ZenView is a free, open-source, distraction-free YouTube viewer. No sidebar. No autoplay queue. No ads injected by the player. Just the video.
⚠️ Non-commercial license. ZenView may not be used to charge users money, run ads, or generate any form of revenue. See License for details.
- 🔍 YouTube Search — Search videos directly inside ZenView using the YouTube Data API v3
- 📈 Trending Feed — See what's trending on YouTube, refreshed on every visit with Load More pagination
- 🔖 Save Videos — Save videos locally in your browser or to Firebase for cross-device access
- 🕐 Watch History — Automatically tracks what you've watched with timestamps
- 💡 Lights Off Mode — Dims everything except the video for a true cinema feel
- 🌗 Dark & Light Mode — Full black/white theme, saved to your device preferences
- 🔎 Search Suggestions — Live autocomplete suggestions as you type
- ⚙️ Settings Modal — Configure your YouTube API key and Firebase in-app, no code needed
- 📄 labels.json — Every string and toast on the site is editable from a single JSON file
- 🚫 No tracking, no monetization, no ads
You can deploy ZenView to any static hosting provider in one click. It's just HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. no build step required.
- Fork this repository
- Go to Settings → Pages
- Set source to Deploy from a branch, pick
mainand/ (root) - Your site will be live at
https://yourusername.github.io/ZenView
- Log in to Cloudflare Pages
- Click Create a project → Connect to Git
- Select your fork of this repo
- Set build command to (empty) and output directory to
/ - Click Save and Deploy
- Go to console.cloud.google.com
- Create a new project
- Enable YouTube Data API v3 under APIs & Services → Library
- Create an API key under APIs & Services → Credentials
- Restrict the key to your domain and to the YouTube Data API v3
- Paste the key into ZenView's Settings (gear icon), or add it to
config.js:
window.ZENVIEW_CONFIG = {
defaultYoutubeApiKey: "YOUR_KEY_HERE",
firebase: { ... }
};The free quota is 10,000 units/day — more than enough for personal use.
- Go to console.firebase.google.com
- Create a project and add a Web App
- Copy the
firebaseConfigvalues - Paste them into ZenView's Settings → Firebase Configuration
- Create a Firestore database in test mode
ZenView/
├── index.html # App shell, modals, header, footer
├── main.js # All application logic and routing
├── style.css # Black & white theme, dark/light mode variables
├── config.js # Default API key configuration
├── labels.json # All site text, icons, and toast settings
└── README.md
Every piece of user-facing text — headings, button labels, error messages, toast notifications — lives in labels.json. You can also disable toasts entirely:
"toasts": {
"enabled": false
}| Dark Mode | Light Mode |
|---|---|
| Pure black background, white text | Pure white background, black text |
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Frontend | Vanilla JavaScript (ES modules) |
| Styling | CSS custom properties + Tailwind CDN |
| Video | YouTube IFrame API (youtube-nocookie.com) |
| Search | YouTube Data API v3 |
| Suggestions | Google Suggest API via allorigins proxy |
| Cloud Save | Firebase Firestore (optional) |
| Fonts | Inter (Google Fonts) |
MIT License — with Non-Commercial Restriction
Copyright (c) 2025 ZenView Contributors
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, and distribute it,
subject to the following conditions:
1. NON-COMMERCIAL: You may not use this software or any derivative of it to
charge users money, display advertisements, accept donations in exchange
for features, or generate revenue of any kind — directly or indirectly.
ZenView must always be free for end users.
2. ATTRIBUTION: The above copyright notice and this permission notice must be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the software.
3. NO WARRANTY: The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind.
Contributions are welcome! To contribute:
- Fork the repo
- Create a feature branch:
git checkout -b feature/my-feature - Commit your changes:
git commit -m 'Add my feature' - Push to the branch:
git push origin feature/my-feature - Open a Pull Request
Please keep contributions in the spirit of the project: free, focused, and distraction-free.
ZenView is a non-monetized, open-source prototype for educational purposes. It provides a focused viewing experience using standard public YouTube embedding. ZenView does not host any videos, does not generate revenue from embedded content, and all content rights belong to their respective creators on YouTube.
Made with ❤️ · Open Source · Free Forever
