NotebookLM MCP Server
Drives a real Chrome session against NotebookLM so an agent can chat with a notebook, add sources, generate audio overviews, and read DOM-level citations.
License: MIT · Best for: Developers · Cursor & Claude Code users automating NotebookLM Q&A
What it is
An MCP server that drives a real, persistent Chrome session against NotebookLM, exposing tools for asking questions, adding sources, generating Audio Overviews, and reading DOM-level citations. It speaks both stdio and Streamable-HTTP, so it works with desktop MCP clients and HTTP-only automation tools like n8n or Zapier alike.
Why NotebookLM users should care
This is the most complete browser-automation bridge into NotebookLM available as an MCP server today. You authenticate with Google once — after that, an agent in Claude Code or Cursor can open a notebook, ask it questions, and get back an answer with real citations pulled straight from the NotebookLM UI, not a guess. The provenance envelope on every answer flags it as AI-generated and marks any instructions found inside third-party PDFs as untrusted input, which matters the moment you start piping notebook answers into further tool calls.
Key capabilities
- Citation-aware Q&A: ask_question supports four citation formats (inline, footnotes, JSON, or none) pulled from NotebookLM's own citation panel, not inferred.
- Multi-account support: Run separate Chrome profiles per Google account with --account, each with its own auth state.
- Tool profiles: Trim the exposed tool list (minimal / standard / full) to control how much of an agent's context budget the server consumes.
- Studio automation: Generate and download Audio Overviews directly, with a configurable timeout for long generations.
- Provenance envelope: Every answer is tagged with model, grounding source, and an explicit AI-generated marker — useful when answers feed into other automated steps.
Installation summary
Requires Node.js 18+ and Chrome. Run the package with npx, register it with your MCP client, then call setup_auth once to log into Google in a visible browser window — every run after that is headless. Full setup, HTTP-transport, and multi-account instructions are in the official docs.
claude mcp add notebooklm -- npx notebooklm-mcp@latest
Official links
FAQ
Does this let NotebookLM use MCP directly?
No — NotebookLM doesn't have an MCP client. This server drives NotebookLM from the other side: your MCP client (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) controls a real Chrome session logged into NotebookLM.
Is it free?
Yes, it's open source under the MIT license — free to install and self-host.
What does authentication involve?
A one-time Google login in a visible Chrome window via the setup_auth tool. Session cookies persist in a local Chrome profile — the server itself doesn't store your credentials.
Can it run headless on a server?
Yes. After the initial setup_auth login (which needs a display, e.g. via xvfb-run on a headless Linux box), every later run is fully headless.