How to Add YouTube Playlist to a React App

Steps to add a responsive YouTube Playlist to React apps

The @codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist is a simple, easy-to-use, and responsive playlist component with a lightbox for displaying a beautiful gallery of YouTube videos in React apps.

Here are some of the package’s features:

• SEO friendly
• Fullscreen support
• Keyboard accessible
• Mobile responsive
• Lightbox with translucent background
• Set column numbers dynamically or manually
• Customizable styles

This article will use a simple project to explain how to use the library to add YouTube playlists to your React applications.

Here is a demo of what we will build:

http://localhost:3000

Play

Without any further ado, let’s get started with the first step.

Step 1: Get the Right Node and NPM Version

Make sure you have Node 10.16 (or greater) and NPM 5.6 (or greater) installed on your system.

Note

• Use this package manager guide to install, update, or verify your Node version.
• If you prefer to use Yarn, make sure you have Yarn 0.25 (or greater).

Step 2: Create a New React App

Use Vite to create a new React app.

Terminal

npm create vite@latest

Alternatively, you can use Yarn or pnpm to configure your project like so:

Yarn Installation

yarn create vite

PNPM Installation

pnpm create vite

Note

The choice of Vite is purely a random one. The concept of this tutorial applies to other React applications such as Astro, NextJS, and Gatsby. In other words, don’t worry if you are unfamiliar with ViteJS. We will only use its basic features to learn how to add a YouTube playlist to your React app. So, relax—you are in good hands. 😊

After running the above command, Vite will ask the following questions:

• Ok to proceed? (y) Enter the y key on your keyboard to proceed.
• Project name: You can name it anything you wish—for instance, react-youtube-playlist-demo-001.
• Select a framework: Use your keyboard to select React.
• Select a variant: Use your keyboard to select JavaScript + SWC.

Once you’ve answered all the questions, Vite will create your new app.

Step 3: Go Inside the Project Directory

After the installation process, navigate into the project directory like so:

Terminal

cd react-youtube-playlist-demo-001

Step 4: Install the Default Dependencies

Using your text editor, install the default dependencies Vite pre-specified in the package.json file.

npm install

Step 5: Install the React YouTube Playlist Package

Using your text editor, install the React YouTube playlist package locally.

npm install @codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist --save

AD

Step 6: Import the React YouTube Playlist Package

Open the App.jsx file located in the src folder of your Vite application.

The App.jsx file within the Vite App’s src directory

Then, delete all its content. And import the YouTube playlist package:

App.jsx

import { YouTubePlaylist } from "@codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist";
import "./App.css";

Step 7: Render the React YouTube Playlist Package

After importing the playlist package, render it to the DOM as follows:

App.jsx

import { YouTubePlaylist } from "@codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist";
import "./App.css";

function App() {
  return (
    <>
      <YouTubePlaylist
        apiKey="YOUR_YOUTUBE_API_KEY"
        playlistId="YOUR_YOUTUBE_PLAYLIST_ID"
      />
    </>
  );
}

export default App;

The YouTubePlaylist library accepts the following props:

Props	Type	Default	Description
apiKey	string	undefined	(Required) Your project’s YouTube API key. (Learn how to get an API key)
playlistId	string	undefined	(Required) The ID of the YouTube playlist you wish to display. Note: A playlist’s ID is the list of characters after the “list=” in the URL—for instance, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=playlistID.
columnCount	number or keyword (string)	“auto”	(Optional) The number of columns.
columnWidth	number or keyword (string)	230	(Optional) The minimum width of the gallery’s columns.
gapSize	number	24	(Optional) The gallery’s gap size.
customStyles	ImageGalleryStylesType		(Optional) Custom styles to override the following element’s default styles: Loader container: loaderContainer Gallery container: galleryContainerStyle Gallery image button: imageBtnStyle Gallery video container: videoContainerStyle Gallery image element: videoImageStyle Gallery video caption: videoCaptionStyle Modal container: modalContainerStyle Modal slide number: modalSlideNumberStyle Modal toolbar: modalToolbarStyle Modal toolbar button: modalToolbarBtnStyle Modal slideshow section: modalSlideShowSectionStyle Modal iframe element: modalIFrameStyle Modal slide button: modalSlideBtnStyle

Note for Remix users

Remix users should add "@codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist" to their remix.config.js file:

remix.config.js

/** @type {import('@remix-run/dev').AppConfig} */
module.exports = {
  ignoredRouteFiles: ["**/.*"],
  serverDependenciesToBundle: ["@codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist"],
  serverModuleFormat: "cjs",
};

The serverDependenciesToBundle field tells Remix to transpile and include the "@codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist" package in the server bundle.

Note for NextJS users

NextJS users should declare the "use client" directive at the top of their file. It should sit above all other import statements like so:

"use client";
import { YouTubePlaylist } from "@codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist";
import { ImageGallery } from "react-image-grid-gallery";

The "use client" directive tells NextJS to consider all modules imported into the page as part of the Client Component module graph.

The YouTubePlaylist package works only as a Client Component because it uses React’s State and Lifecycle effects, such as useState() and useEffect().

Step 8: Run the Application

Take a look at your app in the browser by running the following:

npm run dev

Tip

• Although we used the @codesweetly/react-youtube-playlist library on a simple project to create a YouTube playlist, you can use the same principles on any React application.
• Use the react-image-grid-gallery library to add image galleries to your React applications.

Live Demo

See the video recommendations page for a live demo displaying CodeSweetly’s playlists using the React YouTube Playlist package.