NotebookLM Skill

Full programmatic access to Google NotebookLM — including features not exposed in the web UI.

Library: teng-lin/notebooklm-py
⚠️ Unofficial — Uses undocumented Google APIs. May break without notice.

---

Prerequisites

Authentication must be active before any command:

CODEBLOCK0

Verify readiness before any workflow:

notebooklm status         # Active notebook and session
notebooklm doctor         # Environment health check
notebooklm doctor --fix   # Auto-fix issues

---

When This Skill Activates

Explicit: /notebooklm, "use notebooklm", "with notebooklm"

Intent detection:

• - "Create a podcast / audio overview about [topic]"
• "Summarize these URLs / documents"
• "Generate a quiz from my research"
• "Make flashcards for studying"
• "Generate a video explainer"
• "Build a presentation / slide deck"
• "Make an infographic"
• "Create a mind map"
• "Add these sources to NotebookLM"
• "Research [topic] and import sources"
• "Analyze these documents"

---

Autonomy Rules

Run without confirmation:

• - notebooklm status, list, doctor — read-only
• INLINECODE4 — diagnostics
• INLINECODE5 — create notebook
• INLINECODE6 — set context (⚠️ single-agent only; use -n in parallel)
• INLINECODE8 — add sources
• INLINECODE9 — chat (without --save-as-note)
• INLINECODE11 — language settings
• INLINECODE12 — profile management

Ask user first:

• - notebooklm delete — destructive
• INLINECODE14 — long-running, may hit rate limits
• INLINECODE15 — writes to filesystem
• INLINECODE16 — writes a note
• INLINECODE17 — writes a note

---

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Log in	INLINECODE18
List notebooks

notebooklm list |
| Create notebook | notebooklm create "Title" |
| Set active notebook | notebooklm use <notebook_id> |
| Show context | notebooklm status |
| Add URL | notebooklm source add "https://..." |
| Add file | notebooklm source add ./file.pdf |
| Add YouTube | notebooklm source add "https://youtube.com/..." |
| Add Drive doc | notebooklm source add-drive <file_id> "Title" |
| List sources | notebooklm source list |
| Web research (fast) | notebooklm source add-research "query" |
| Web research (deep) | notebooklm source add-research "query" --mode deep --no-wait |
| Ask a question | notebooklm ask "question" |
| Ask with references | notebooklm ask "question" --json |
| Save answer as note | notebooklm ask "question" --save-as-note |
| Chat history | notebooklm history |
| Generate podcast | notebooklm generate audio "instructions" |
| Generate video | notebooklm generate video |
| Generate cinematic video | notebooklm generate cinematic-video "description" |
| Generate slide deck | notebooklm generate slide-deck |
| Generate quiz | notebooklm generate quiz |
| Generate flashcards | notebooklm generate flashcards |
| Generate infographic | notebooklm generate infographic |
| Generate mind map | notebooklm generate mind-map |
| Generate data table | notebooklm generate data-table "description" |
| Generate report | notebooklm generate report --format study-guide |
| Check artifact status | notebooklm artifact list |
| Wait for artifact | notebooklm artifact wait <artifact_id> |
| Download podcast | notebooklm download audio ./podcast.mp3 |
| Download video | notebooklm download video ./video.mp4 |
| Download slides (PDF) | notebooklm download slide-deck ./slides.pdf |
| Download slides (PPTX) | notebooklm download slide-deck ./slides.pptx --format pptx |
| Download quiz | notebooklm download quiz quiz.json |
| Set language | notebooklm language set en |

---

Sources

Supported Types

URLs, YouTube videos, PDFs, text/Markdown/Word files, Google Drive docs, audio, video, images, pasted text.

CODEBLOCK2

Web Research

CODEBLOCK3

Source limits by plan: Standard 50 · Plus 100 · Pro 300 · Ultra 600

---

Chat & Q&A

CODEBLOCK4

---

Content Generation

🎙️ Podcast (Audio Overview)

