Can't find your playlist when saving a video? YouTube's "Save to playlist" modal has no search, and it only loads your most recent 200 playlists. If you have more, they're invisible.
This extension adds a search bar directly inside YouTube's Save modal. Type to filter, and it searches all your playlists — even beyond the 200 cap.
- Search bar inside YouTube's Save to playlist modal — filters as you type
- Loads all playlists — YouTube caps at 200; the extension fetches the rest directly from YouTube
- Save to any playlist — even ones YouTube didn't load in the modal
- Match highlighting in playlist names
- BM25 ranking for relevant results
- Works on
/feed/playliststoo — filter your playlist library page - Matches YouTube's theme — dark and light mode
Available on the Chrome Web Store (search "YouTube Playlist Search"), or load it locally:
git clone https://github.com/codyhxyz/playlist-search-extension.git
cd playlist-search-extension
npm install
npm run build # produces src/content.bundle.jsThen in Chrome:
- Open
chrome://extensions - Enable Developer mode (top right)
- Click Load unpacked and select the
src/folder
The build step is what Chrome actually injects — skip it and the extension
silently fails to register its content script. src/content.bundle.js is
gitignored, so every clone builds its own.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup including
npm run build:watch and the test suite.
- The Save dialog stays open after you click a playlist row. YouTube's Oct-2025 redesign closes the "Save video to…" sheet after every selection, which breaks multi-select. This extension stops that — the dialog stays open so you can add a video to several playlists in one session. Click outside the dialog (anywhere on the page backdrop) to close it. This is a deliberate power-user choice and is not configurable.
A content script detects YouTube's Save dialog, injects a search bar, and filters playlist rows as you type. In the background, it uses YouTube's own internal API (the same one youtube.com uses) to fetch your full playlist library — authenticated with your existing YouTube session, no OAuth required. Results from both the modal's visible rows and your full library are ranked together with BM25 scoring.
For an in-depth look at the architecture, see architecture/overview.md.
- Semantic search — find playlists by meaning, not just title match, using embeddings
- Playlist recommendations — suggest relevant playlists based on the video you're watching
- Similar playlists — when viewing a playlist, surface your most similar playlists
The extension only accesses your YouTube playlist names to power search. It talks only to YouTube — the same server you're already on — and never to the developer or any third party. Nothing is stored outside your browser. See the privacy policy for details.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, project structure, and how to submit changes.