/notebooklm — audio/artifact layer over the Second Brain

🧒 When reporting to Anton end with a child-simple "In plain words" recap. (memory eli5-always)

NotebookLM = the artifact/explanation layer (Audio Overview, study guide, mind map, reports) over the vault — NOT memory or RAG (that stays Obsidian + e5/rerank + SQLite). Flow: vault → Claude Code curates a NARROW packet → NotebookLM → artifacts back into vault as Derived. Full state = memory [[notebooklm-integration]].

Rail = CLI (verified 2026-07-04, ADOPT — H16)

Programmatic CLI teng-lin/notebooklm-py (17k⭐, MIT). No Chrome window, no DOM, no truncation. Works on Anton's consumer a2@ PRO (no Enterprise API).

• CLI binary: %USERPROFILE%\notebooklm-cli\venv\Scripts\notebooklm.exe (venv, v0.7.3). Set NB="%USERPROFILE%\notebooklm-cli\venv\Scripts\notebooklm.exe".
• Auth: browser-cookies from Firefox (Chrome/Edge blocked by App-Bound Encryption + Chrome 146 DBSC, TPM-bound — Firefox does neither, see 02-Decisions\decision-2026-07-16-browser-automation-layer.md). Stored %USERPROFILE%\.notebooklm\profiles\default\storage_state.json, account owner.work@example.com.
• Cookies expire ~every few weeks → on any auth/401 failure, RE-LOGIN: Anton opens NotebookLM in Firefox (a2@), then "$NB" login --browser-cookies firefox --account owner.work@example.com. Verify with "$NB" auth check.
• ⚠️ Fallback if login --browser-cookies firefox picks the WRONG profile or fails to find the session (the CLI's cookie-reader can hit the same class of bug as generic browser_cookie3-style libs: it may grab a stale [ProfileN] Default=1 profile instead of the one Firefox actually launches — fixed once already in our own helper, see [[deterministic-script-gotchas]]): build storage_state.json directly with the fleet-shared, /tt-tested helper instead of fighting the CLI's own extractor:

  python "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\scripts\_shared\firefox_cookies.py" --domain google.com --export "%USERPROFILE%\.notebooklm\profiles\default\storage_state.json"

  Then "$NB" auth check to confirm. Canon: 02-Decisions\decision-2026-07-16-browser-automation-layer.md, DR26-07-16-HUB-01. (Note: fb-post/x-post/fb-reply do NOT use this path — they drive Anton's live logged-in Chrome tab via Claude-in-Chrome MCP, a deliberate anti-ban choice; firefox_cookies.py/firefox_login.py are for API-style clients like this one, not for social posting.)
• Anti-abuse: run from the hub (residential IP), no VPN.

digest (default) — vault → audio

1. RECALL + curate a NARROW packet ([[vault-data-architecture]]): brain_ask.py//ask + grep to pull ONLY the relevant slice. Write it to a clean .txt/.md packet.
2. Create + add source + generate (CLI):

   NB="%USERPROFILE%\\notebooklm-cli\\venv\\Scripts\\notebooklm.exe"
   "$NB" create "<Title>" --use                       # --use sets current context (don't parse --json 'id' — key differs)
   "$NB" source add "<packet.md>" --type file          # uses current context; or --type text "<inline>", or a URL. Wait for Status=ready.
   "$NB" generate audio "<style hint>" --length short --wait   # uses current; or generate mind-map / report / flashcards…

   Other artifacts: generate mind-map | report | flashcards | quiz | slide-deck | video | data-table | infographic.
3. Pull artifacts back: "$NB" download audio "05-Resources\NotebookLM\artifacts\audio\<name>.mp3" (current context; or --all <dir>, -n <id>). Non-audio: artifact export. Get the notebook id for the index: NBID=$("$NB" list --json | python -c "import sys,json;print(json.load(sys.stdin)[0]['id'])") (newest first).
4. Index + link: add the notebook/artifact to 05-Resources\NotebookLM\_NotebookLM-Index.md; link the derived note back to its source concept(s). Backup before vault write ([[vault-backup-rule]]).

pull — Phase B

Pull existing artifacts from the top notebooks into the vault as Derived notes: "$NB" list → download ... --all per notebook → index + link.

Fallback — Chrome-autonomy (only if CLI breaks)

If Google rotates endpoints and the CLI errors (and a re-login doesn't fix it), drive the logged-in UI via Claude-in-Chrome ([[chrome-autonomy-self-drive]]) on a2@: Create notebook → Add sources → Studio → generate → Download menu (NOT DOM-scrape, truncates ~1000 chars). This was the old primary rail; kept as backstop.

Safety

• CLI uses undocumented Google APIs (community project) — same ToS surface as driving the logged-in UI of the same account; low-med risk for personal volumes.
• Audio/video generation has a daily quota — don't burn it on test runs; add --retry + delays for batches.
• Stay on a2 PRO (free, included — [[prefer-included-limits-before-paid-api]]).

Output

Notebook created/used · artifact type + where saved · index updated. Then 🧒 recap. Routine candidate: weekly "audio digest of my brain" — see /skill-gap and [[evaluate-recurring-into-routine]]. Decision: 02-Decisions\decision-notebooklm-claude-code-artifact-layer.

Like this skill? It is one of 100 in second-brain-starter-kit: the second brain we built for ourselves and run every day at Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Install the whole set with npx skills add tonydzi/second-brain-starter-kit. Everything is open source and free, so take what you need.

Flagships worth a look on their own: secondop-panel (a second opinion from a panel of external models), claude-memory-tidy (stop your agent's memory from rotting), telegram-mcp-kit (your own Telegram over MCP in about 15 minutes).

Author: Anton Dziatkovskii, Palo Alto AI Research Lab. Telegram @tonydzi - WhatsApp +1 341 222 9178 - X @Tony_Stef_

Engineers: want to test-drive this setup? Message me. I hand out free starter seeds to engineers who test and report back, and custom skill requests are welcome.