What's Left

One list of what's still open, gathered from the feature backlogs (docs/features/) and docs/known-issues.md, which hold the details. Tick or remove items as they're done. Last updated for 0.93.3.

Top priority: before the first release

The assessment after 0.77.1 (the maintainer agreed): StreamXR is ready for an early-access GitHub release (a versioned preview / beta) once these are done; the Chrome Web Store waits until another headset or two has been tried and the unverified items are cleared.

Start VR from any page (0.78.0; checked signed in and out): the VR button (with its popup) in YouTube's top bar next to + Create, so VR can start with no video playing (Home, a channel...) and you pick a video from inside VR. (Today a newcomer on the Home page has no way in.) Goes with the placeholder (5).
Skip ad, answered (checked by the maintainer after 0.78.3: Skip ad works with the helper; without it VR says "Skip on desktop"; the helper stays an optional extra): is the second extension (the Skip Helper, skip-helper/) still needed? Yes (from docs/youtube.md, "Ads"): the popup covering the Skip button was a side problem (the helper makes anything covering it click-through); the real reason is that YouTube ignores any click a script makes (it checks isTrusted), and a real click needs the debugger permission, which can't be optional and shows Chrome's "Read and change all your data" warning, so it stays in its own optional extension. Left: the user's check that the helper still works since the StreamXR rename (helper 1.2.0: Skip ad in VR skips; without the helper VR says "Skip on desktop"), then the README says so plainly.
README for release (done after 0.78.4: the support table, quick start, features, Skip ad, troubleshooting at the top; the developer sections below): rewrite README.md with enticing, inviting language about the features and benefits (the developer details can move lower or into the other docs), including that StreamXR reads YouTube's own page and data, so a YouTube update can break a feature for a while, and how to report it. Also, in the same inviting voice, the Skip ad story: why skipping from inside VR takes the small optional Skip Helper (YouTube only accepts a real click, which needs a permission Chrome shows a scary warning for, so it's kept out of the main extension), that everything else works without it ("Skip on desktop"), and that YouTube Premium members (no ads) don't need it at all.
Supported hardware, stated clearly (in the README's "What you need" table): tested on the Valve Steam Frame with SteamVR and desktop Chrome only; other headsets may lack controller models or have their buttons mapped differently (say "others welcome", and point to the README's "Adding a headset").
A placeholder while no video plays (0.78.0, checked): show the site's logo (YouTube's) where the video would be (goes with "Start VR from any page").
The player button's icon (0.78.0; always lit since 0.78.1): replace the VR headset icon on the "Watch in VR" button in YouTube's player (and its popup) with Material Symbols' Head Mounted Device (head_mounted_device).

The maintainer's other checks and questions (added after 0.77.1)

~~Release assessment~~ done after 0.77.1: early access on GitHub once the items above are done (see "Top priority").

The public roadmap (README, after release, in this order)

Immediate bug fixes (what the first users run into).
Add to queue (free on desktop, not Premium; how the page's queue can be driven is to probe first: features/video-page.md).
Explore page tabs (the "Coming Soon" ones).
Done: Live chat (0.79.0 to 0.88.1), YouTube Premium (1080p Premium 0.91.0, Jump ahead 0.92.3).
Commenting in-headset (writing comments and replies with the VR keyboard).
Chrome Web Store release as 1.0 (the maintainer, 2026-10-17: once the YouTube features are all in; one-click install, automatic updates, still free; needs the store's privacy questions answered: the README's "Your privacy" section covers them).
Twitch.tv support (the first site after YouTube: a new provider, src/sites/twitch/; reuses the live chat panel).
Jellyfin and Plex support (new providers, src/sites/jellyfin/, src/sites/plex/: no DRM on your own media). Self-hosted servers live at any address, so each needs host access to the user's server: an optional permission asked when it's turned on (the maintainer agrees on any permission first: AGENTS.md).
Music streaming, Spotify first (its audio is DRM-protected, but sound plays as on the page; VR shows the player's controls, art and queue, no video to draw). Needs open.spotify.com's host permission (to agree on first).
Barebones mode, experimental (the maintainer, 2026-10-17: kept out of 1.0 and after the full providers, since how well it works depends on each site and first impressions matter): any <video> on any site on the cinema screen with basic controls (play, seek, volume, format), a generic provider for sites without one. Likely shape: activeTab + scripting (it runs only on a page where you click StreamXR's button; nothing added to the install warning), to agree on first. Unprotected video only (DRM: see 11), and videos served cross-origin without CORS can't be drawn in WebGL, so many sites will refuse.
Groundwork for DRM-protected videos (YouTube Movies, HBO Max and Netflix first, then Disney+, Prime Video): providers and player ready for when browsers and the services allow protected video in WebXR (e.g. media layers); the README asks users to tell the services they want desktop XR support.
Whatever else comes up.

