Playlist Wrangler
A free Chrome extension that organizes any YouTube playlist. Index it once, then search and filter it, split a huge Watch Later into clean playlists, and play any slice in order, with no API keys, OAuth, or quota limits. Your index lives in your browser, not on a server.
YouTube hands you a playlist, not a way to search it. Past a hundred videos it barely lets you scroll, and the official API means keys, OAuth, and quotas. Playlist Wrangler skips all of that, makes the list findable, and lets you reshape it into playlists you actually use.
52 seconds · Quick Add, Quick Ask, filters, bulk clean-up
No API, no OAuth, no quotas
It reads the playlist straight from the page you’re already looking at, riding your own signed-in session. Nothing to authorize, no API key to manage, no daily quota to hit.
Works everywhere you do
Private and unlisted playlists included, along with Watch Later and Liked videos. It auto-scrolls past YouTube’s ~100-video first page, so the whole list gets indexed, not just the top.
Search and filter that works
Full-text search across every video, plus filters for category, channel, length, language, age, views, likes, and captions. Stack them to narrow thousands of videos, then sort or shuffle.
Smart, automatic categories
Every video is auto-sorted across topic, format, mood, over 70 music genres, and more than 30 languages, with no manual tagging. Add your own tags on top for anything it misses.
Split one list into many
Filter to what belongs together, select the lot, and move them into their own playlist in one step. Every bulk add, remove, or move has a one-tap undo.
Play any slice as a playlist
Filter or search to the set you want, click any video, and it plays in order as a temporary YouTube playlist with autoplay. No playlist to build or clean up.
Optional deep index
Opt in to a throttled, resumable pass that pulls richer detail like YouTube’s own category, the uploader’s keywords, and full stats. It sharpens the categories and filtering even more.
Everything in one place
A side panel spans every playlist you’ve indexed, with duplicates merged into one row. A quick-add button on thumbnails saves to a playlist anywhere on YouTube, and any view exports to CSV.
- 01
Open a playlist
On any YouTube playlist page, hit the floating button and choose “Index this playlist.”
- 02
It scrolls and reads
The extension auto-scrolls so YouTube lazy-loads every item, then reads them right from the rendered page.
- 03
Search, filter, organize
Search instantly, stack filters, and add your own tags. Then play a slice in order, or select a batch and move it into its own playlist. Everything is saved locally for next time.
- 04
Go deeper (optional)
Kick off the deep index to enrich each video with YouTube’s own category, keywords, and full stats, which sharpens the categories and filtering.
Everything stays in your browser.
The index lives in your browser’s local storage. No account, no sign-in, no API keys, and your playlists, tags, and metadata never leave your device. The only thing sent to us is anonymous, content-free usage counts. The only changes it makes on YouTube are the playlist edits you ask for, like adding, removing, or moving videos. It never likes, subscribes, or comments.
Descriptions and transcripts aren’t part of basic playlist data, so the first pass categorizes from each video’s title and channel. The optional deep index pulls in YouTube’s own category, keywords, full descriptions, and exact stats to sharpen everything. And because it reads YouTube’s live page rather than a stable API, a big YouTube change can occasionally call for an update. The parser is built defensively to ride most of them out.
- Do I need a YouTube or Google API key?
- No. There’s no API, no OAuth, and no quota. It reads the playlist from the page you’re viewing, using your own signed-in session.
- Does it work on private or unlisted playlists?
- Yes. As long as you’re signed in and can see the playlist, the extension can index it.
- Where is my data stored?
- In your browser’s local storage, on your machine. Your playlists and tags never leave your device. The only thing sent to us is anonymous, content-free usage counts, and there’s no account to create.
- Can it change anything on my YouTube account?
- Only your playlists, and only when you ask. You can add, remove, and move videos between playlists from inside the extension. It never likes, subscribes, comments, or changes anything else.
- Is it free?
- Yes. It’s completely free and ad-free. If it helps you, you can support the work, but you never have to.
- Which browsers does it work on?
- Any Chromium-based browser: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, and Opera. It’s a Manifest V3 extension. The one exception is Arc — see below.
- Does it work in Arc?
- Not currently. Playlist Wrangler lives in the browser’s side panel, and Arc is the one Chromium browser that doesn’t support Chrome’s side panel API (and has said it doesn’t plan to add it). The extension installs fine, but the panel has nowhere to open. Use Chrome, Edge, Brave, or Opera instead. If you’d like Arc support, let me know — it’s on the list if enough people ask.
Found a bug or have an idea?
It goes straight to the maker — one person who builds Playlist Wrangler. No account, no thread to chase.
Organize any YouTube playlist.
Free, private, and it stays out of your way.
Free and ad-free. If it helps you, you can support the work.
✦ Built by naxatar · नक्षत्र