Help & FAQ

Mac: Apple Silicon only (M1 or later). It does not run on Intel Macs.

Windows: built and tested for standard Windows PCs. Windows on ARM is not supported.

Linux: not available.

That is expected. NicheLens is not yet signed with a paid Apple or Microsoft certificate. The install guide shows the steps, including the extra ones for Chrome's "Dangerous download blocked" message on Windows. On a Mac, you approve the app once under System Settings, then Privacy & Security, with Open Anyway, and your Mac asks for an administrator's name and password; on Windows, click More info, then Run anyway.

NicheLens walks you through it the first time it opens. The key is free, comes from Google, and stays on your computer. Each key has its own daily YouTube allowance (10,000 units a day by default). A normal channel lookup costs a few units. Rising Channels and Similar channels cost more, and NicheLens shows the cost before they run.

Only for Opportunity Checks. Those are written by your own Claude using Claude Code, which needs a paid Claude plan (Pro or higher) or API credits. Plans start from $20/month; see claude.com/pricing for current prices. Everything else in NicheLens works without Claude.

That is how it works. Closing the window does not quit it. Use Quit on the NicheLens icon near the clock (Windows) or in the menu bar (Mac).

1. Quit Claude completely (the Claude app and any Claude Code terminal).
2. In NicheLens, go to Settings, then Connect Claude and click Connect Claude. It shows you exactly what it will add and saves a backup first.
3. Open Claude again and start a new Code session.
4. On any channel in NicheLens, click Copy under Opportunity Check, and paste the line into Claude Code.

The result appears on that channel's page by itself, usually within a few minutes.

Run one Opportunity Check and watch the result appear on the channel's page. In NicheLens, Settings, then Connect Claude also shows when Claude last used it.

Claude is not connected to NicheLens in that session. Check these in order:

1. You are using Claude Code (the Code tab of the Claude desktop app, or claude in a terminal). The ordinary Claude chat cannot reach NicheLens.
2. In NicheLens, Settings, then Connect Claude says NicheLens is in Claude's settings. If it does not, click Connect.
3. You started a new Code session after connecting. Claude only reads its settings when a session starts. If Claude was open when you connected, quit it, open it again and start a new session.
4. NicheLens is running (icon near the clock or in the menu bar).

If Claude offers a substitute analysis from another tool, that result is not saved in NicheLens.

Claude has not sent a result yet. Make sure you pasted the line into a Claude Code session that is open and connected (see the question above). You can click Stop waiting and try again. NicheLens needs to be running for the result to appear.

Click Go to Settings, then Connect Claude and follow the steps. You can disconnect and reconnect at any time.

While Claude Code is using NicheLens, it runs a small second copy of NicheLens in the background, called the helper. Open Activity Monitor (Mac) or Task Manager (Windows) and you will see a second process named NicheLens. It ends when the Claude Code session ends. On Windows it shows as two entries, which is normal.

The helper does not listen for connections from anywhere. It contacts nothing except YouTube, for lookups you ask for, using your own key. It uses no YouTube quota unless you ask Claude to look something up. A daily limit on Claude's lookups (200 by default) protects your quota, and you can change it in Settings.

Quitting NicheLens does not stop a helper that is already running. Closing the Claude Code session does.

Claude itself sees the channel data you ask it to analyse, as in any Claude conversation.

1. Quit Claude completely. It rewrites its settings while it runs, so a change made while it is open could be lost.
2. In NicheLens, go to Settings, then Connect Claude and click Disconnect.
3. Start a new Claude Code session.

That removes only NicheLens's entry. The app and your data stay as they are, and you can connect again any time. If you have the claude command-line tool, you can also run claude mcp remove nichelens --scope user. Desktop-only users should use Disconnect.

No. They are estimates from typical rates for a niche, shown as a range and always labelled as an estimate. They are not real revenue. YouTube does not publish Shorts rates, so Shorts are counted at a much lower, labelled guess. NicheLens also shows a note when most views come from videos under 8 minutes, which cannot carry mid-roll ads.

It reads which videos are Shorts from YouTube's own Shorts list. If that list cannot be read, NicheLens says so and falls back to video length.

For very large channels, NicheLens reads only the newest 1,100 videos. That keeps a lookup fast and costs about 50 to 70 YouTube quota units. The subscribers, total views and video count are the channel's own. The outlier ranking, the Shorts and long-form counts, upload frequency and momentum describe the videos that were analysed. The earnings estimate uses the channel's total views but the Shorts and under-8-minute shares of the analysed videos, so for a very large channel it is rougher. An Opportunity Check says so when only a sample was analysed.

NicheLens keeps your 500 newest Opportunity Checks and your 500 newest Similar channels searches. To find one, ask your Claude, for example: find my Opportunity Check for @handle. Claude must be connected (Settings, then Connect Claude). Opening a saved search from the Similar Channels page is free; searching again costs about 100 to 135 YouTube quota units, and NicheLens asks you first.

A channel you look up opens instantly for 24 hours from a saved copy, with the age of the data shown. Click Refresh now to fetch it again.

Yes. There are 55 built-in niches with typical earnings rates. You can edit them, add your own, and import or export them as a CSV file.

One check per channel. Checking a channel again replaces its earlier check. NicheLens keeps up to 500 checks overall and drops the oldest when it goes over.

NicheLens has no auto-update. Quit it with Quit on its icon near the clock or in the menu bar (closing the window leaves it running), then install the new version over the old one the same way you installed the first. Your API key and data are kept. Updates for the whole 1.x line are free.

The first time a new version starts, NicheLens saves a safety copy of your data, labelled "Before an update", and keeps the newest three. There is no restore button. If something goes wrong, email us and we will walk you through putting a copy back.

On your computer only, in a folder shown in Settings, then Storage. There is no NicheLens account and no NicheLens server. Uninstalling the app does not delete your data, so a reinstall keeps your key and your checks. To remove everything, delete that folder.

NicheLens talks to YouTube with your own key. It talks to Claude only through your own Claude Code, and Claude sees the channel data you ask it to analyse. NicheLens has no AI of its own. NicheLens's page is served only to your own computer (address 127.0.0.1), not to your network.

No. It reads public channel data. An optional advanced feature, My Channels, can show your own channel's private analytics. It needs you to set up your own Google credentials, and it asks only for read-only access: it cannot edit, upload, delete or post.