ChapterPlay automatically extracts chapters from YouTube video descriptions and displays them in a beautiful, interactive sidebar. Visitors can click any chapter to jump directly to that timestamp.
Key Features
- 🎬 Gutenberg Block — drag and drop into any post or page
- 🔖 Shortcode —
[chapterplay url="..."]for classic editor or any text widget - 📑 Auto Chapter Extraction — reads timestamps directly from YouTube descriptions
- 📺 Multiple Players — add unlimited players on the same page with no conflicts
- 🌙 Premium Dark Design — polished UI that adapts to any container size (300px to full-width)
- ⚡ Smart Caching — chapter data is cached server-side to reduce API calls
- 🔑 No API Key Required — uses YouTube’s internal data endpoint; zero configuration needed
How to Use
Gutenberg Block: 1. In the block editor, click + to add a new block 2. Search for ChapterPlay 3. Add the block, then paste the YouTube URL in the right-hand Settings panel 4. Save and preview — the player renders on the frontend with chapters
Shortcode:
[chapterplay url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"]
[chapterplay url="VIDEO_ID"]
You can use the shortcode inside any page, post, or text widget.
External Services
This plugin connects to youtube.com to fetch video metadata (title, description, duration). No personal user data is transmitted. The connection is made server-side only when a video is first loaded or the cache expires.
- Service: YouTube (google.com)
- Data sent: YouTube video ID only
- Data received: Video title, author, duration, description
- Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
- Terms of service: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms