NotebookLM Automation

Automates the creation of multiple audio overviews in Google NotebookLM with different prompts and configurations.

Overview

This skill uses Playwright to automate NotebookLM's browser interface for:

Creating a new notebook
Adding website sources
Generating multiple audio overviews with custom prompts
Downloading all generated audio files

The automation handles the repetitive UI interactions, waiting for generation to complete, and downloading all outputs.

Workflow

The automation follows these steps:

Prepare input - Create JSON file with sources and audio overview configurations
Launch automation - Run the Playwright script
Notebook creation - Script creates new notebook and adds sources
Audio generation - Script creates each audio overview with specified prompt and length
Wait for completion - Script waits ~10 minutes for all audio to generate
Download outputs - Script downloads all audio files to /home/claude/

Input Format

Create a JSON file with this structure:

{
  "sources": [
    "https://example.com/article1",
    "https://example.com/page2"
  ],
  "audio_overviews": [
    {
      "prompt": "Focus on technical concepts for developers",
      "length": "longer"
    },
    {
      "prompt": "Create executive summary of business impacts",
      "length": "default"
    }
  ]
}

Field Specifications

sources: Array of website URLs to use as source material

Must be publicly accessible URLs
NotebookLM will crawl and index these pages

audio_overviews: Array of audio overview configurations

prompt: Text describing what the AI should focus on in this episode
length: Either "default" or "longer" (never use "shorter")

See references/example_input.json for a complete example.

Usage

Basic Usage

python scripts/generate_audio_overviews.py input.json

This runs with visible browser so you can monitor progress and handle Google authentication if needed.

Headless Mode

python scripts/generate_audio_overviews.py input.json --headless

Run browser in headless mode (requires existing authentication).

Custom Timeout

python scripts/generate_audio_overviews.py input.json --timeout 900

Set custom timeout for audio generation (in seconds). Default is 600 seconds (10 minutes).

Prerequisites

Required Software

Install Playwright and dependencies:

pip install playwright
playwright install chromium

Google Account Setup

Must have access to NotebookLM (https://notebooklm.google.com)
First run will require Google authentication
Browser state is not persisted between runs

Output

Audio files are downloaded to /home/claude/ with NotebookLM's default naming:

Format: MP3
Naming: Typically includes date/timestamp

The script reports download success for each file and provides summary at completion.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Authentication Required

Run without --headless flag
Sign in to Google when prompted
Consider using persistent browser context for repeated use

Selectors Not Found

NotebookLM's UI may have changed
See references/troubleshooting.md for selector update guidance
Run without --headless to observe actual UI

Timeout During Generation

Audio generation takes ~5-10 minutes per overview
Increase timeout with --timeout flag
Script will attempt downloads even after timeout

Sources Not Loading

Verify URLs are accessible and public
Check for NotebookLM error messages in browser
Some content may be blocked or require authentication

Getting Help

For selector updates and detailed troubleshooting, read references/troubleshooting.md.

Limitations

Requires manual Google authentication on first run
Browser automation may be fragile if NotebookLM's UI changes significantly
Cannot create more than ~10 audio overviews at once (NotebookLM limitation)
Sources must be publicly accessible websites
Generation time increases with number of sources and overview length

christag-notebooklm-automation