YouTube Shorts Blocker

A minimal Chrome extension that removes YouTube Shorts entry points from the regular YouTube desktop interface.

It hides Shorts links, cards, shelves, and navigation items while leaving direct navigation to /shorts/... untouched.

Installation

1. Download or clone this repository.
2. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions.
3. Enable Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked.
5. Select this project folder.
6. Open https://www.youtube.com/ and use YouTube normally.

If the extension is already loaded and you changed files locally, click Reload on the extension card in chrome://extensions.

What It Does

• Removes Shorts links from the sidebar and mini guide.
• Hides Shorts shelves and sections from the home page and feeds.
• Removes Shorts cards from mixed recommendation views.
• Re-runs cleanup as YouTube updates the page through SPA navigation and infinite scroll.
• Does not redirect, block, or modify direct /shorts/... pages.

Architecture

This project is intentionally small and static. There is no framework, build step, backend, analytics, popup, storage, or service worker.

.
├── manifest.json
├── content.css
├── content.js
└── icons/
    ├── icon.svg
    ├── icon-16.png
    ├── icon-32.png
    ├── icon-48.png
    └── icon-128.png

manifest.json

Defines a Manifest V3 Chrome extension and injects the content script only on https://www.youtube.com/*.

The extension declares no API permissions and no separate host_permissions.

content.css

Provides fast first-pass hiding for known Shorts UI patterns using CSS selectors. This reduces visible flicker while YouTube is rendering.

The CSS is scoped behind an html.ysb-active class so it can be disabled when the current page is a direct Shorts URL.

content.js

Runs at document_start and coordinates the dynamic cleanup:

• Detects whether the current route is a direct /shorts/... page.
• Adds or removes the ysb-active class.
• Finds Shorts links and hides the nearest safe UI container.
• Uses a MutationObserver to handle YouTube SPA navigation and infinite scroll.
• Prunes empty containers after Shorts-only sections have been hidden.

Scope

This extension targets Chrome desktop on www.youtube.com.

It is designed to remove visible Shorts distractions from the standard YouTube interface, not to be a hard bypass-proof content blocker.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.