Export YouTube comments to CSV (free, no API key)

// Responsive Muse · YouTube Comments Exporter · v1.0 · 2026-10-23
// Saves the comments of any YouTube video to CSV or TXT: author, text, likes, number of replies,
// when it was posted, pinned / hearted by the creator and a link to each comment. Uses the
// order you picked under the video (Top or Newest). YouTube loads more comments while the
// script scrolls. It makes no network requests of its own and never reads cookies,
// passwords or tokens.
(async () => {
  const TOOL = 'Export YouTube comments';
  const FORMAT = 'csv';        // 'csv' (Excel, Sheets) or 'txt' (author and comment, one block each)
  const LIMIT = 1000;          // stop after this many comments (0 = all; big videos have millions)

  const video = new URLSearchParams(location.search).get('v') || (location.pathname.match(/^\/shorts\/([\w-]{11})/) || [])[1];
  if (location.hostname !== 'www.youtube.com' || !video) {
    alert('Open the YouTube video first, for example:\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw');
    return;
  }
  // A small box on the page shows progress and asks before changing anything,
  // so you never need to read or edit the console.
  const many = (n, word) => `${n} ${word}${n === 1 ? '' : 's'}`;   // 1 video, 2 videos
  const panel = (() => {
    const box = document.createElement('div');
    box.style.cssText = 'position:fixed;right:16px;bottom:16px;z-index:2147483647;width:340px;max-width:calc(100vw - 32px);' +
      'background:#111318;color:#e6e8ee;font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;border-radius:12px;padding:16px;' +
      'box-shadow:0 8px 30px rgba(0,0,0,.4);text-align:left';
    const head = document.createElement('strong');
    head.textContent = TOOL;
    const msg = document.createElement('p');
    msg.style.cssText = 'margin:8px 0 12px;white-space:pre-line';
    const row = document.createElement('div');
    row.style.cssText = 'display:flex;flex-wrap:wrap;gap:8px;justify-content:flex-end';
    box.append(head, msg, row);
    document.body.append(box);
    const button = (label, primary, onClick) => {
      const b = document.createElement('button');
      b.textContent = label;
      b.style.cssText = 'font:600 14px system-ui,sans-serif;padding:8px 14px;border-radius:8px;cursor:pointer;' +
        (primary ? 'background:#0f766e;color:#fff;border:1px solid #0f766e' : 'background:none;color:#e6e8ee;border:1px solid #3a3f4b');
      b.onclick = onClick;
      row.append(b);
    };
    return {
      text(t) { msg.textContent = t; },
      ask(t, yes) {
        msg.textContent = t;
        row.replaceChildren();
        return new Promise(r => {
          button('Cancel', false, () => { row.replaceChildren(); r(false); });
          button(yes, true, () => { row.replaceChildren(); r(true); });
        });
      },
      stoppable(onStop) { row.replaceChildren(); button('Stop', false, onStop); },
      actions(t, list) {
        msg.textContent = t;
        row.replaceChildren();
        list.forEach(([label, primary, run]) => button(label, primary, run));
      },
      finish(t) { this.actions(t, [['Close', true, () => box.remove()]]); },
      close() { box.remove(); },
    };
  })();
  // Offer the result as a downloaded file or as clipboard text (a real click, so it always works)
  const deliver = (summary, body, file) => {
    const save = () => {
      const a = document.createElement('a');
      a.href = URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([/\.csv$/.test(file) ? '\ufeff' + body : body], { type: 'text/plain;charset=utf-8' }));
      a.download = file;
      a.click();
      setTimeout(() => URL.revokeObjectURL(a.href), 5000);
      panel.text(`${summary}\nSaved as ${file} (check your Downloads).`);
    };
    const copy = () => navigator.clipboard.writeText(body)
      .then(() => panel.text(`${summary}\nCopied. Paste it into a spreadsheet or a note.`))
      .catch(() => panel.text(`${summary}\nThe browser blocked the clipboard: use Download instead.`));
    panel.actions(summary, [['Close', false, () => panel.close()], ['Copy', false, copy], ['Download', true, save]]);
  };
  const sleep = ms => new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, ms));
  const comments = new Map();
  const clean = s => (s || '').replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim();

