NotebookLM

NotebookLM = external RAG engine that offloads reading from your context window. Uses the

notebooklm-mcp-cli

MCP server (PyPI, v0.5.0+) to create notebooks, manage sources, generate content, and query with grounded AI responses. Supports batch operations across notebooks, pipelines, and multilingual content generation.

Disclaimer: Uses internal undocumented Google APIs via browser authentication. Sessions last ~20 minutes. API may change without notice.

What's New (March 2026)

Cinematic Video Overviews (Mar 4) — fully animated narrated videos powered by Gemini 3 + Veo 3. Google AI Ultra only, 20/day limit, English only.
4 Audio Formats — Brief, Critique, Debate, Deep Dive (was single podcast style)
8x Source Capacity — 8x more source material per conversation, 6x extended memory
Per-Slide Editing —
```
studio_revise
```
edits individual slides without regenerating the full deck
3-Panel UI — Sources / Chat / Studio layout on notebooklm.google.com
Research timeout (v0.5.0) —
```
research_import
```
now configurable via
```
--timeout
```
/
```
timeout
```
param (default 300s, was 120s)
Deep research errors (v0.5.1) —
```
RPCError
```
class with error codes, auto-retry on transient API failures

Prerequisites

Install:

uv tool install notebooklm-mcp-cli

(or

pip install notebooklm-mcp-cli

)

Authenticate:
```
nlm login
```
(opens browser, session ~20 min)
Configure MCP:
```
nlm setup add claude-code
```
(auto-configures
```
.mcp.json
```
) or
```
nlm setup add all
```
for multi-tool setup
Verify:
```
nlm login --check
```
to confirm active session
Upgrade:
```
uv tool upgrade notebooklm-mcp-cli
```
— restart MCP server after upgrade

Decision Tree — Which Rule to Read

What are you trying to do?
│
├── Create / manage notebooks
│   ├── List / get / rename ──────► notebook_list, notebook_get, notebook_rename
│   ├── Create new notebook ──────► notebook_create
│   └── Delete notebook ──────────► notebook_delete (irreversible!)
│
├── Add sources to a notebook
│   ├── URL / YouTube ────────────► source_add(type=url)
│   ├── Plain text ───────────────► source_add(type=text)
│   ├── Local file ───────────────► source_add(type=file)
│   ├── Google Drive ─────────────► source_add(type=drive)
│   ├── Rename a source ──────────► source_rename
│   └── Manage sources ──────────► rules/setup-quickstart.md
│
├── Query a notebook (AI chat)
│   ├── Ask questions ────────────► notebook_query
│   └── Configure chat style ────► chat_configure
│
├── Generate studio content
│   ├── 10 artifact types ───────► rules/workflow-studio-content.md
│   ├── Revise slides ───────────► studio_revise (creates new deck)
│   └── Export to Docs/Sheets ──► export_artifact
│
├── Research & discovery
│   └── Web/Drive research ──────► rules/workflow-research-discovery.md
│
├── Notes (capture insights)
│   └── Create/list/update/delete ► note (unified tool)
│
├── Sharing & collaboration
│   └── Public links / invites / batch ► rules/workflow-sharing-collaboration.md
│
├── Batch & cross-notebook
│   ├── Query across notebooks ────► cross_notebook_query
│   ├── Bulk operations ───────────► batch (query, add-source, create, studio)
│   └── Multi-step pipelines ──────► rules/workflow-batch-pipelines.md
│
├── Organization
│   └── Tag notebooks ─────────────► tags
│
└── Workflow patterns
    ├── Second brain ─────────────► rules/workflow-second-brain.md
    ├── Research offload ─────────► rules/workflow-research-offload.md
    └── Knowledge base ──────────► rules/workflow-knowledge-base.md

Quick Reference

Category	Rule	Impact	Key Pattern
Setup	`setup-quickstart.md`	HIGH	Auth, MCP config, source management, session refresh
Workflows	`workflow-second-brain.md`	HIGH	Decision docs, project hub, agent interop
Workflows	`workflow-research-offload.md`	HIGH	Synthesis, onboarding, token savings
Workflows	`workflow-knowledge-base.md`	HIGH	Debugging KB, security handbook, team knowledge
Workflows	`workflow-studio-content.md`	HIGH	10 artifact types (audio, cinematic video, slides, infographics, mind maps...)
Research	`workflow-research-discovery.md`	HIGH	Web/Drive research async flow
Collaboration	`workflow-sharing-collaboration.md`	MEDIUM	Public links, collaborator invites, batch sharing
Batch	`workflow-batch-pipelines.md`	HIGH	Cross-notebook queries, batch ops, pipelines
Release	`workflow-versioned-notebooks.md`	HIGH	Per-release notebooks with changelog + diffs