As soon as it's possible (README's second roadmap, ahead of everything above once the support exists): YouTube Movies (copy-protected: once YouTube allows protected video in desktop XR; showing them in Up Next with price / rating can come before), Firefox (desktop WebXR), full Steam Frame controller support (Chrome recognizing the controllers instead of "Oculus Touch"), native Steam Frame support (StreamXR in the Frame's own Chromium browser, no PC, once that browser supports WebXR), streaming services (HBO Max and Netflix first) once they allow protected video in desktop XR.

Next: from u/TehSuperFruitSnack's Reddit feedback (after 0.88.1)

Cubemap seams (small): thin lines along the cube's edges on 360° cubemap ("MESH") videos; regular (equirectangular) 360° videos don't have them. Likely cause: the glass look (on by default) builds mipmaps of the video (gl-utils.js videoMipmaps), and the sphere's cubemap lookup (video-sphere.js eacUv) jumps across the texture where two faces meet, so the GPU picks the smallest mipmap along those lines. Check first: the seams should go away with the glass off (Settings → Appearance). Fix: in cubemap mode, sample the video at full resolution (an explicit level of detail, or gradients from the smooth view direction).
- Test: SheiKra 8K 360° roller coaster (cubemap, 8K); for comparison, with no seams: a regular 360° video.
3D side-by-side videos (0.89.0, works in the headset; the glass per eye fixed in 0.90.1): some VR180 videos reach desktop with both eyes in one frame (LEFT | RIGHT), and StreamXR stretches the whole frame over the half sphere. Add a side-by-side format to the Format menu that gives each eye its half (video-sphere.js uUvXform, the per-eye hook); picked by hand, since YouTube's data doesn't mark these videos (auto-detecting by comparing the frame's halves could come later).
- Test: VR180 Left/Right (side by side: LEFT in the left eye, RIGHT in the right). For comparison, one eye only, which stays flat: Left Right Test in VR 180.
- Not planned: 3D for videos that reach desktop as one eye, and more than 4K where desktop YouTube caps it (e.g. this VR180 tour): desktop YouTube limits (decisions/0002).
3D side by side on the cinema screen (0.93.0, works in the headset): the same for regular (not VR180) 3D videos, each eye its half on the cinema screen.
- Test: Demo 3D[SBS] (HD : 1080P) (half side by side: a 16:9 frame, each eye squeezed into half).

Features to build (easiest first)

Movies in Up Next: the price / rating in place of views and date, a yellow Movie tag (features/video-page.md).
Premium features (audited 2026-10-17, features/video-page.md): 1080p Premium in the Quality menu and Jump ahead, marked with the Diamond (purple without Premium, YouTube Red with it). 1080p Premium (0.91.0) and Jump ahead (0.92.3) work in the headset. Add to queue is its own item (not Premium on desktop).
Explore's "Coming Soon" tabs: Live, Gaming, Music, Hype, Courses, Podcasts, Memberships (readers exist); Shorts, Movies & TV, Learning need more first (features/home-page.md).
News: its own tabs (Top stories, Sports ...) and the Sports feed.
Subscriptions (0.90.0 to 0.92.2, work in the headset): the Channels tab with its sort pills, the bell on the Channel panel, posts in the feed; the feed's shelves deferred (features/subscriptions-page.md).
Live chat: reading (0.79.1) and reactions (0.80.0) work in the headset; typing, the keyboard's emoji pages and Support on desktop built in 0.81.0, Top fans (XP, the list, rank pills) in 0.82.0 and chat replays in 0.87.0 (all work in the headset). Other viewers' floating reactions are deferred (features/video-page.md, "Deferred"). Left: the unverified items in known-issues.md, which the README's "How you can help" asks users to check (features/video-page.md).
End screen, Info cards (features/video-page.md).
Back button: set aside (0.73.0); comes back on demand.

Known quirks (`known-issues.md`)

Captions on 180°/360° need improvement (0.77.1: "good enough for now").
Glass popups blur only the video, not the panels behind them.
One level of comment replies (not YouTube's nested replies-to-replies).
Some readers expect YouTube in English.
Limits on YouTube's or Chrome's side: no controller vibration, a channel's Featured tab can be missing, a channel's subscribed state can be wrong.

Still to check in the headset

Signed-in Home feeds other than the main one.
The Captions button greyed out on a video with no captions.

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