NotebookLM-API

Automate Google NotebookLM with a small FastAPI service and Playwright. Upload sources (URLs, YouTube videos, or raw text), generate Audio Overviews, and retrieve the finished files programmatically—no manual clicking through the UI.

---

Key Features

• Upload multiple source types (URL, YouTube, text) into a notebook via REST.
• Trigger Audio Overview generation with optional style and prompt overrides.
• Track generation status and fetch download URLs or the binary audio file.
• Handles English and Hebrew NotebookLM interfaces automatically.
• Can auto-launch Chrome with a dedicated profile or attach to an existing debug session.
• Auto-login via cookies.txt - Import cookies from browser extension for automated login.
• Docker support - Lightweight container that connects to external browserless/chrome.

---

Architecture At A Glance

• FastAPI app (notebooklm_automator.api.app) exposes REST endpoints in api/routes.py.
• NotebookLMAutomator (core/automator.py) orchestrates Playwright, manages language detection, and delegates to feature managers.
• Browser control (core/browser.py) handles Chrome remote-debugging and profile management.
• Sources & audio managers (core/sources.py, core/audio.py) interact with the NotebookLM UI to add sources, generate audio, and fetch downloads.
• Selectors (core/selectors.py) provide localized UI selectors for supported languages.

---

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• Google Chrome or Chromium with remote debugging enabled
• A NotebookLM account and an existing notebook URL
• uv (optional but recommended for reproducible installs)

---

Installation

From the repository root:

Using uv (recommended)

uv sync
uv run playwright install chromium

Using pip

pip install -e .
playwright install chromium

---

Running Locally

1. Create a .env file or export the notebook URL:
   • NOTEBOOKLM_URL="https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/<YOUR_ID>"
2. First run: the service will open a Chrome profile at ~/.notebooklm-chrome. Log in to your Google account in that window so the session persists.
3. Start the API:

   uv run run-server
   # or override via CLI
   uv run run-server --notebook-url "https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/<YOUR_ID>"

The API serves at http://localhost:8000 with Swagger UI at /docs.

Auto-Login with Cookies

Instead of manual login, you can use a cookies.txt file exported from your browser:

1. Install Chrome extension "Get cookies.txt LOCALLY"
2. Visit notebooklm.google.com while logged in
3. Export cookies to local/cookies/cookies.txt
4. Start the server - cookies will be injected automatically

# Using default cookies location
uv run run-server --notebook-url "https://..."

# Or specify a custom cookies file
uv run run-server --notebook-url "https://..." --cookies-file ~/my-cookies.txt

Docker (with browserless)

The lightweight Docker image connects to an external browserless/chrome container:

# Using docker-compose (recommended)
NOTEBOOKLM_URL="https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/<YOUR_ID>" docker-compose up -d

# Or build and run manually
docker build -t notebooklm-automator .
docker run -p 8000:8000 \
  -e NOTEBOOKLM_URL="https://..." \
  -e BROWSER_WS_ENDPOINT="ws://browserless:3000" \
  -v ./local/cookies:/app/local/cookies:ro \
  notebooklm-automator

To integrate with an existing browserless container (e.g., RSSHub), add to your docker-compose.yml:

notebooklm-automator:
  build: /path/to/notebooklm-podcast-automator
  environment:
    NOTEBOOKLM_URL: "https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/<ID>"
    BROWSER_WS_ENDPOINT: "ws://browserless:3000"
  volumes:
    - ./cookies:/app/local/cookies:ro
  depends_on:
    - browserless

---

Configuration

All values can come from environment variables or .env:

Variable	Default	Purpose
NOTEBOOKLM_URL	(required)	NotebookLM notebook URL the automator should open.
NOTEBOOKLM_AUTO_LAUNCH_CHROME	1	Set to 0 to attach to an already running Chrome with remote debugging.
NOTEBOOKLM_CHROME_PATH	auto-detect	Path to Chrome/Chromium binary.
NOTEBOOKLM_CHROME_USER_DATA_DIR	~/.notebooklm-chrome	Profile used to persist your NotebookLM login.
NOTEBOOKLM_CHROME_PORT	9222	Remote debugging port.
NOTEBOOKLM_CHROME_HOST	127.0.0.1	Host interface for CDP connection.
NOTEBOOKLM_COOKIES_FILE	-	Path to Netscape cookies.txt file for auto-login.
BROWSER_WS_ENDPOINT	-	WebSocket endpoint for browserless (e.g., ws://browserless:3000).

Manual Chrome launch (if you set NOTEBOOKLM_AUTO_LAUNCH_CHROME=0):

# macOS
/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome \
  --remote-debugging-port=9222 \
  --user-data-dir="$HOME/.notebooklm-chrome"

# Windows (PowerShell)
& "C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" `
  --remote-debugging-port=9222 `
  --user-data-dir="$env:USERPROFILE\.notebooklm-chrome"

# Linux
google-chrome --remote-debugging-port=9222 --user-data-dir="$HOME/.notebooklm-chrome"

---

Common Pitfalls & Troubleshooting

• Not logged in: Ensure the Chrome profile (NOTEBOOKLM_CHROME_USER_DATA_DIR) is signed into your Google account before calling the API.
• Port already in use: Change NOTEBOOKLM_CHROME_PORT (and matching manual Chrome launch) if another process is using 9222.
• Download failures: The API sanitizes filenames, but Chrome still needs download permission in the profile directory. Clear blocked downloads and retry.
• Tests endpoint: The /run-tests route expects local test files. This repository snapshot does not include the test suite; add your own tests before invoking it.

---

Future Improvements

• Re-introduce and publish the automated test suite with CI coverage.
• Add health checks for Chrome connectivity and clearer API error payloads.
• Ship a published container image for easier deployment.

---

License

MIT license. See LICENSE for details.