Total: 9 rules across 5 categories

MCP Tools by API Group

Group	Tools	Count
Notebooks	notebook_list, notebook_create, notebook_get, notebook_describe, notebook_rename, notebook_delete	6
Sources	source_add, source_rename, source_list_drive, source_sync_drive, source_delete, source_describe, source_get_content	7
Querying	notebook_query, chat_configure	2
Studio	studio_create, studio_status, studio_list_types, studio_revise, studio_delete	5
Research	research_start, research_status, research_import	3
Sharing	notebook_share_status, notebook_share_public, notebook_share_invite, notebook_share_batch	4
Notes	note (unified: list/create/update/delete)	1 (4 actions)
Downloads	download_artifact	1
Export	export_artifact (Google Docs/Sheets)	1
Batch	batch (multi-notebook ops), cross_notebook_query	2
Pipelines	pipelines (ingest-and-podcast, research-and-report, multi-format)	1
Tags	tags (organize and smart-select notebooks)	1
Auth	save_auth_tokens, refresh_auth, server_info	3

Total: 37 tools across 13 groups (v0.5.0+)

Key Decisions

Decision	Recommendation
New notebook vs existing	One notebook per project/topic; add sources to existing
Source type	URL for web, text for inline, file for local docs, drive for Google Docs
Large sources	Split >50K chars into multiple sources for better retrieval
Auth expired?	`nlm login --check` ; sessions last ~20 min, re-auth with `nlm login`
Studio content	Use studio_create, poll with studio_status (generation takes 2-5 min)
Cinematic video	`studio_create(artifact_type="cinematic_video")` — requires Ultra, English only, 20/day
Audio format	Choose brief/critique/debate/deep_dive via `audio_format` param
Research discovery	research_start for web/Drive discovery, then research_import (timeout=300s default)
Deep research	`research_start(mode="deep")` for multi-source synthesis (v0.5.1+, auto-retries)
Release notebooks	One notebook per minor version; upload CHANGELOG + key skill diffs as sources
Query vs search	notebook_query for AI-grounded answers; source_get_content for raw text
Notes vs sources	Notes for your insights/annotations; sources for external documents
Infographic style	11 visual styles via `infographic_style` param on studio_create
Slide revision	Use `studio_revise` to edit individual slides (creates a new deck)
Export artifacts	`export_artifact` sends reports → Google Docs, data tables → Sheets
Language	`language` param on studio_create accepts BCP-47 codes (e.g., `he` for Hebrew, `en` , `es` , `ja` )
Batch operations	Use `batch` for multi-notebook ops; `cross_notebook_query` for aggregated answers
Pipelines	`ingest-and-podcast` / `research-and-report` / `multi-format` for multi-step workflows

Example

bash

# 1. Create a notebook for your project
notebook_create(title="Auth Refactor Research")

# 2. Add sources (docs, articles, existing code analysis)
source_add(notebook_id="...", type="url", url="https://oauth.net/2.1/")
source_add(notebook_id="...", type="text", content="Our current auth uses...")
source_add(notebook_id="...", type="file", path="/docs/auth-design.md")

# 3. Query with grounded AI responses
notebook_query(notebook_id="...", query="What are the key differences between OAuth 2.0 and 2.1?")

# 4. Generate a deep dive audio overview (supports language param)
studio_create(notebook_id="...", artifact_type="audio", audio_format="deep_dive", language="he", confirm=True)
studio_status(notebook_id="...")  # Poll until complete

# 5. Generate a cinematic video overview (Ultra only, English)
studio_create(notebook_id="...", artifact_type="cinematic_video", confirm=True)
studio_status(notebook_id="...")  # Poll — takes 3-8 minutes

# 6. Capture insights as notes
note(notebook_id="...", action="create", content="Key takeaway: PKCE is mandatory in 2.1")

Common Mistakes

Forgetting auth expiry — Sessions last ~20 min. Always check with
```
nlm login --check
```
before long workflows. Re-auth with
```
nlm login
```
.
One giant notebook — Split by project/topic. One notebook with 50 sources degrades retrieval quality.
Huge single sources — Split documents >50K characters into logical sections for better chunking and retrieval.
Not polling studio_status — Studio content generation takes 2-5 minutes. Poll
```
studio_status
```
instead of assuming instant results.
Ignoring source types — Use
```
type=url
```
for web pages (auto-extracts),
```
type=file
```
for local files. Using
```
type=text
```
for a URL gives you the URL string, not the page content.
Deleting notebooks without checking —
```
notebook_delete
```
is irreversible. List contents with
```
source_list_drive
```
and
```
note(action=list)
```
first.
Skipping research_import —
```
research_start
```
discovers content but does not add it. Use
```
research_import
```
to actually add findings as sources.
Raw queries on empty notebooks —
```
notebook_query
```
returns poor results with no sources. Add sources before querying.
Ignoring language param —
```
studio_create
```
supports BCP-47
```
language
```
codes (e.g.,
```
he
```
,
```
ar
```
,
```
ja
```
). Defaults to English if omitted.
Batch without purpose —
```
batch
```
and
```
cross_notebook_query
```
are powerful but add latency. Use for multi-project synthesis, not single-notebook tasks.

Related Skills

```
ork:mcp-patterns
```
— MCP server building, security, and composition patterns
```
ork:web-research-workflow
```
— Web research strategies and source evaluation
```
ork:memory
```
— Memory fabric for cross-session knowledge persistence
```
ork:security-patterns
```
— Input sanitization and layered security

notebooklm

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content