Troubleshooting
The panel didn't appear, the course looks wrong, a limit fired — start here.
Most problems fall into one of these. If yours doesn't, email feedback@coursifyyt.com with the channel URL — that's usually enough to reproduce it.
The panel or feed bar isn't showing
The sidebar panel didn't appear on a watch page
YouTube is a single-page app and sometimes rebuilds the sidebar after we've attached to it. Reload the page — that fixes it every time. The panel appears on every watch page, whether or not that channel has a course: without one it offers to build it, and shows a This video card so you can still open an Overview or a transcript for what you're watching. Panel →
The feed bar is missing on youtube.com
It renders nothing until your first course exists. If you have courses and it's still absent, you may have collapsed it — look for the small CoursifyYT logo chip under YouTube's filter row and click it. The collapsed state resets on your next visit anyway.
Nothing works after a Chrome update or a reinstall
Open chrome://extensions, confirm CoursifyYT is enabled, and reload any YouTube tabs you had open. Extension updates don't re-inject into tabs that were already open.
A course won't build
“This channel has N videos…”
The channel is above your tier's size ceiling — 1000 videos free, 2000 with your own key. CoursifyYT refuses rather than building a partial course. Limits →
“Free limit reached”
2 courses per day per IP address, resetting at midnight UTC. Adding your own AI key removes the limit entirely. API keys →
It found the wrong channel, or too few videos
This happens when a channel page features another channel prominently. Try starting from the channel's /videos tab, or paste the canonical /channel/UC… URL into the popup rather than a @handle.
It's been building for a long time
Large channels take a few minutes — the AI call on 300+ videos is one long request. You can close everything; the run continues on our server and follows you to YouTube. Turn on Notify me and walk away.
The course doesn't look right
Videos are in an odd order after a Refresh
Refresh appends new videos to the end of their topic rather than re-sorting the whole course — that's the trade-off for only processing the new ones. Build the channel fresh if the ordering matters. Refresh →
Some videos are missing
Shorts (60 seconds or under) are always excluded, as are private, unlisted and members-only videos. Videos uploaded since the course was built appear after a Refresh.
The modules don't match how I'd group them
Grouping is AI-generated from titles and descriptions, so a channel with vague titles produces vaguer modules. Rebuilding the channel produces a fresh grouping, which is sometimes better.
Overviews & transcripts
“You've used your free overviews for this course”
The per-course cap of three. There's deliberately no retry button, because nothing but adding a key changes the answer. API keys →
An Overview stops well before the end of the video
Generate it again. Truncated outlines are detected and never cached, so a second attempt rebuilds rather than re-serving the stub. If you opened it during an ad, that was likely the cause — try again once the video is playing.
“No transcript available”
The video has no caption track, or its creator disabled auto-captions. For age-restricted or region-blocked videos, open the video in a tab yourself first and then click Transcript — it reads the tab you already have.
Transcripts I pulled last month are gone
Stored transcripts prune themselves: 60 days, 500 documents, or 20 MB, whichever comes first. Export the ones you want to keep. Transcripts →
Keys & limits
I added a key but I'm still being limited
Confirm the key saved on the setup screen and that the correct provider is selected. The in-page panel picks up a new key without a reload — if it hasn't, reload the YouTube tab. A key rejected by the provider (typo, no credit, wrong project) falls back to the free path.
Which key lifts the Overview cap?
Either one — your main AI key or the optional Gemini fallback key. Between them they cover both ways an Overview can be built.
I'm on a shared network and the daily limit is already used up
Free limits are per IP address, since there are no accounts, so an office or campus network shares one allowance. Your own key sidesteps it completely.
Data & reinstalling
Will I lose my courses if I reinstall?
Yes — everything lives in this browser's extension storage. Export the courses you care about as Markdown or JSON first. Export →
Can I move my progress to another computer?
Not automatically; there's no account to sync through. An exported Markdown checklist carries your ticked videos and is the practical way to take it with you.
Still stuck?