Lumina removes every algorithmic distraction from YouTube and gives you a private, timestamped notepad — so you can study the way you think, not the way the algorithm wants.
How it works
No setup wizard, no account creation, no configuration. Lumina is ready the moment you open YouTube.
One click. The extension is 46 KB — lighter than a single YouTube thumbnail. No permissions beyond what's strictly necessary.
Click the Lumina icon in your toolbar. The sidebar, comments, Shorts, and homepage feed vanish instantly — no page reload needed.
Your floating notepad appears over the video. Hit + Time to stamp the current moment. Export your entire session to a .txt file when done.
Features
Every feature exists to serve one goal: keeping you in flow for as long as possible.
Notes are automatically organized by video ID and channel. Come back weeks later — your notes are right where you left them, linked to the exact video they belong to.
Press + Time and the exact moment from the video is dropped into your note. When you review later, click the timestamp to jump straight back to that point.
Sidebar recommendations, comments, Live Chat, Shorts, and the homepage feed are all removed. Not hidden — the browser stops rendering them entirely, saving GPU cycles.
The notepad samples accent colors from your video and creates a subtle ambient glow that shifts as your content changes — warm for lectures, cool for science, neutral for code.
Download your full study session as a clean .txt file — ready to paste directly into Notion, Obsidian, or any notes app. Your knowledge, your format.
Standard YouTube renders elements you can't see, wasting battery and heat. Lumina's Repaint Suppression technology physically stops the browser from processing hidden nodes.
Focus Score
Think of it like closing your rings — but for your brain. A simple score at the end of each session. No pressure, just data to improve.
Privacy
No analytics. No accounts. No servers to breach. Everything Lumina knows about you stays inside your own browser.
Everything you write is saved locally in your browser. No cloud sync, no servers. Even if Lumina shut down tomorrow, your notes would be fine — we never had them.
Storage (to save your notes locally) and access to youtube.com. Nothing else. We can't read your other tabs, your history, or anything outside YouTube.
Built to Chrome's latest, most secure extension format. It only activates when you open YouTube. Every other website you visit is completely untouched.
From users
"This is the extension I didn't know I needed. My lecture notes are so much better now — I can actually keep up without losing my place."
"Finally, a focus tool that respects my privacy. No logins, no cloud sync. My notes are mine. The timestamp feature alone is worth it."
"I've been using it for coding tutorials and the laptop runs noticeably cooler. The focus score is surprisingly motivating without being stressful."
FAQ
Yes. Lumina is built on Manifest V3 and works on any Chromium-based browser — Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Arc. Install it directly from the Chrome Web Store in all of them.
Your notes are stored in your browser's local storage. Uninstalling Lumina will remove the extension data. Export your notes as a .txt file before uninstalling if you want to keep them.
No. Lumina only activates when you manually enable it. The toggle is in the extension popup. Everything remains exactly as YouTube intended when Lumina is off.
Only on your device, in browser local storage. It is never transmitted to any server. There are no servers — Lumina is entirely client-side.
Standard YouTube keeps the sidebar and comments in the DOM, so your GPU still calculates layout and repaints for elements you can't see. Lumina applies content-visibility: hidden and suppresses repaint on those nodes, reducing GPU workload during long sessions.
Lumina is free with no paid tier planned. There's no business model that depends on your attention or data, which is the whole point.
Get started
30 seconds to install. No account, no setup. Open a YouTube video, flip the switch, and feel the difference.
Add Lumina to Chrome — FreeChrome · Edge · Brave · No account · No credit card · 46 KB