fix: address reader-UI feedback (shorts, search, tags, login, UX)

- Shorts: confirm via youtube.com/shorts/<id> probe (SOCS cookie bypasses the
  consent redirect) instead of a 60s heuristic; concurrent probing, shorts_probed
  flag, scheduled refinement (migration 0005)
- Search: match title + channel name only (descriptions caused noisy results)
- Faceted tag filtering: AND across categories (language AND topic narrows),
  OR within a category; any/all toggle applies to topics
- Language detection: majority vote over individual titles (fixes misdetections
  like multipoleguy -> English; drops bogus Polish/Romanian)
- Login: drop forced consent so returning sign-in is quick (select_account)
- Feed cards: clickable channel name (opens channel), persistent saved badge,
  undo toast on hide, Hidden view to restore; tag chips show counts in tooltip

backend/alembic/versions/0005_shorts_probed.py

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+"""add videos.shorts_probed
+
+Revision ID: 0005_shorts_probed
+Revises: 0004_feed_state_prefs
+Create Date: 2026-06-11
+"""
+from typing import Sequence, Union
+
+from alembic import op
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+
+revision: str = "0005_shorts_probed"
+down_revision: Union[str, None] = "0004_feed_state_prefs"
+branch_labels: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+depends_on: Union[str, Sequence[str], None] = None
+
+
+def upgrade() -> None:
+    op.add_column(
+        "videos",
+        sa.Column("shorts_probed", sa.Boolean(), nullable=False, server_default="false"),
+    )
+    op.create_index("ix_videos_shorts_probed", "videos", ["shorts_probed"])
+
+
+def downgrade() -> None:
+    op.drop_index("ix_videos_shorts_probed", table_name="videos")
+    op.drop_column("videos", "shorts_probed")

backend/app/auth.py

@@ -28,13 +28,14 @@ oauth.register(
 
 @router.get("/login")
 async def login(request: Request):
-    # access_type=offline + prompt=consent must be on the authorization URL so Google
+    # access_type=offline ensures a refresh_token on first authorization. We avoid
-    # returns a refresh_token (required for background sync).
+    # prompt=consent so returning users get a quick sign-in; the stored refresh token
+    # is kept when Google doesn't re-issue one (see the callback).
     return await oauth.google.authorize_redirect(
         request,
         settings.oauth_redirect_url,
         access_type="offline",
-        prompt="consent",
+        prompt="select_account",
         include_granted_scopes="true",
     )
 

backend/app/config.py

@@ -34,8 +34,11 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     backfill_recent_max_videos: int = 100
     backfill_recent_max_days: int = 365
 
-    # Videos at or below this duration (seconds) are treated as Shorts.
+    # Shorts are confirmed by probing youtube.com/shorts/<id>. Only videos at or below
-    shorts_max_seconds: int = 60
+    # this duration (and not livestreams) are probed; longer videos are never Shorts.
+    shorts_probe_max_seconds: int = 180
+    shorts_probe_batch: int = 150
+    shorts_probe_interval_minutes: int = 2
     # videos.list accepts up to 50 ids per call.
     enrich_batch_size: int = 50
 

backend/app/models.py

@@ -146,6 +146,10 @@ class Video(Base):
     is_short: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
         Boolean, default=False, server_default="false", index=True
     )
+    # Whether the youtube.com/shorts/<id> probe has run for this video.
+    shorts_probed: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(
+        Boolean, default=False, server_default="false", index=True
+    )
     # none | live | upcoming | premiere | was_live
     live_status: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
         String(16), default="none", server_default="none", index=True

backend/app/routes/feed.py

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.orm import Session, aliased
 
 from app.auth import current_user
 from app.db import get_db
-from app.models import Channel, ChannelTag, User, Video, VideoState
+from app.models import Channel, ChannelTag, Tag, User, Video, VideoState
 
 router = APIRouter(prefix="/api", tags=["feed"])
 
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ VALID_STATES = {"new", "watched", "saved", "hidden"}
 HIDDEN_LIVE = ("live", "upcoming")
 
