X-Ray for Netflixv0.2.0
Chrome extension · Manifest V3

Cast and crew, while you watch.

Prime Video's X-Ray feature, but for Netflix. A side panel slides in with the cast for whatever you're watching — name, character, headshot — hooked into Netflix's own controls so it feels native, not stapled on.

Install for Chrome View on GitHub

Free · Open source (MIT) · Tested on Chrome 105+ · Personal install (load unpacked)

What it does

Native-feeling, not stapled on.

Built around Netflix's own player so the panel fades when controls fade, holds on hover, follows fullscreen, and survives Netflix's CSS hash rotation.

Tracks Netflix's controls

Panel visibility mirrors Netflix's own controls fade, frame by frame. No timers of our own, no fighting Netflix for visibility.

Click through to IMDB

Every cast row links straight to the actor's IMDB page (resolved from TMDB's external IDs). Tab + Enter works too.

Privacy-first by default

Cast pipeline runs entirely on your machine. Optional analytics is off by default and never sees what you watch.

Install

Five steps to working X-Ray.

Personal install (load unpacked). A Chrome Web Store listing is on the roadmap.

  1. Clone the repo

    git clone https://github.com/nimitbhargava/xray-for-netflix.git
cd xray-for-netflix
bun install

  2. Get a TMDB API key

    Free tier is fine. Sign up at themoviedb.org/settings/api, copy your key, and put it in .env.local: 

    cp .env.example .env.local
# edit .env.local, set VITE_TMDB_API_KEY=<your key>

  3. Build the extension

    bun run build

  4. Load unpacked

    Open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode (top right), click Load unpacked, and select the dist/ directory.

  5. Open any Netflix watch page

    Move the mouse — the X-Ray panel slides in with the cast. The toggle button next to subtitles turns it on or off. That's it.

Why

A side project that solved an actual itch.

Prime Video has had X-Ray for years. Netflix doesn't. Every time I'd pause mid-scene to ask "who's that, where do I know them from?", I'd open IMDB, type the show name, scroll the cast, find the right episode.

This makes that one-step instead of five.

It's open source under the MIT license. Pull requests welcome — especially for Firefox support, per-episode cast resolution, or any of the other items on the roadmap.