Always on top
Stays above every other window so the video follows you across apps. Shrink it to a corner mini player with Ctrl+M.
Watch YouTube
without the
distraction.
A borderless, always-on-top player that floats in a corner of your screen while you work. Search or paste a link and the video plays — no comments, no recommendations, no browser chrome.
<10 MB
installer
Zero
accounts, ads or tracking
Ctrl K
search from anywhere
3
platforms
12:04 / 48:20
60s
See it in 60 seconds
One minute, start to finish: search, float it above your work, follow the captions, take notes, ask the video a question, and let the focus timer call the break.
01
What it is
FocusTube is a tiny desktop window built around one idea: watch what you came for, then get back to work. It floats in a corner, stays above everything, and never shows you the rest of YouTube.
Search without the feed
Find videos, songs and playlists from inside the app with Ctrl+K. No homepage, no recommendations, no rabbit hole.
Playlists & resume
Play whole playlists, jump to any video, and pick up exactly where you stopped, with a recent list on the start screen.
Captions & transcripts
Readable captions in two languages at once, a searchable transcript you can click to jump, and timestamp notes you can export.
See-through & click-through
Fade the video with the opacity slider, then let clicks pass straight through it to the window behind.
Downloads & offline
Save a video or its audio, or chosen videos from a playlist, and play them later without a connection. Sizes shown before you start.
Focus timer
A built-in 25/5 or 50/10 timer that pauses the video when it's break time, plus playback speed from 0.75× to 2×.
AI, with your own key
Optional: summarize a video, ask it questions, or translate its captions. Connect your own Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or local model, or skip it entirely.
02
Why FocusTube?
YouTube in the browser is designed to keep you watching. FocusTube is designed to help you work.
YouTube in Browser
- Comments, recommendations, shorts
- Searching starts on a feed built to distract
- Autoplay never ends
- Loses focus behind your IDE
- Takes a full browser tab
- Tracks everything you watch
- 10+ MB of ads and trackers
FocusTube
- Clean player — nothing else
- Search without a homepage feed
- You choose what to play
- Always on top, always visible
- Lightweight <10 MB window
- No tracking, no account
- Zero ads, zero bloat
03
How it works
Three steps. No account, no setup wizard.
1
Download
Grab the installer for your system — Windows, macOS, or Linux. Open it once and you're set.
2
Search or paste a link
Type what you're looking for, or paste any YouTube link (video, playlist, youtu.be or Shorts), then press ↵. It plays right in the clean player.
3
Float it
The video plays in a clean, always-on-top window. Drag it to any corner of your screen and stay focused.
04
Tips & Tricks
Get the most out of FocusTube with these pro tips.
Transparency peek
Drag the opacity slider in the title bar to make the video semi-transparent. Great for following along with code tutorials while typing.
Click-through mode
Press Ctrl+Alt+C and your clicks pass straight through the player to the window behind it. Pair it with low opacity for a true overlay; press again to turn it off.
Mini player
Press Ctrl+M to shrink FocusTube into a small player in the corner of your screen. Controls appear when you hover; press again to restore it.
Media keys work
Your keyboard's play/pause media key controls FocusTube too — even when another app is active. No extra setup needed.
Search from anywhere
Press Ctrl+K while something is playing to find the next video, song or playlist without stopping. The ⬇ button on any result saves it for later.
Captions out of sync?
Press G or H to move subtitles earlier or later in quarter-second steps. Need subtitles for a movie file? Use “Find subtitles online” in the CC menu.
Notes with timestamps
Open the transcript with Shift+T, bookmark the lines that matter, add your own words, and export everything as Markdown with links back to the exact moment.
Caption strip
Press Shift+S to turn the window into a slim bar of large live captions. Follow a talk while it barely takes any screen space.
No account needed
You never sign in to Google or YouTube. Your watch history, notes and positions are stored only on your computer.
05
Controls
Everything is on the keyboard. On macOS, use ⌘ instead of Ctrl.
Search YouTubeCtrl+K · or type in the start box
Play / pauseSpace · media Play/Pause key (works from any app)
Next / previous in a playlistShift+N · Shift+P
Faster / slowerShift+> · Shift+<
Mini playerCtrl+M
Click-through on / offCtrl+Alt+C
Captions on / offC
Subtitles earlier / laterG · H (0.25 s steps)
Transcript, notes & AIShift+T
Caption stripShift+S
Open a local fileCtrl+O
Load or search↵ after typing or pasting a link
Pin / unpin on toptitle-bar pin button
New videotitle-bar + button
Minimizetitle-bar — button
Closetitle-bar ✕ · Alt+F4
06
FAQ
Common questions about FocusTube.
Do I need a YouTube account or API key?
No. Watching, searching and playlists need no account, key or sign-in. Two optional extras use your own free keys if you want them: AI features (a key from Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter, or a local model) and online subtitle search (an OpenSubtitles.com key).
Does FocusTube show ads?
No. FocusTube embeds videos using the standard YouTube player, which may show pre-roll or overlay ads depending on the video. There are no ads, sponsored content, or tracking injected by FocusTube itself.
Does it work with YouTube Music or playlists?
Yes. Paste a playlist link or search the Playlists tab, then browse the whole list, jump to any video, or skip ahead with Shift+N. The Music tab searches YouTube Music songs, which play in the same clean window.
How do search and downloads work?
Both use the open-source tool yt-dlp (plus FFmpeg for HD video and MP3). FocusTube fetches them once, the first time you use either feature, so the installer stays small. Pasting links works without them. Please only download content you have the right to.
How do the AI features work, and what do they cost?
They're optional and use your own AI account: add a key under ⋯ → AI features. FocusTube then sends the video's title and transcript to the provider you chose, billed to your account at their usual rates. Without a key, nothing is sent and every other feature works as normal.
Can I watch live streams?
Yes — live YouTube URLs work the same as recorded videos. Just paste the link and the stream loads.
Is FocusTube open source?
Yes. The entire source code is on GitHub under an open source license. Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome.
Does it collect any data?
Zero. FocusTube has no analytics, no telemetry, no tracking, and no ads, and it has no server of its own. It talks to YouTube to play and search videos, and checks GitHub for new versions. It only contacts OpenSubtitles or an AI provider if you add a key for them. Your history, notes and keys stay on your computer.
07
Get FocusTube
Free and open source. One-click installer for Windows, portable builds for macOS and Linux.
Download auto-detected for your system — see all downloads