 
+def _channel_url(channel_id: str, handle: str | None) -> str:
+    if handle and handle.startswith("@"):
+        return f"https://www.youtube.com/{handle}"
+    return f"https://www.youtube.com/channel/{channel_id}"
+
+
 def _serialize(row) -> dict:
     return {
         "id": row.id,
@@ -21,6 +27,7 @@ def _serialize(row) -> dict:
         "channel_id": row.channel_id,
         "channel_title": row.channel_title,
         "channel_thumbnail": row.channel_thumbnail,
+        "channel_url": _channel_url(row.channel_id, row.channel_handle),
         "published_at": row.published_at.isoformat() if row.published_at else None,
         "thumbnail_url": row.thumbnail_url,
         "duration_seconds": row.duration_seconds,
@@ -61,6 +68,7 @@ def get_feed(
             Video.channel_id,
             Channel.title.label("channel_title"),
             Channel.thumbnail_url.label("channel_thumbnail"),
+            Channel.handle.label("channel_handle"),
             Video.published_at,
             Video.thumbnail_url,
             Video.duration_seconds,
@@ -91,23 +99,35 @@ def get_feed(
             Video.published_at >= datetime.fromtimestamp(cutoff, tz=timezone.utc)
         )
     if q:
+        # Title (and channel name) only — searching descriptions produced noisy matches.
         like = f"%{q}%"
-        query = query.where(or_(Video.title.ilike(like), Video.description.ilike(like)))
+        query = query.where(or_(Video.title.ilike(like), Channel.title.ilike(like)))
 
     if tags:
+        # Group selected tags by category: AND across categories (e.g. language AND
+        # topic narrows results), OR within a category. The any/all toggle controls
+        # whether multiple topic tags are OR'd (any) or AND'd (all).
+        cat_rows = db.execute(
+            select(Tag.id, Tag.category).where(Tag.id.in_(tags))
+        ).all()
+        by_category: dict[str, list[int]] = {}
+        for tag_id, category in cat_rows:
+            by_category.setdefault(category, []).append(tag_id)
+
         visible = or_(ChannelTag.user_id.is_(None), ChannelTag.user_id == user.id)
-        if tag_mode == "and":
+        for category, ids in by_category.items():
-            sub = (
+            if category == "topic" and tag_mode == "and" and len(ids) > 1:
-                select(ChannelTag.channel_id)
+                sub = (
-                .where(ChannelTag.tag_id.in_(tags), visible)
+                    select(ChannelTag.channel_id)
-                .group_by(ChannelTag.channel_id)
+                    .where(ChannelTag.tag_id.in_(ids), visible)
-                .having(func.count(func.distinct(ChannelTag.tag_id)) == len(set(tags)))
+                    .group_by(ChannelTag.channel_id)
-            )
+                    .having(func.count(func.distinct(ChannelTag.tag_id)) == len(set(ids)))
-        else:
+                )
-            sub = select(ChannelTag.channel_id).where(
+            else:
-                ChannelTag.tag_id.in_(tags), visible
+                sub = select(ChannelTag.channel_id).where(
-            )
+                    ChannelTag.tag_id.in_(ids), visible
-        query = query.where(Video.channel_id.in_(sub))
+                )
+            query = query.where(Video.channel_id.in_(sub))
 
     # Watch-state visibility.
     if show == "unwatched":

backend/app/scheduler.py

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ from app.sync.runner import (
     run_enrich,
     run_recent_backfill,
     run_rss_poll,
+    run_shorts,
 )
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("subfeed.scheduler")
@@ -53,6 +54,10 @@ def _autotag_job() -> None:
     _job("autotag", lambda db: run_autotag_all(db, only_missing=True))
 
 
+def _shorts_job() -> None:
+    _job("shorts", run_shorts)
+
+
 def start_scheduler() -> None:
     global _scheduler
     if not settings.scheduler_enabled or _scheduler is not None:
@@ -76,6 +81,12 @@ def start_scheduler() -> None:
         minutes=settings.autotag_interval_minutes,
         id="autotag",
     )
+    scheduler.add_job(
+        _shorts_job,
+        "interval",
+        minutes=settings.shorts_probe_interval_minutes,
+        id="shorts",
+    )
     scheduler.start()
     _scheduler = scheduler
     logger.info("scheduler started")

