Build a YouTube Video Gallery with Lovable

Start with the public interface and temporary sample data. Once the layout and interactions work correctly, replace the sample data with database records. This makes problems easier to identify and prevents interface, authentication, and database issues from becoming mixed together.

You now have the public foundation for Video Vault. The interface includes a featured hero, searchable video grid, category filters, temporary sample data, and responsive black-and-red styling. In Part 2, you'll add the popup YouTube player and create separate layouts for regular videos and YouTube Shorts.

Video Vault now includes a responsive, accessible popup player. Regular videos open in a large horizontal player, while YouTube Shorts retain their vertical proportions. Both layouts include transparent surrounding space, information beneath the player, and the black-and-red glow used throughout the application. In Part 3, you'll enable Lovable Cloud and replace the temporary sample data with persistent video and category records.

The administrator interface will later hide or disable invalid featured actions. The database constraint provides a second layer of protection. Even if a future interface contains a bug, the database will still reject multiple featured records.

Video Vault now loads its public categories and published videos from Lovable Cloud. The database supports regular videos, YouTube Shorts, publishing status, category relationships, sorting, and one featured video. Public visitors can view approved content but cannot modify it. In Part 4, you'll create the first administrator account and protect the administrator backend.

Registration must be closed in the backend as well as the interface. A hidden or deleted setup page does not provide security if its administrator-creation operation remains publicly callable.

Video Vault now has a one-time administrator setup and a protected authentication flow. Public visitors can continue browsing the gallery without an account, while `/admin` requires both a valid session and a securely verified administrator role. In Part 5, you'll replace the temporary administrator landing page with the Video Vault dashboard and management navigation.

A traditional video-management table can become too wide when it includes thumbnails, titles, channels, categories, statuses, dates, and actions. Using two connected rows keeps the information readable and prevents the Actions area from being cut off.

Video Vault now has a protected dashboard with accurate summary cards, recent videos, searchable video management, a category overview, and responsive two-row records. In Part 6, you'll replace the Add Video placeholder with a complete form that validates YouTube URLs, extracts video IDs, detects Shorts, and generates thumbnail previews.

Do not validate a YouTube URL by checking whether its text merely contains the word `youtube`. A malicious lookalike domain could include that word. Parse the URL and compare its hostname against an exact list of approved YouTube hosts.

Administrators can now add standard YouTube videos, shortened YouTube links, and YouTube Shorts. Video Vault validates every URL, extracts a safe video ID, detects Shorts, generates a thumbnail, rejects duplicates, and controls whether the saved video appears publicly. In Part 7, you'll replace the Edit placeholder and add publishing changes and safe video deletion.

The Edit form clears featured status when unpublishing a video. The database trigger provides a second layer of protection, ensuring that an unpublished video cannot remain featured even if a future update comes from another interface.

Administrators can now edit video details, publish or unpublish records, leave forms safely, and permanently delete videos through an accessible confirmation dialog. The database also prevents unpublished videos from remaining featured. In Part 8, you'll complete category management by adding secure creation, editing, ordering, activation, deactivation, and safe deletion.

Deleting a category should never silently delete every video assigned to it. Video Vault restricts category deletion at both the interface and database levels while video records still reference it.

Administrators can now create, edit, order, activate, deactivate, and safely delete Video Vault categories. Categories containing videos remain protected, and inactive categories can be hidden from public filters without losing any content. In Part 9, you'll use the yellow-star control to choose the featured video.

The secure database operation clears the previous featured record and assigns the new one inside one transaction. Either the complete replacement succeeds or nothing changes.

Administrators can now choose the homepage hero using a clearly labeled yellow-star control. Video Vault securely removes the previous selection and assigns the new featured video in one protected database operation. Unpublished videos cannot be featured, and deleting or unpublishing the current selection never chooses a random replacement. In Part 10, you'll complete the final testing checklist and publish Video Vault.

You built and published a responsive YouTube gallery with search, categories, regular videos, Shorts, a popup player, Lovable Cloud data, protected administrator access, video management, and secure featured-video replacement.

Video Vault can now grow without loading every published video at once, and selected videos begin playing as soon as the browser allows. The existing public gallery, administrator workflow, featured-video rule, categories, regular-video layout, and Shorts layout remain intact.

The gallery now presents a consistent custom identity across the public site, administrator area, browser metadata, and shared links. Existing gallery and administrator features remain intact.