Lectures belong in the same library as PDFs
Most students already study from YouTube — coaching playlists, recorded classes, explainers — while notes live in another tab. Shelf treats a lecture as a page, not a side player. Add page → YouTube, paste a watch link or a playlist URL, and the video sits in your collection next to the matching PDF.
A single video becomes one page. A playlist becomes a topic inside the collection you are in — or a new collection if you add it from the library root — with one page per lecture, titles from YouTube, order preserved.
Watch and take notes without leaving the reader
Open a YouTube page and the lecture fills the document pane, with Shelf controls on the picture: current time and duration, a scrubber, speed, and a stamp that inserts a clickable 12:34 link. When YouTube offers quality levels, the same menu can suggest one. Resume from the last second and watch time follow the same reader habits as PDF progress.
Need the textbook beside the teacher? Split view already works: drop the PDF onto the other pane. Tutor on the page can use your notes plus the lecture title and link.
What Shelf does not host
Videos you add as a YouTube link stay on YouTube. Shelf stores the link and your notes, not a downloaded copy. To host a file you recorded, use Add page → Video. Some videos block embedding; Open on YouTube still works, and your notes remain in Shelf. Public playlist feeds include about the first 15 lectures unless a YouTube Data API key is configured on the server for a full import.
Add a lecture or a playlist
Open Add page and choose YouTube. Paste a watch URL for one lecture, or a playlist URL to import the course. Titles come from YouTube when you leave the title field blank.
Inside a collection, a playlist becomes a new topic. At the library root, it becomes a new collection. Videos already inside a topic are added as pages in that topic, in playlist order.
Timestamped notes
Stamp writes the current time into the notes doc under the player as a 12:34 link. Click it later to seek. Use stamps for definitions, examples, or anything the speaker repeats.
Notes autosave like other Shelf docs. They are indexed with the lecture title and URL so Tutor can use what you wrote — not a full transcript of the video.
Split with the matching PDF
Drop a textbook or coaching PDF onto the other pane while the lecture plays. Each pane keeps its own place. That is the point of putting video in the library instead of a second app.
Schedule the lecture from the reader bottom bar the same way you schedule a PDF. Resume time syncs across devices like last-read page.
Playlists and YouTube limits
Shelf never downloads the file. Playback uses YouTube's player. Videos that disable embedding still keep your notes; use Open on YouTube for those.
Without a server YouTube Data API key, public playlist feeds include about the first 15 videos. Paste remaining watch URLs, or configure YOUTUBE_API_KEY for a fuller import (capped at 80 lectures).
What this is not
Shelf is not a YouTube search engine or a coaching catalog. You bring the lectures you already chose — the same rule as PDFs.
Private or unlisted videos follow YouTube's own login inside the player. Shelf does not store YouTube passwords.
Study loop
Watch, stamp, highlight the matching PDF, ask Tutor on your notes, then schedule the next lecture. Streak minutes include time on a focused video page the same way they include reading.