CODEBLOCK5

🎬 Video

CODEBLOCK6

📊 Slide Deck

CODEBLOCK7

❓ Quiz

CODEBLOCK8

🃏 Flashcards

CODEBLOCK9

🗺️ Mind Map

CODEBLOCK10

📈 Infographic

CODEBLOCK11

📋 Data Table

CODEBLOCK12

📄 Report

# Formats: briefing-doc | study-guide | blog-post | custom
notebooklm generate report --format study-guide
notebooklm generate report --format briefing-doc --append "Keep under 2 pages"
notebooklm generate report "Technical white paper on AI trends"    # → auto custom
notebooklm generate report --format study-guide -s src1 -s src2   # Specific sources

notebooklm download report ./report.md

---

Generation Types Summary

Type	Command	Options	Download
Podcast	INLINECODE52	INLINECODE53, INLINECODE54	.mp3
Video

generate video | --format, --style | .mp4 | | Cinematic Video | generate cinematic-video | same as video | .mp4 | | Slide Deck | generate slide-deck | --format, --length | .pdf / .pptx | | Quiz | generate quiz | --difficulty, --quantity | .json/.md/.html | | Flashcards | generate flashcards | --difficulty, --quantity | .json/.md/.html | | Infographic | generate infographic | --orientation, --detail, --style | .png | | Report | generate report | --format, --append | .md | | Mind Map | generate mind-map | (sync, instant) | .json | | Data Table | generate data-table | description required | .csv |

All generate commands also support: -s/--source (specific sources), --language, --json, --retry N

---

Artifact Management

CODEBLOCK14

---

Notes

CODEBLOCK15

---

Sharing

CODEBLOCK16

---

Language Settings

CODEBLOCK17

Important: Language is a GLOBAL setting affecting all notebooks in your account.

Common codes: en English · de German · fr French · es Spanish · it Italian ·
pt_BR Portuguese · ja Japanese · ko Korean · zh_Hans Simplified Chinese · ar Arabic

---

Features Not in the Web UI

Feature	Command
Batch downloads	INLINECODE91
Quiz/Flashcard as JSON or Markdown

download quiz --format json |
| Mind map JSON export | download mind-map |
| Slide deck as PPTX | download slide-deck --format pptx |
| Individual slide revision | generate revise-slide "..." --artifact <id> --slide N |
| Report template append | generate report --format study-guide --append "..." |
| Source full-text access | source fulltext <id> |
| Save chat to note | ask "..." --save-as-note |
| Programmatic sharing | share commands |

---

Common Workflows

Research → Podcast

CODEBLOCK18

Documents → Study Materials

CODEBLOCK19

YouTube → Notes + Report

CODEBLOCK20

Full Presentation Workflow

CODEBLOCK21

Agent Automation (Non-blocking)

NB_ID=$(notebooklm create "Bulk Research" --json | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['id'])")
notebooklm use $NB_ID
SRC=$(notebooklm source add "https://url.com" --json | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['source_id'])")
notebooklm source wait $SRC --timeout 120
TASK=$(notebooklm generate audio "Overview" --json | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['task_id'])")
notebooklm artifact wait $TASK --timeout 1200
notebooklm download audio ./podcast.mp3

---

JSON Output Schemas

CODEBLOCK23

---

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Fix
Auth/cookie error	Session expired	INLINECODE100 → INLINECODE101
"No notebook context"

Context not set | notebooklm use <id> or -n <id> flag |
| "No result found for RPC ID" | Rate limiting | Wait 5–10 min, retry |
| GENERATION_FAILED | Google rate limit | Wait and retry; use web UI as fallback |
| Download fails | Generation incomplete | Check notebooklm artifact list |
| Invalid ID | Wrong ID | notebooklm list to find correct ID |
| RPC protocol error | Google changed API | Update notebooklm-py |

On failure, offer the user: retry / skip / investigate.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1

Error (not found, failed) | | 2 | Timeout (wait commands only) |

---

Processing Times & Rate Limits

Operation	Typical Time	Timeout
Source indexing	30s – 10 min	600s
Research (fast)

30s – 2 min | 180s | | Research (deep) | 15 – 30+ min | 1800s | | Mind map | instant | — | | 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 |

Always reliable: Notebook/source management, chat, mind map, report, data table.
May hit rate limits: Audio, video, quiz, flashcards, infographic, slide deck — retry after 5–10 min.

For agents, avoid --wait on long operations. Use artifact wait <id> in a background task.

---

Parallel Agent Safety

INLINECODE110 writes to a shared file — unsafe in parallel workflows.

Solutions:

1. 1. Pass -n <notebook_id> directly to each command (recommended)
2. INLINECODE112 — per-agent profile isolation
3. INLINECODE113 — full isolation
4. Always use full UUIDs, not partial IDs

---

Troubleshooting

CODEBLOCK24

Docs: https://github.com/teng-lin/notebooklm-py/blob/main/docs/troubleshooting.md