backend/app/sync/autotag.py

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ detection over a sample of recent video titles. Topics are mapped from YouTube's
 topicDetails categories and the channel's dominant video category. System tags are
 regenerated freely; user tags are never touched here.
 """
+from collections import Counter
+
 from sqlalchemy import and_, exists, func, select
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 
@@ -156,11 +158,20 @@ def detect_channel_language(db: Session, channel: Channel) -> tuple[str | None,
         .scalars()
         .all()
     )
-    text = " . ".join(t for t in titles if t).strip()
+    # Majority vote over individual titles is more robust than one concatenated blob
-    if len(text) < 15:
+    # (short/technical titles otherwise skew the detector).
+    votes: Counter[str] = Counter()
+    for title in titles:
+        cleaned = (title or "").strip()
+        if len(cleaned) < 8:
+            continue
+        lang, _conf = _classify(cleaned)
+        votes[lang] += 1
+    if not votes:
         return None, 0.0
-    lang, confidence = _classify(text)
+    lang, count = votes.most_common(1)[0]
-    return lang, float(confidence)
+    total = sum(votes.values())
+    return lang, count / total
 
 
 def compute_channel_topics(db: Session, channel: Channel) -> set[str]:

backend/app/sync/runner.py

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from app.sync.videos import (
     backfill_channel_recent,
     enrich_pending,
     poll_rss_channel,
+    run_shorts_classification,
 )
 from app.youtube.client import YouTubeClient
 
@@ -60,6 +61,10 @@ def run_enrich(db: Session, max_batches: int = 200, floor: int = 200) -> int:
     return total
 
 
+def run_shorts(db: Session) -> dict:
+    return run_shorts_classification(db)
+
+
 def run_recent_backfill(
     db: Session, channels: list[Channel] | None = None, max_channels: int | None = None
 ) -> dict:

backend/app/sync/videos.py

@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
 uploads playlist, and enrichment via videos.list (duration, stats, category, Shorts
 and livestream classification)."""
 import re
+from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
 
-from sqlalchemy import select
+from sqlalchemy import or_, select, update
 from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import insert as pg_insert
 from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
 
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@ from app.config import settings
 from app.models import Channel, Video
 from app.youtube.client import YouTubeClient, best_thumbnail
 from app.youtube.rss import fetch_channel_feed
+from app.youtube.shorts import make_client, probe_is_short
 
 _DURATION_RE = re.compile(
     r"P(?:(\d+)D)?T(?:(\d+)H)?(?:(\d+)M)?(?:(\d+)S)?", re.IGNORECASE
@@ -195,11 +197,7 @@ def apply_video_details(video: Video, item: dict) -> None:
         "defaultAudioLanguage"
     )
     video.live_status = _live_status(snippet, live)
-    video.is_short = bool(
+    # is_short is decided separately by the youtube.com/shorts probe (run_shorts_classification).
-        video.live_status == "none"
-        and video.duration_seconds
-        and 0 < video.duration_seconds <= settings.shorts_max_seconds
-    )
 
 
 def enrich_pending(db: Session, yt: YouTubeClient, limit: int | None = None) -> int:
@@ -225,3 +223,60 @@ def enrich_pending(db: Session, yt: YouTubeClient, limit: int | None = None) ->
         enriched += 1
     db.commit()
     return enriched
+
+
+def run_shorts_classification(db: Session, limit: int | None = None) -> dict:
+    """Finalize Shorts classification: cheaply mark non-candidates, then probe the
+    youtube.com/shorts URL for short-enough, non-live, enriched videos."""
+    limit = limit or settings.shorts_probe_batch
+    probe_max = settings.shorts_probe_max_seconds
+
+    # 1) Anything enriched that can't be a Short -> finalize without a probe.
+    db.execute(
+        update(Video)
+        .where(
+            Video.shorts_probed.is_(False),
+            Video.enriched_at.is_not(None),
+            or_(
+                Video.duration_seconds.is_(None),
+                Video.duration_seconds > probe_max,
+                Video.live_status != "none",
+            ),
+        )
+        .values(is_short=False, shorts_probed=True)
+    )
+    db.commit()
+
+    # 2) Probe the remaining candidates.
+    candidates = (
+        db.execute(
+            select(Video).where(
+                Video.shorts_probed.is_(False),
+                Video.enriched_at.is_not(None),
+                Video.duration_seconds <= probe_max,
+                Video.live_status == "none",
+            ).limit(limit)
+        )
+        .scalars()
+        .all()
+    )
+    if not candidates:
+        return {"probed": 0, "shorts": 0}
+
+    probed = 0
+    shorts = 0
+    with make_client() as client:
+        def work(video: Video):
+            return video, probe_is_short(client, video.id)
+
+        with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=16) as pool:
+            for video, result in pool.map(work, candidates):
+                if result is None:
+                    continue  # leave unprobed; retry on a later run
+                video.is_short = result
+                video.shorts_probed = True
+                probed += 1
+                if result:
+                    shorts += 1
+    db.commit()
+    return {"probed": probed, "shorts": shorts}

