Escape The Algorithm

A random toy to find interesting videos near you that you might not have discovered otherwise.

Instead of letting YouTube's recommendation algorithm decide what you should watch, this app shows you random videos uploaded near your location based on IP geolocation.

How it works

1. When you load the app, it determines your approximate location from your IP address
2. It searches for the 10 most recent videos uploaded within 10 miles of your location
3. It picks one at random and shows it to you
4. If no videos are found, it expands the search radius (up to 1000 miles)
5. Videos you've seen are tracked in your browser so you always get something new

Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A YouTube Data API v3 key

Getting a YouTube API Key

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or select an existing one)
3. Enable the YouTube Data API v3
4. Create credentials (API key)
5. Copy the API key

Installation

npm install

Configuration

Create a .env.local file in the root directory:

YOUTUBE_API_KEY=your_youtube_api_key_here

Development

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Production Build

npm run build
npm start

Deploying to Vercel

1. Push your code to GitHub
2. Import the project in Vercel
3. Add the YOUTUBE_API_KEY environment variable in Vercel's project settings
4. Deploy!

Tech Stack

• Next.js 14 (App Router)
• TypeScript
• YouTube Data API v3
• ip-api.com for geolocation

License

MIT