Features

Browser extension and API keys

Browser extension

The Chrome / Edge extension opens a sidebar on the YouTube watch page so you can analyze, read, and ask questions without leaving the video. Clicking a timestamp seeks the video to that second.

👉 Install from the Chrome Web Store (free; Edge can install from there too)

What you can do in the extension:

  • Outline / section summaries / video summary / mind map (node graph)
  • Quotes, quiz, social threads
  • View, search, follow-along highlight, and export the transcript (TXT / timestamped / SRT / VTT / Markdown)
  • Multi-turn Q&A about the video (with timestamp citations)
  • Regenerate any section, rate results, and share publicly
  • Copy / export the summary, and capture the current frame as a screenshot
  • Click a timestamp to seek the current video in place (no new tab)
  • Pick the analysis language, see the estimated cost before submitting, dark mode, and switch the interface between Traditional Chinese and English
  • Submitting a video you've already analyzed prompts you to open the earlier result — no extra credits
  • Optional: auto-prepare analysis when a video page opens, keyboard shortcuts, and an "Analyze" button on YouTube pages

When you need the full editing experience, the top-right "Open full version on web" button jumps to the website. Clicking the VidGist title at the top-left of the sidebar also opens the website in a new tab, and clicking the credit count at the top-right opens your credits page.

Setup

  1. Install the VidGist extension from the Chrome Web Store (Edge can install from there too).
  2. Go to Account → "API keys" → "Create key", and copy the key shown (shown only once). The extension's settings page and the "No API key configured" screen both have a "Create a key on the website" button that takes you straight here.
  3. Click the extension icon to open the sidebar → top-right "⚙︎ Settings" → paste the API key (you can also set the interface language and appearance here) → Save. No server address is needed — the extension connects to VidGist by default.
  4. Open any YouTube video, pick the analysis language, and click "Analyze this video".

API keys

  • A key carries your account's permissions (and uses your plan's quota) — don't leak it.
  • You can create multiple keys on the Account page (e.g. one per device) and revoke any anytime; a revoked key stops working immediately.
  • A key is shown in full only once at creation; afterwards we store only an irreversible hash.

Why does the extension need a separate key?

The extension can't reuse the website's login (browser security doesn't send cookies cross-origin), so it connects via an API key instead.