backend/app/youtube/shorts.py

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+"""Confirm whether a video is a Short by probing youtube.com/shorts/<id>.
+
+A real Short returns HTTP 200 at that URL; a regular video redirects to /watch.
+This uses no API quota."""
+import httpx
+
+SHORTS_URL = "https://www.youtube.com/shorts/{video_id}"
+# The SOCS cookie skips YouTube's cookie-consent interstitial, which otherwise
+# redirects every server-side request to consent.youtube.com.
+_HEADERS = {
+    "User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)",
+    "Cookie": "SOCS=CAI",
+}
+
+
+def probe_is_short(client: httpx.Client, video_id: str) -> bool | None:
+    """True if a Short, False if a regular video, None if undetermined (retry later)."""
+    try:
+        resp = client.get(
+            SHORTS_URL.format(video_id=video_id), follow_redirects=False
+        )
+    except httpx.HTTPError:
+        return None
+    if resp.status_code == 200:
+        return True
+    if resp.status_code in (301, 302, 303, 307, 308):
+        return False
+    return None
+
+
+def make_client() -> httpx.Client:
+    return httpx.Client(timeout=10.0, headers=_HEADERS)

frontend/src/App.tsx

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import Login from "./components/Login";
 import Header from "./components/Header";
 import Sidebar from "./components/Sidebar";
 import Feed from "./components/Feed";
+import Toaster from "./components/Toaster";
 
 const DEFAULT_FILTERS: FeedFilters = {
   tags: [],
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ export default function App() {
           <Feed filters={filters} view={view} />
         </main>
       </div>
+      <Toaster />
     </div>
   );
 }

frontend/src/components/Feed.tsx

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from "react";
 import { useInfiniteQuery } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { api, type FeedFilters, type Video } from "../lib/api";
+import { toast } from "../lib/toast";
 import VideoCard from "./VideoCard";
 
 const PAGE = 60;
@@ -43,12 +44,19 @@ export default function Feed({
   function onState(id: string, status: string) {
     setOverrides((o) => ({ ...o, [id]: status }));
     api.setState(id, status).catch(() => {});
+    if (status === "hidden") {
+      toast("Video hidden", { label: "Undo", onClick: () => onState(id, "new") });
+    }
   }
 
   const items: Video[] = (query.data?.pages ?? [])
     .flatMap((p) => p.items)
     .map((v) => (overrides[v.id] ? { ...v, status: overrides[v.id] } : v))
-    .filter((v) => overrides[v.id] !== "hidden");
+    .filter((v) => {
+      const ov = overrides[v.id];
+      // In the Hidden view, drop just-unhidden items; elsewhere drop just-hidden ones.
+      return filters.show === "hidden" ? ov !== "new" : ov !== "hidden";
+    });
 
   if (query.isLoading) return <div className="p-8 text-muted">Loading feed…</div>;
   if (query.isError) return <div className="p-8 text-muted">Couldn't load the feed.</div>;

frontend/src/components/Sidebar.tsx

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ const SHOWS = [
   { id: "all", label: "All" },
   { id: "watched", label: "Watched" },
   { id: "saved", label: "Saved" },
+  { id: "hidden", label: "Hidden" },
 ];
 
 function TagChip({
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ function TagChip({
   return (
     <button
       onClick={onClick}
+      title={`${tag.channel_count} channel${tag.channel_count === 1 ? "" : "s"}`}
       className={`text-xs px-2.5 py-1 rounded-full border transition ${
         active
           ? "bg-accent text-accent-fg border-accent"
@@ -36,9 +38,6 @@ function TagChip({
       }`}
     >
       {tag.name}
-      <span className={active ? "opacity-80 ml-1" : "text-muted ml-1"}>
-        {tag.channel_count}
-      </span>
     </button>
   );
 }

