YouTube Keystrokes Blocker

Block distracting YouTube keyboard shortcuts while keeping the ones you need — available as a native browser extension and a userscript.

📌 Features

✨ Fine-Grained Control

Individually toggle each YouTube hotkey — enable only what you need, block everything else
Modern settings modal integrated directly into YouTube's player interface
30+ independent hotkey toggles

🎯 Complete Hotkey Coverage

Number Keys (0–9) — Jump to timeline percentage
Spacebar — Play/Pause toggle
Arrow Keys — Timeline navigation (Left/Right ±5s) and volume (Up/Down)
Ctrl + Left / Right — Chapter navigation
F Key — Fullscreen toggle
M Key — Mute/Unmute
K Key — Play/Pause (alternative)
J / L Keys — Seek ±10 seconds
T Key — Theatre mode toggle
C Key — Captions toggle
I Key — Mini player toggle
Shift + < / > — Playback speed control
Period / Comma — Frame-by-frame navigation
Home / End — Jump to beginning/end

🔐 Smart Context Detection

Automatically ignores key presses when typing in search, comments, or chat
Preserves all non-blocked YouTube functionality unchanged

⚙️ Persistent Settings

Settings saved locally — no accounts, no cloud, no privacy concerns
Survives page navigations and SPA transitions

🧩 Two Ways to Install

Native browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge (Manifest V3)
Userscript for Tampermonkey, Greasemonkey, and Violentmonkey

🚀 Installation

Option A: Browser Extension (Native)

No userscript manager required. Installs directly into Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

Chrome & Edge

Download youtube-hotkeys-blocker-v5.0.0-chrome.zip from GitHub Releases
Unzip the file to a folder
Chrome: navigate to chrome://extensions/ | Edge: navigate to edge://extensions/
Enable Developer Mode (toggle in the top-right)
Click Load unpacked and select the unzipped folder
The extension icon appears in your toolbar

Chrome Web Store and Edge Add-ons submissions are in progress — check Releases for store links when available.

Firefox

Download youtube-hotkeys-blocker-v5.0.0-firefox.zip from GitHub Releases
In Firefox navigate to about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox
Click Load Temporary Add-on… and select the .zip directly
The extension activates immediately on YouTube

Firefox AMO submission is in progress — check Releases for the store link when available.

Option B: Userscript

Requires a userscript manager. Works on any browser that supports one.

Step 1 — Install a Userscript Manager

Manager	Chrome	Firefox	Edge	Safari
Tampermonkey ⭐	✅	✅	✅	✅
Greasemonkey	❌	✅	❌	❌
Violentmonkey	✅	✅	✅	❌

Step 2 — Install the Script

From Greasy Fork (Recommended — auto-updates daily):

Direct GitHub install:

👉 Click to install from GitHub

Manual:

Open your userscript manager dashboard
Create a new script
Paste the contents of disable-yt-hotkeys.user.js
Save and enable

💡 Usage

Opening Settings

Browser Extension:

Click the toolbar icon to open the popup
Or press Alt+Shift+H (Windows/Linux) / Cmd+Shift+H (Mac) from any YouTube page

Userscript:

Look for the ⌨️ keyboard icon in the YouTube video player controls
Or open your userscript manager menu → "YouTube Hotkey Settings"

Default Configuration

Hotkey	Blocked by Default
Numbers (0–9)	✅ Yes
Ctrl + Left	✅ Yes
Ctrl + Right	✅ Yes
M (Mute)	✅ Yes
Spacebar	❌ No
Arrow Keys	❌ No
F (Fullscreen)	❌ No
Speed (Shift+<>)	❌ No
Frame Skip (./,)	❌ No

🛠️ Configuration

All settings are stored locally via chrome.storage.sync (extension) or GM_setValue (userscript). No external servers involved.

Full Settings Reference

Setting	Key	Default	Description
Disable Numbers (0–9)	`disableNumbers`	✅ ON	Blocks timeline jump shortcuts
Disable Spacebar	`disableSpacebar`	OFF	Blocks play/pause
Disable Arrow Keys	`disableArrowKeys`	OFF	Blocks timeline/volume navigation
Disable Ctrl+Left	`disableCtrlLeft`	✅ ON	Blocks previous chapter
Disable Ctrl+Right	`disableCtrlRight`	✅ ON	Blocks next chapter
Disable F (Fullscreen)	`disableF`	OFF	Blocks fullscreen toggle
Disable M (Mute)	`disableM`	✅ ON	Blocks mute toggle
Disable K (Play/Pause)	`disableK`	OFF	Blocks K key play/pause
Disable J (Seek −10s)	`disableJ`	OFF	Blocks 10-second rewind
Disable L (Seek +10s)	`disableL`	OFF	Blocks 10-second skip
Disable T (Theatre)	`disableT`	OFF	Blocks theatre mode
Disable C (Captions)	`disableC`	OFF	Blocks caption toggle
Disable I (Mini Player)	`disableI`	OFF	Blocks mini player
Disable Speed (Shift+<>)	`disableSpeed`	OFF	Blocks speed controls
Disable Frame Skip (./,)	`disableFrameSkip`	OFF	Blocks frame-by-frame navigation
Disable Home/End	`disableHomeEnd`	OFF	Blocks jump to start/end

⌨️ Extension Keyboard Commands

When installed as a browser extension, the following shortcut is available:

