Skip to content

NotebookLM

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

Python package (required):

pip install notebooklm-py

Skill install:

notebooklm skill install
# or
npx skills add teng-lin/notebooklm-py

Authenticate before first use:

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

Agent setup verification

Before starting any workflow, verify the CLI is ready:

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

When this skill activates

Explicit invocation: user says "/notebooklm", "use NotebookLM", or mentions the tool by name.

Intent detection — activate for 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 needed): - 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 / get / set — language settings - notebooklm artifact wait (in subagent context) - notebooklm source wait (in subagent context) - notebooklm research wait (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 (without --save-as-note) - notebooklm history — display conversation history (read-only) - 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 / notebooklm source wait / notebooklm research wait — long-running (when in main conversation) - notebooklm ask "..." --save-as-note — writes a note - notebooklm history --save — writes a note

Quick reference

Task Command
Authenticate notebooklm login
Diagnose auth issues notebooklm auth check
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
Chat notebooklm ask "question"
Chat (save answer as note) notebooklm ask "question" --save-as-note
Show conversation history notebooklm history
Generate podcast notebooklm generate audio "instructions"
Generate video notebooklm generate video "instructions"
Generate slide deck notebooklm generate slide-deck
Generate infographic notebooklm generate infographic
Generate report notebooklm generate report --format briefing-doc
Generate quiz notebooklm generate quiz
Generate flashcards notebooklm generate flashcards
Generate mind map notebooklm generate mind-map
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 slide deck (PDF) notebooklm download slide-deck ./slides.pdf
Download slide deck (PPTX) notebooklm download slide-deck ./slides.pptx --format pptx
Download report notebooklm download report ./report.md
Download quiz (markdown) notebooklm download quiz --format markdown quiz.md
Download flashcards (markdown) notebooklm download flashcards --format markdown cards.md
List languages notebooklm language list
Set language notebooklm language set zh_Hans
Delete notebook notebooklm notebook delete <id>

Generation types

All generate commands support -s, --source (specific sources), --language (output language), --json (machine-readable output), and --retry N (auto-retry on rate limits).

Type Command Options Download format
Podcast generate audio --format [deep-dive\|brief\|critique\|debate], --length [short\|default\|long] .mp3
Video generate video --format [explainer\|brief], --style [auto\|classic\|whiteboard\|kawaii\|anime\|watercolor\|retro-print\|heritage\|paper-craft] .mp4
Slide Deck generate slide-deck --format [detailed\|presenter], --length [default\|short] .pdf / .pptx
Infographic generate infographic --orientation [landscape\|portrait\|square], --detail [concise\|standard\|detailed], --style [auto\|sketch-note\|professional\|bento-grid\|editorial\|instructional\|bricks\|clay\|anime\|kawaii\|scientific] .png
Report generate report --format [briefing-doc\|study-guide\|blog-post\|custom], --append "extra instructions" .md
Mind Map generate mind-map (sync, instant) .json
Data Table generate data-table description required .csv
Quiz generate quiz --difficulty [easy\|medium\|hard], --quantity [fewer\|standard\|more] .json/.md
Flashcards generate flashcards --difficulty [easy\|medium\|hard], --quantity [fewer\|standard\|more] .json/.md

Features beyond the web UI

Feature Command Description
Batch downloads download <type> --all Download all artifacts of a type at once
Quiz/Flashcard export download quiz --format json Export as JSON, Markdown, or HTML
Mind map extraction download mind-map Export hierarchical JSON for visualization tools
Data table export download data-table Download structured tables as CSV
Slide deck as PPTX download slide-deck --format pptx Editable .pptx (web UI only offers PDF)
Slide revision generate revise-slide "prompt" --artifact <id> --slide N Modify individual slides
Report template append generate report --format study-guide --append "..." Append custom instructions
Source fulltext source fulltext <id> Retrieve indexed text content of any source
Save chat to note ask "..." --save-as-note Save Q&A answers as notebook notes

Common workflows

Research to podcast

  1. notebooklm create "Research: [topic]"
  2. notebooklm source add for each URL/document
  3. Wait for sources: notebooklm source list --json until all status=READY
  4. notebooklm generate audio "Focus on [specific angle]" (confirm when asked)
  5. Note the artifact ID returned
  6. Check notebooklm artifact list for status
  7. notebooklm download audio ./podcast.mp3 when complete

For automated/background generation, spawn a subagent after step 4: 

Task(
  prompt="Wait for artifact {artifact_id} in notebook {notebook_id} to complete, then download.
          Use: notebooklm artifact wait {artifact_id} -n {notebook_id} --timeout 600
          Then: notebooklm download audio ./podcast.mp3 -a {artifact_id} -n {notebook_id}",
  subagent_type="general-purpose"
)

Document analysis

  1. notebooklm create "Analysis: [project]"
  2. notebooklm source add ./doc.pdf (or URLs)
  3. notebooklm ask "Summarize the key points"
  4. Continue chatting as needed

Processing times

Operation Typical time Suggested timeout
Source processing 30s–10 min 600s
Research (fast) 30s–2 min 180s
Research (deep) 15–30+ min 1800s
Quiz, flashcards 5–15 min 900s
Report, data-table 5–15 min 900s
Audio generation 10–20 min 1200s
Video generation 15–45 min 2700s

Error handling

Error Cause Action
Auth/cookie error Session expired Run notebooklm auth check then notebooklm login
"No notebook context" Context not set Use -n <id> flag (parallel) or notebooklm use <id> (single-agent)
"No result found for RPC ID" Rate limiting Wait 5–10 min, retry
GENERATION_FAILED Google rate limit Wait and retry later
Download fails Generation incomplete Check artifact list for status

Unreliable operations (may fail with rate limiting): audio, video, quiz, flashcards, infographic, slide deck generation. Workaround: retry after 5–10 minutes or use the NotebookLM web UI as fallback.

Parallel safety

Use explicit notebook IDs in parallel workflows. Commands supporting -n shorthand: artifact wait, source wait, research wait/status, download *. For automation, prefer full UUIDs to avoid ambiguity.

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.

Language configuration

Language setting controls output language for generated artifacts (audio, video, etc.). This is a GLOBAL setting affecting all notebooks.

notebooklm language list          # List 80+ supported languages
notebooklm language set zh_Hans   # Simplified Chinese
notebooklm language set en        # English (default)

Override per command: notebooklm generate audio --language ja