notebooklm-chunker 0.4.1

Turn long PDFs into chunked NotebookLM workflows with Studio outputs

notebooklm-chunker

Turn long documents into smaller, heading-aware NotebookLM sources so reports, slide decks, quizzes, flashcards, and audio outputs stay more focused and useful.

Two interfaces, one core. The Desktop app provides a visual workflow. The CLI provides scriptable automation. Both use the same nblm engine underneath.

• This page covers the Desktop app
• CLI.md covers the Python CLI

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Desktop App

An Electron desktop client that wraps the nblm CLI into a full visual workflow — from PDF upload to NotebookLM Studio generation.

Features NotebookLM Doesn't Have

Feature	Description
Heading-aware chunking	Splits documents at heading boundaries (H1, H2, etc.) instead of arbitrary page breaks, keeping each source semantically coherent
Bulk source upload	Upload dozens or hundreds of chunks to a single notebook in one operation with parallel processing
Bulk source delete	Select and delete multiple chunks at once from the catalog
Resume interrupted uploads	Sync tracks per-chunk status — come back tomorrow and only the remaining chunks get uploaded
Studio queue with retry	Queue reports, slides, quizzes, flashcards, or audio jobs across multiple sources. Failed jobs (including quota exhaustion) are detected and can be retried individually or in bulk
Studio filtering by type	Tab bar filters queue and generated outputs by studio type (report, slide deck, quiz, flashcards, audio) with search
Prompt library	Save reusable prompts per studio type and apply them from the queue builder
Per-source settings	Configure language (80+ languages), format, length, and parallel request limits per studio type
Skip pages	Exclude preface, table of contents, index, or bibliography pages before chunking
Versioned lineages	Multiple chunk versions of the same PDF, each with independent sync and studio state
Offline-first	Chunk and edit locally without a network connection — sync when ready

Installation

Prerequisites

1. Install the Python CLI (needed by the desktop app):

pip install notebooklm-chunker
python -m playwright install chromium

2. Login to NotebookLM:

nblm login

Option A: Download Release Binary

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases:

• macOS: .dmg or .zip
• Windows: .exe (installer) or portable
• Linux: .AppImage or .deb

The desktop app expects nblm to be available on your system PATH.

Option B: Run From Source

cd desktop
npm install
npm run dev

Setup Check

On first launch, the app verifies:

• nblm is available on PATH
• Playwright Chromium is installed
• NotebookLM auth state is ready

You can continue into the app for local-only work even if auth is not ready yet.

Workflow

1. Document — Upload a PDF to start a new chunk set
2. Structure — Set min/max pages per chunk, skip pages from beginning or end, see estimated chunk count
3. Sources — Review, search, edit, and bulk-manage the generated chunks
4. Sync — Upload changed chunks to a new or existing NotebookLM notebook
5. NotebookLM Dashboard — Browse notebooks, inspect synced sources, queue studio jobs, track outputs

NotebookLM Settings

Accessible from Settings in the sidebar:

• Sources tab — Per studio type: language (80+ languages), format, download format, max parallel requests
• Sync tab — Max parallel chunk uploads

Settings persist across sessions and are applied to all future queue items.

Studio Queue

The queue panel mirrors the Studios panel:

• Filter by studio type via tab bar (All, Report, Slide Deck, Quiz, Flashcards, Audio)
• Search jobs by name, source, status, or message
• Retry failed jobs individually or bulk retry all
• Clear submitted jobs when done
• Remove individual jobs from the queue

Quota exhaustion and zero-output runs are automatically detected as failures, enabling retry after the cooldown period.

Build

Platform-specific builds:

cd desktop
npm run build:mac    # macOS (.dmg, .zip)
npm run build:win    # Windows (.exe, portable)
npm run build:linux  # Linux (.AppImage, .deb)

Project Layout

desktop/
├── renderer/
│   ├── app.js           # Main UI logic
│   ├── index.html       # UI structure
│   ├── styles.css        # Styles
│   └── project-utils.js  # Helper utilities
├── src/
│   ├── main.js           # Electron main process
│   └── preload.js        # IPC bridge
└── tests/
    └── project-utils.test.js

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CLI

The Python CLI is the automation engine. It handles document parsing, heading-aware chunking, NotebookLM uploads, and Studio generation.

For full CLI documentation, installation, config examples, and usage:

CLI.md

Quick start:

pip install notebooklm-chunker
python -m playwright install chromium
nblm login
nblm run --config ./nblm.toml

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Development

For setup, testing, packaging, and GitHub release flow, see DEVELOPMENT.md.

License

MIT