Command	Windows / Linux	Mac
Open Settings Popup	Alt+Shift+H	Cmd+Shift+H

To customize this shortcut:

Chrome/Edge: chrome://extensions/shortcuts
Firefox: about:addons → gear icon → Manage Extension Shortcuts

🔍 How It Works

Intercepts keyboard events on www.youtube.com at document_start
Checks each key against your saved settings
Calls preventDefault() and stopImmediatePropagation() for blocked keys, preventing YouTube from processing them
Skips blocking when focus is in a search box, comment field, or any other text input
Watches for SPA navigation (yt-navigate-finish) to re-attach handlers after YouTube's client-side page transitions
Persists settings using chrome.storage.sync (extension) or GM_setValue (userscript) — no external servers

🐛 Troubleshooting

Extension not working?

Verify the extension is enabled at chrome://extensions/ or about:addons
Reload the YouTube tab after enabling
Check that the *://www.youtube.com/* host permission is granted

Userscript not working?

Ensure your userscript manager is enabled for YouTube
Reload the YouTube page
Check that no other extensions are intercepting keyboard events before this one

Settings not saving?

Extension: confirm the storage permission is granted
Userscript: confirm your manager allows GM_setValue on youtube.com
Disable any aggressive privacy extensions temporarily to test

Keyboard icon not showing (userscript only)?

Refresh the YouTube page
Navigate to a video — the button injects into the player controls after the player loads
Use the userscript manager menu as a fallback access method

Need help?

Open an issue on GitHub

🔧 Development

Project Structure

Youtube Keystrokes Blocker/
├── disable-yt-hotkeys.user.js     # Userscript (single-file, self-contained)
├── src/
│   ├── content.js                 # Extension content script
│   ├── background.js              # Extension service worker
│   ├── content.css                # Content script styles
│   ├── popup/                     # Toolbar popup UI
│   ├── options/                   # Full options page UI
│   ├── manifests/
│   │   ├── manifest.chrome.json   # Chrome/Edge MV3 manifest
│   │   └── manifest.firefox.json  # Firefox MV3 manifest
│   └── icons/                     # SVG source icon
├── scripts/
│   ├── Build-Extension.ps1        # Builds Chrome + Firefox ZIPs
│   ├── Build-All.ps1              # Builds extension + copies userscript
│   └── Update-Version.ps1         # Bumps version across all files
├── release/                       # Built artifacts (git-ignored)
└── docs/                          # Documentation

Build Commands

# Build all artifacts (extension ZIPs + userscript copy)
npm run build:all

# Build extension packages only
npm run build:extension

# Version management
npm run version:patch    # 5.0.0 → 5.0.1
npm run version:minor    # 5.0.0 → 5.1.0
npm run version:major    # 5.0.0 → 6.0.0

# Full release (version bump + build)
npm run release

📝 License

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.md for details.

🤝 Contributing

Bug reports and feature requests are welcome on GitHub Issues.

👨‍💻 Author

Created and maintained by VKrishna04

Part of the Life Experimentalist organization

🌐 Links


🏠 Homepage	yt-hotkeys.vkrishna04.me
📦 GitHub	Life-Experimentalist/Youtube-Keystrokes-Blocker
🐛 Issues	GitHub Issues
📋 Releases	GitHub Releases
📦 Greasy Fork	Script page
📊 Changelog	CHANGELOG.md

Last Updated: 2026 | Version 5.0.0 | Active Development ✅

⭐ If you find this useful, please star the repository!

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 21 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
docs		docs
release		release
scripts		scripts
src		src
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CNAME		CNAME
COMPLETE_OVERVIEW.md		COMPLETE_OVERVIEW.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE.md		LICENSE.md
MANIFEST.json		MANIFEST.json
README.md		README.md
_config.yml		_config.yml
disable-yt-hotkeys.user.js		disable-yt-hotkeys.user.js
index.html		index.html
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json

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Repository files navigation

YouTube Keystrokes Blocker

📌 Features

🚀 Installation

Option A: Browser Extension (Native)

Chrome & Edge

Firefox

Option B: Userscript

Step 1 — Install a Userscript Manager

Step 2 — Install the Script

💡 Usage

Opening Settings

Default Configuration

🛠️ Configuration

Full Settings Reference

⌨️ Extension Keyboard Commands

🔍 How It Works

🐛 Troubleshooting

Extension not working?

Userscript not working?

Settings not saving?

Keyboard icon not showing (userscript only)?

Need help?

🔧 Development

Project Structure

Build Commands

📝 License

🤝 Contributing

👨‍💻 Author

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About

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Repository files navigation

YouTube Keystrokes Blocker

📌 Features

🚀 Installation

Option A: Browser Extension (Native)

Chrome & Edge

Firefox

Option B: Userscript

Step 1 — Install a Userscript Manager

Step 2 — Install the Script

💡 Usage

Opening Settings

Default Configuration

🛠️ Configuration

Full Settings Reference

⌨️ Extension Keyboard Commands

🔍 How It Works

🐛 Troubleshooting

Extension not working?

Userscript not working?

Settings not saving?

Keyboard icon not showing (userscript only)?

Need help?

🔧 Development

Project Structure

Build Commands

📝 License

🤝 Contributing

👨‍💻 Author

🌐 Links

About

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Contributing

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