NotebookLM API

Complete API for Google NotebookLM - full programmatic access including features not in the web UI. Create notebooks, add sources, generate all artifact types, download in multiple formats. Activates on explicit /notebooklm or intent like "create a podcast about X"

<!-- notebooklm-py v0.3.2 -->


# NotebookLM Automation

Complete programmatic access to Google NotebookLM—including capabilities not exposed in the web UI. Create notebooks, add sources (URLs, YouTube, PDFs, audio, video, images), chat with content, generate all artifact types, and download results in multiple formats.

## Installation

**From PyPI (Recommended):**
```bash
pip install notebooklm-py
```

**From GitHub (use latest release tag, NOT main branch):**
```bash
# Get the latest release tag (using curl)
LATEST_TAG=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/teng-lin/notebooklm-py/releases/latest | grep '"tag_name"' | cut -d'"' -f4)
pip install "git+https://github.com/teng-lin/notebooklm-py@${LATEST_TAG}"
```

⚠️ **DO NOT install from main branch** (`pip install git+https://github.com/teng-lin/notebooklm-py`). The main branch may contain unreleased/unstable changes. Always use PyPI or a specific release tag, unless you are testing unreleased features.

After installation, install the Claude Code skill:
```bash
notebooklm skill install
```

## Prerequisites

**IMPORTANT:** Before using any command, you MUST authenticate:

```bash
notebooklm login          # Opens browser for Google OAuth
notebooklm list           # Verify authentication works
```

If commands fail with authentication errors, re-run `notebooklm login`.

### CI/CD, Multiple Accounts, and Parallel Agents

For automated environments, multiple accounts, or parallel agent workflows:

| Variable | Purpose |
|----------|---------|
| `NOTEBOOKLM_HOME` | Custom config directory (default: `~/.notebooklm`) |
| `NOTEBOOKLM_AUTH_JSON` | Inline auth JSON - no file writes needed |

**CI/CD setup:** Set `NOTEBOOKLM_AUTH_JSON` from a secret containing your `storage_state.json` contents.

**Multiple accounts:** Use different `NOTEBOOKLM_HOME` directories per account.

**Parallel agents:** The CLI stores notebook context in a shared file (`~/.notebooklm/context.json`). Multiple concurrent agents using `notebooklm use` can overwrite each other's context.

**Solutions for parallel workflows:**
1. **Always use explicit notebook ID** (recommended): Pass `-n <notebook_id>` (for `wait`/`download` commands) or `--notebook <notebook_id>` (for others) instead of relying on `use`
2. **Per-agent isolation:** Set unique `NOTEBOOKLM_HOME` per agent: `export NOTEBOOKLM_HOME=/tmp/agent-$ID`
3. **Use full UUIDs:** Avoid partial IDs in automation (they can become ambiguous)

## Agent Setup Verification

Before starting workflows, verify the CLI is ready:

1. `notebooklm status` → Should show "Authenticated as: email@..."
2. `notebooklm list --json` → Should return valid JSON (even if empty notebooks list)
3. If either fails → Run `notebooklm login`

## When This Skill Activates

**Explicit:** User says "/notebooklm", "use notebooklm", or mentions the tool by name

**Intent detection:** Recognize requests like:
- "Create a podcast about [topic]"
- "Summarize these URLs/documents"
- "Generate a quiz from my research"
- "Turn this into an audio overview"
- "Create flashcards for studying"
- "Generate a video explainer"
- "Make an infographic"
- "Create a mind map of the concepts"
- "Download the quiz as markdown"
- "Add these sources to NotebookLM"

## Autonomy Rules

**Run automatically (no confirmation):**
- `notebooklm status` - check context
- `notebooklm auth check` - diagnose auth issues
- `notebooklm list` - list notebooks
- `notebooklm source list` - list sources
- `notebooklm artifact list` - list artifacts
- `notebooklm language list` - list supported languages
- `notebooklm language get` - get current language
- `notebooklm language set` - set language (global setting)
- `notebooklm artifact wait` - wait for artifact completion (in subagent context)
- `notebooklm source wait` - wait for source processing (in subagent context)
- `notebooklm research status` - check research status
- `notebooklm research wait` - wait for research (in subagent context)
- `notebooklm use <id>` - set context (⚠️ SINGLE-AGENT ONLY - use `-n` flag in parallel workflows)
- `notebooklm create` - create notebook
- `notebooklm ask "..."` - chat queries
- `notebooklm source add` - add sources

