, I realized—to my great surprise—that the number of YouTube channels I’m subscribed to is much larger than I expected: 887. 😱
Since I’m currently in the very early stages of vibe/context coding with the help of OpenCode, it was only natural that I’d get the idea to build this little app to help me navigate this whole mess.
I used OpenCode in VS Code and in my recent publication here I’d already given you all reasons why I chose that particular combination.
I started literally from scratch—with an empty directory and a vague explanation to the patient OpenCode about what I wanted us to create together. The initial version was even just a simple HTML page.
Following OpenCode’s step-by-step instructions, I managed to create a new project in the Google Cloud Console and configure it relatively easily.
I won’t bore you with the technicalities here, as they’re described in detail in the project’s README file on GitHub.
For now, the app currently runs locally at http://localhost:8080. Later on, I might expand the project with more features and turn it into something of a “Swiss Army knife” for various YouTube-related tasks. Then I might even host it online somewhere. (What would you recommend about it?)
At this point, you can simply clone the repository to your computer and enter your Client ID from your Google Cloud Console project, so it works with your YouTube subscription.
Accordingly, you’ll need to use the Gmail account associated with your YouTube channel to log in. We all have more than one, admit it.
Once you’ve logged into the app, type the specific topic you’re searching for into the search bar, and… that’s it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The app searches for videos on the specified topic ONLY in the YouTube channels you’re subscribed to, not across all of YouTube!
I decided that was enough, and for the rest, there’s the YouTube search function. However, there’s no option to search only within your subscribed channels. (Or at least I did not find one).
Once I was convinced that OpenCode had provided me with a working HTML page (in less than 20 minutes), I decided to take it to the next level: I instructed it to rework everything into a simple React app.
We also added a search function with start and end dates, as well as export to PDF and Markdown.
(I truly love this “we” thing. Coding with AI really gives you the feeling that you’re working with a partner, and I do not have any problem with being the lazier partner in that relationship.)
Here is the complete Tech Stack:
- React 19 - UI framework
- Vite - Build tool and dev server
- @react-oauth/google - Google OAuth authentication
- html2pdf.js - PDF generation
- YouTube Data API v3 - YouTube data access
For an app created in just over an hour, I’d say that’s pretty decent. And I hope it’s useful, too.
Speaking of development time, I found an interesting bug here.
At the end of the session, I asked OpenCode directly how long it took us exactly, and it gave me a list of all the processes and their respective durations.
I’m sorry I totally forgot to take a screenshot (and now I can’t open the same session), but the times for all processes and steps were EXTREMELY inflated.
According to this list, building the entire app took at least 3–4 hours, but in reality it was just over an hour.
I have no idea where such a significant discrepancy comes from. I’d be happy if any of you are more knowledgeable about this and could share your insights.
At the end of the session, I kindly thanked my partner:
As hard as it is for me, I’ll refrain from begging you for giving me a GitHub ⭐ for my repo.
Not only because that makes me look like a total newbie, but also because I decided that people will leave a star on their own - if and when they decide it’s useful to them.
Or if they want to support the person who invested time, energy, and heart into this project.
This decision also raises the bar for me. Right? 😀
After accommodating all my design whims, OpenCode also created a decent README file and even promotional posts for Facebook and LinkedIn.
If you were a newbie like me, you might remember that feeling of wanting the whole world to know about your brilliant new project right away.
I’m joking, of course. Or maybe not…
In either case, the world usually doesn’t pay us much attention because it’s too busy with itself.
As usual, non-hateful comments are highly welcome.
It would mean a lot to me. 🙏
Top comments (2)
Helpful.
Thank you. One does not have to be subscribed to 887 YouTube channels (like me), to appreciate that. 😀