frontend/src/components/Toaster.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import { useSyncExternalStore } from "react";
+import { dismiss, getToasts, subscribe } from "../lib/toast";
+
+export default function Toaster() {
+  const toasts = useSyncExternalStore(subscribe, getToasts, getToasts);
+  return (
+    <div className="fixed bottom-4 right-4 z-50 flex flex-col gap-2">
+      {toasts.map((t) => (
+        <div
+          key={t.id}
+          className="bg-surface border border-border rounded-xl shadow-2xl px-4 py-3 flex items-center gap-4 animate-[fadeIn_0.15s_ease]"
+        >
+          <span className="text-sm">{t.message}</span>
+          {t.action && (
+            <button
+              onClick={() => {
+                t.action!.onClick();
+                dismiss(t.id);
+              }}
+              className="text-accent text-sm font-semibold hover:underline"
+            >
+              {t.action.label}
+            </button>
+          )}
+        </div>
+      ))}
+    </div>
+  );
+}

frontend/src/components/VideoCard.tsx

@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@ function Thumb({ video, className }: { video: Video; className?: string }) {
           stream
         </span>
       )}
+      {video.status === "saved" && (
+        <span className="absolute top-1.5 right-1.5 bg-accent text-accent-fg rounded-full p-1">
+          <Bookmark className="w-3.5 h-3.5" />
+        </span>
+      )}
     </a>
   );
 }
@@ -122,7 +127,15 @@ export default function VideoCard({
         <Thumb video={video} className="w-44 aspect-video shrink-0" />
         <div className="min-w-0 flex-1">
           {title}
-          <div className="text-sm text-muted truncate mt-0.5">{video.channel_title}</div>
+          <a
+            href={video.channel_url}
+            target="_blank"
+            rel="noreferrer"
+            onClick={(e) => e.stopPropagation()}
+            className="text-sm text-muted truncate mt-0.5 block w-fit max-w-full hover:text-fg"
+          >
+            {video.channel_title}
+          </a>
           <div className="text-xs text-muted mt-0.5">{meta}</div>
         </div>
         <Actions video={video} onState={onState} />
@@ -144,7 +157,15 @@ export default function VideoCard({
         )}
         <div className="min-w-0 flex-1">
           {title}
-          <div className="text-sm text-muted truncate mt-0.5">{video.channel_title}</div>
+          <a
+            href={video.channel_url}
+            target="_blank"
+            rel="noreferrer"
+            onClick={(e) => e.stopPropagation()}
+            className="text-sm text-muted truncate mt-0.5 block w-fit max-w-full hover:text-fg"
+          >
+            {video.channel_title}
+          </a>
           <div className="text-xs text-muted mt-0.5">{meta}</div>
           <Actions video={video} onState={onState} />
         </div>

frontend/src/lib/api.ts

@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ export interface Video {
   channel_id: string;
   channel_title: string | null;
   channel_thumbnail: string | null;
+  channel_url: string;
   published_at: string | null;
   thumbnail_url: string | null;
   duration_seconds: number | null;

frontend/src/lib/toast.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+export interface ToastAction {
+  label: string;
+  onClick: () => void;
+}
+export interface ToastItem {
+  id: number;
+  message: string;
+  action?: ToastAction;
+}
+
+let items: ToastItem[] = [];
+let listeners: Array<() => void> = [];
+let counter = 1;
+
+function emit() {
+  listeners.forEach((l) => l());
+}
+
+export function toast(message: string, action?: ToastAction): number {
+  const id = counter++;
+  items = [...items, { id, message, action }];
+  emit();
+  setTimeout(() => dismiss(id), 6000);
+  return id;
+}
+
+export function dismiss(id: number) {
+  items = items.filter((i) => i.id !== id);
+  emit();
+}
+
+export function getToasts(): ToastItem[] {
+  return items;
+}
+
+export function subscribe(listener: () => void): () => void {
+  listeners.push(listener);
+  return () => {
+    listeners = listeners.filter((l) => l !== listener);
+  };
+}