**Ask before running:**
- `notebooklm delete` - destructive
- `notebooklm generate *` - long-running, may fail
- `notebooklm download *` - writes to filesystem
- `notebooklm artifact wait` - long-running (when in main conversation)
- `notebooklm source wait` - long-running (when in main conversation)
- `notebooklm research wait` - long-running (when in main conversation)

## Quick Reference

| Task | Command |
|------|---------|
| Authenticate | `notebooklm login` |
| Diagnose auth issues | `notebooklm auth check` |
| Diagnose auth (full) | `notebooklm auth check --test` |
| List notebooks | `notebooklm list` |
| Create notebook | `notebooklm create "Title"` |
| Set context | `notebooklm use <notebook_id>` |
| Show context | `notebooklm status` |
| Add URL source | `notebooklm source add "https://..."` |
| Add file | `notebooklm source add ./file.pdf` |
| Add YouTube | `notebooklm source add "https://youtube.com/..."` |
| List sources | `notebooklm source list` |
| Wait for source processing | `notebooklm source wait <source_id>` |
| Web research (fast) | `notebooklm source add-research "query"` |
| Web research (deep) | `notebooklm source add-research "query" --mode deep --no-wait` |
| Check research status | `notebooklm research status` |
| Wait for research | `notebooklm research wait --import-all` |
| Chat | `notebooklm ask "question"` |
| Chat (new conversation) | `notebooklm ask "question" --new` |
| Chat (specific sources) | `notebooklm ask "question" -s src_id1 -s src_id2` |
| Chat (with references) | `notebooklm ask "question" --json` |
| Get source fulltext | `notebooklm source fulltext <source_id>` |
| Get source guide | `notebooklm source guide <source_id>` |
| Generate podcast | `notebooklm generate audio "instructions"` |
| Generate podcast (JSON) | `notebooklm generate audio --json` |
| Generate podcast (specific sources) | `notebooklm generate audio -s src_id1 -s src_id2` |
| Generate video | `notebooklm generate video "instructions"` |
| Generate quiz | `notebooklm generate quiz` |
| Check artifact status | `notebooklm artifact list` |
| Wait for completion | `notebooklm artifact wait <artifact_id>` |
| Download audio | `notebooklm download audio ./output.mp3` |
| Download video | `notebooklm download video ./output.mp4` |
| Download report | `notebooklm download report ./report.md` |
| Download mind map | `notebooklm download mind-map ./map.json` |
| Download data table | `notebooklm download data-table ./data.csv` |
| Download quiz | `notebooklm download quiz quiz.json` |
| Download quiz (markdown) | `notebooklm download quiz --format markdown quiz.md` |
| Download flashcards | `notebooklm download flashcards cards.json` |
| Download flashcards (markdown) | `notebooklm download flashcards --format markdown cards.md` |
| Delete notebook | `notebooklm notebook delete <id>` |
| List languages | `notebooklm language list` |
| Get language | `notebooklm language get` |
| Set language | `notebooklm language set zh_Hans` |

**Parallel safety:** Use explicit notebook IDs in parallel workflows. Commands supporting `-n` shorthand: `artifact wait`, `source wait`, `research wait/status`, `download *`. Download commands also support `-a/--artifact`. Other commands use `--notebook`. For chat, use `--new` to start fresh conversations (avoids conversation ID conflicts).

**Partial IDs:** Use first 6+ characters of UUIDs. Must be unique prefix (fails if ambiguous). Works for: `use`, `delete`, `wait` commands. For automation, prefer full UUIDs to avoid ambiguity.

## Command Output Formats

Commands with `--json` return structured data for parsing:

**Create notebook:**
```
$ notebooklm create "Research" --json
{"id": "abc123de-...", "title": "Research"}
```

**Add source:**
```
$ notebooklm source add "https://example.com" --json
{"source_id": "d