YouTube RSS Extractor

A Chrome extension that extracts RSS feed URLs from YouTube channels and videos. Subscribe to your favorite creators in any RSS reader.

Why RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) lets you follow YouTube channels without:

• No algorithm - See every video in chronological order, not what YouTube thinks you want
• No account required - Subscribe without logging in or being tracked
• No notifications - Check your feed when you want, not when YouTube wants
• One place for everything - Combine YouTube with blogs, news, and podcasts in one reader
• No distractions - Skip the homepage, comments, and recommended rabbit holes

Popular RSS readers: Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur, Miniflux

Features

• Extract RSS feed URL from any YouTube channel or video page
• One-click copy to clipboard
• Preview latest videos directly in the popup
• Works on channel pages, video pages, and Shorts
• Minimal permissions (only accesses youtube.com)
• No data collection or external requests (except to YouTube's RSS feed)

Installation

From Source (Developer Mode)

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://extensions/
3. Enable Developer mode (toggle in top right)
4. Click Load unpacked
5. Select the extension directory

Usage

1. Navigate to any YouTube channel or video page
2. Click the extension icon in your toolbar
3. The RSS feed URL will be displayed
4. Click the copy button to copy the URL
5. Paste into your RSS reader (Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur, etc.)

Screenshot

How It Works

The extension uses multiple strategies to detect the channel ID:

1. DOM Elements - Parses video owner links and channel headers
2. RSS Meta Tags - Reads <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"> on channel pages
3. Script Data - Falls back to searching YouTube's initial data scripts

Once the channel ID is found, it constructs the RSS URL:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC...

Manual Method (No Extension)

If you prefer not to install the extension, you can get YouTube RSS feeds manually:

Method 1: From Channel Page Source

1. Go to any YouTube channel page
2. Right-click → View Page Source (or press Ctrl+U)
3. Search for channel_id (press Ctrl+F)
4. Copy the ID that starts with UC (e.g., UCxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
5. Construct the RSS URL:

   https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=YOUR_CHANNEL_ID
   

Method 2: From Video Page

1. Go to any video from the channel
2. Click the channel name to go to their channel page
3. The URL will be one of:
   • youtube.com/channel/UCxxxxxx → The UCxxxxxx part is the channel ID
   • youtube.com/@username → View page source and search for channel_id
4. Use the channel ID in the RSS URL format above

Method 3: Browser Console

On any YouTube video or channel page, open Developer Tools (F12) and run:

document.querySelector('meta[itemprop="channelId"]')?.content
  || document.querySelector('link[rel="alternate"][type="application/rss+xml"]')?.href.match(/channel_id=([^&]+)/)?.[1]

RSS URL Format

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=CHANNEL_ID

Example for a channel with ID UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw:

https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC_x5XG1OV2P6uZZ5FSM9Ttw

Development

Project Structure

youtube-rss-extractor/
├── manifest.json      # Extension configuration (Manifest V3)
├── background.js      # Service worker for badge updates
├── content.js         # Content script for channel detection
├── popup.js           # Popup UI logic
├── index.html         # Popup markup
├── styles.css         # Popup styling
└── icons/             # Extension icons

Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│  background.js  │────▶│   content.js    │◀────│    popup.js     │
│ (service worker)│     │ (YouTube page)  │     │  (extension UI) │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
        │                        │                       │
        ▼                        ▼                       ▼
   Badge update           Channel detection        RSS display

Message Flow

1. User navigates to YouTube → background.js detects URL change
2. background.js sends CHECK_AVAILABILITY to content.js
3. content.js scans page for channel ID, returns availability
4. If found, badge shows "RSS" indicator
5. User clicks extension → popup.js sends GET_CHANNEL_DETAILS
6. content.js returns channel ID, name, and RSS URL
7. popup.js fetches RSS feed and displays recent videos

Building

No build step required. The extension runs directly from source files.

To test changes:

1. Make your edits
2. Go to chrome://extensions/
3. Click the refresh icon on the extension card

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add my feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/my-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Privacy

This extension:

• Only activates on youtube.com pages
• Does not collect any user data
• Does not make requests to any third-party servers
• Only fetches YouTube's public RSS feeds (when you open the popup)

See PRIVACY.md for the full privacy policy.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.