  // Read the comments loaded so far (top-level threads; replies are counted, not exported)
  const collect = () => {
    for (const thread of document.querySelectorAll('ytd-comment-thread-renderer')) {
      const c = thread.querySelector('#comment, ytd-comment-view-model, ytd-comment-renderer');
      if (!c) continue;
      const when = c.querySelector('#published-time-text a') || c.querySelector('#published-time-text');
      const id = ((when?.getAttribute('href') || '').match(/[?&]lc=([\w.-]+)/) || [])[1]
        || clean(c.querySelector('#author-text')?.textContent) + '|' + clean(c.querySelector('#content-text')?.textContent).slice(0, 80);
      if (comments.has(id)) continue;
      const replies = thread.querySelector('#more-replies button, #more-replies')?.textContent || '';
      comments.set(id, {
        n: comments.size + 1,
        author: clean(c.querySelector('#author-text')?.textContent),
        text: (c.querySelector('#content-text')?.textContent || '').trim(),
        likes: clean(c.querySelector('#vote-count-middle')?.textContent),
        replies: ((clean(replies).match(/[\d.,]+\s*[KkMm]?/) || [''])[0]).trim(),
        posted: clean(when?.textContent),
        pinned: c.querySelector('ytd-pinned-comment-badge-renderer, #pinned-comment-badge > *') ? 'yes' : '',
        hearted: c.querySelector('#creator-heart #hearted, ytd-creator-heart-renderer #hearted, #creator-heart-button [aria-pressed="true"]') ? 'yes' : '',
        url: id.includes('|') ? '' : `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=${video}&lc=${id}`,
      });
      if (LIMIT && comments.size >= LIMIT) return;
    }
  };

  // 1. Scroll down in short steps (YouTube draws comments as they come into view), collecting as
  //    we go, until the limit or nothing new appears for about 20 seconds (if YouTube stalls,
  //    scrolling up and down again makes it resume)
  let stop = false;
  panel.stoppable(() => { stop = true; });
  document.querySelector('video')?.pause();   // otherwise autoplay can jump to the next video mid-export
  window.scrollTo(0, 600);   // the comments only start loading once they come into view
  await sleep(2000);
  let idle = 0;
  while (idle < 32 && !stop && !(LIMIT && comments.size >= LIMIT)) {
    const before = comments.size;
    if (idle && idle % 8 === 0) {
      window.scrollBy(0, -2500);
      await sleep(800);
    }
    window.scrollBy(0, 1500);
    await sleep(300);
    const more = document.querySelector('ytd-comments ytd-continuation-item-renderer');
    if (more && more.getBoundingClientRect().top < innerHeight * 2) more.scrollIntoView({ block: 'end' });
    await sleep(300);
    collect();
    idle = comments.size === before ? idle + 1 : 0;
    panel.text(`Reading comments… ${comments.size}${LIMIT ? ' of up to ' + LIMIT : ''}`);
  }
  const list = [...comments.values()];
  if (!list.length) {
    panel.finish('No comments found. Are comments turned off for this video? If not, YouTube may have changed its layout: please report it on responsive-muse.com.');
    return 0;
  }

  // 2. Build the file and offer it
  const cell = v => '"' + String(v).replace(/"/g, '""') + '"';
  const body = FORMAT === 'txt'
    ? list.map(c => `${c.author} · ${c.posted} · ${c.likes || 0} likes\n${c.text}`).join('\n\n')
    : ['#,Author,Comment,Likes,Replies,Posted,Pinned,Hearted by creator,URL', ...list.map(c =>
        [c.n, c.author, c.text, c.likes, c.replies, c.posted, c.pinned, c.hearted, c.url].map(cell).join(','))].join('\n');
  const title = clean(document.querySelector('h1.ytd-watch-metadata, #title h1')?.textContent) || video;
  const name = ('comments-' + title).slice(0, 80).replace(/[\\/:*?"<>|]+/g, '_');
  deliver(`${stop ? 'Stopped early. ' : ''}Found ${many(list.length, 'comment')}${LIMIT && list.length >= LIMIT ? ' (limit reached)' : ''}.`, body, `${name}.${FORMAT}`);
  return list.length;
})();