YouTube Educational Filter

A Chrome/Firefox extension that blocks non-educational YouTube videos using a local LLM (LM Studio) to analyze video content.

Features

• 🎓 AI-Powered Classification - Uses local LLM to determine if videos are educational
• 🚫 Blocks Shorts - Automatically blocks YouTube Shorts
• 🔄 Auto-Redirect - Redirects non-educational videos to YouTube homepage
• ⚙️ Customizable Prompt - Modify the AI classification prompt to your needs
• 💾 Smart Caching - Caches results to avoid repeated API calls
• 🌐 Cross-Browser - Works on both Chrome and Firefox

Requirements

• Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browser
• LM Studio running locally with a model loaded

Installation

Chrome

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YoutubeBlocker.git
   

2. Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/

3. Enable "Developer mode" (toggle in top right)

4. Click "Load unpacked" and select the cloned folder

Firefox

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YoutubeBlocker.git
   

2. Rename the manifest file:

   # In the cloned folder, replace manifest.json with Firefox version
   mv manifest.json manifest.chrome.json
   mv manifest.firefox.json manifest.json
   

3. Open Firefox and navigate to about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox

4. Click "Load Temporary Add-on..."

5. Select the manifest.json file from the cloned folder

Note: For permanent Firefox installation, the extension needs to be signed by Mozilla or installed in Firefox Developer/Nightly with xpinstall.signatures.required set to false.

Setup

1. Download and install LM Studio

2. Load a model in LM Studio (recommended: any instruction-following model)

3. Start the local server in LM Studio (default: http://localhost:1234)

4. Click the extension icon in Chrome to configure:

   • API URL: LM Studio endpoint (default: http://localhost:1234/v1/chat/completions)
   • Enable Extension: Toggle the filter on/off
   • Block All Shorts: Toggle Shorts blocking
   • Classification Prompt: Customize how videos are evaluated

5. Click "Test Connection" to verify LM Studio is reachable

How It Works

1. When you visit a YouTube video, the extension extracts:

   • Video title
   • Channel name
   • Video description

2. This metadata is sent to your local LLM with a classification prompt

3. The LLM responds with "EDUCATIONAL" or "NOT_EDUCATIONAL"

4. Non-educational videos are blocked and you're redirected to YouTube homepage

Customizing the Prompt

You can customize the classification prompt in the extension settings. Use these placeholders:

• {title} - Video title
• {channel} - Channel name
• {description} - Video description

Privacy

• All processing happens locally on your machine
• No data is sent to external servers
• Video metadata is only sent to your local LM Studio instance

License

MIT License