this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026
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Youlag (v4.2.0): Modernize FreshRSS for viewing YouTube and articles, now with DeArrow support to combat clickbait (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by lent9004@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Youlag is a FreshRSS extension that allows you to browse your YouTube and article feeds through a modernized design that incorporates quality-of-life features.

Optimized for both watching videos and reading articles.

Why?

Stay connected with creators without a Google account by using RSS. Don't be tied to a specific platform and access your subscriptions from any device.

You can also use Youlag solely for its theme and quality of life features, ignoring any video feature.

Highlights v4.2.0

This update continues the trend of adding more customization and quality of life features.

  • Curate your own "recommended" videos based on your Watch later, or Subscriptions, or the current author
  • Video chapters/timestamp support, with prev/next buttons for skipping
  • DeArrow support
    • Replace clickbait thumbnails to screencaps
    • Use less sensational titles (when available)
    • Display video length (when available)
  • Compact view for browsing videos on mobile

...20+ more updates in the changelog

Other features

  • Block incoming YouTube shorts
  • Whitelist specific categories to use the video mode layout
  • Use Invidious instance as video playback source
  • Modernized interface for articles
  • Activate mini player to follow across pages; read articles while keeping a floating video at the bottom

Find more details: https://github.com/civilblur/youlag

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[–] trijste@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Currently using pinchflat to scrape YouTube vids to a plex folder. Not sure this improves on that.

[–] lent9004@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

If Pinchflat works well for you now, I would stick with it. The FreshRSS approach would be that it's a lot less resource heavy and barely require any storage space. Because of this, you can serve multiple people with thousands of subscriptions.

[–] nil@piefed.ca 1 points 1 day ago

I'm more interested in the CSS they got in the screenshot

[–] RickyRigatoni@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Has anyone found a workaround for youtube making us sign in on vpn?

[–] potatoguy@lemmy.eco.br 2 points 1 day ago

Here I can't watch on freetube, I'm not even on a vpn :/, fails on librewolf without account too. yewtu.be is working.

[–] MonkCanatella@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I just have a somewhat annoying yt dlp script that runs on a schedule on my computer that downloads all my subscriptions. I tried everything else including pinchflat and it wasn't really much of an improvement tbh.

[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 17 hours ago

Could you share that script please? I'd like to set up something similar

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Can FreshRSS auto-download YouTube videos with SponsorBlock? That could be a game changer...

[–] turboSnail@piefed.europe.pub 1 points 20 hours ago

If you need a handful of plugins to make a site tolerable, there’s probably something terribly wrong with that place. We can keep on patching it with an ever growing list of plugins, but is it really worth it.

[–] Buck@jlai.lu 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Pinchflat does just that…

[–] Kirk@startrek.website 1 points 1 day ago

Last time I looked into it something wasn't working right about it, or maybe it was just more complicated than I wanted but maybe I'll give it another go...

[–] renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.net 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is great! FreshRSS has been part of my YouTube “flow” for a long time. I like going through my subscriptions list, adding them to my “Watch Later” playlist, and then watching them all in a row. This seems like it’d be perfect for that.

[–] lent9004@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Glad to hear that! For the "Watch later" part, the way Youlag approaches it is to turn "Favorites" into a "Watch/read it later" page. The approach is slightly different, but achieves the same thing.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 0 points 1 day ago

Can it fetch text from the website?