notebooklm-mcp-2026 0.2.0

Secure MCP server for querying Google NotebookLM notebooks

notebooklm-mcp-2026

Secure MCP server for querying Google NotebookLM notebooks. Designed for use with Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, and any MCP-compatible AI assistant.

What it does

notebooklm-mcp-2026 gives AI assistants direct access to your Google NotebookLM notebooks. It runs as a local subprocess (stdio transport) — no HTTP server needed. Your AI assistant can list your notebooks, read source content, and ask the NotebookLM AI questions about your sources.

Quick Start

Three commands. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Step 1: Install

macOS / Linux:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv tool install notebooklm-mcp-2026

Windows (PowerShell):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
uv tool install notebooklm-mcp-2026

Already have pipx? You can use pipx install notebooklm-mcp-2026 instead.

Step 2: Set up

Important: Close Google Chrome completely before running setup. The login process needs to launch Chrome with special flags, which won't work if Chrome is already running.

notebooklm-mcp-2026 setup

This will:

1. Open Chrome so you can log in to your Google account
2. Detect which MCP clients you have installed (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, etc.)
3. Automatically configure them

Step 3: Use it

Restart your MCP client and ask your AI assistant:

"List my NotebookLM notebooks"

That's it!

Requirements

• Google Chrome (or Chromium) — needed for one-time login
• Python 3.11+ — installed automatically if you use uv

Don't have Chrome?

Download it from google.com/chrome. On Linux, chromium also works.

Don't have Python?

If you used uv to install (recommended), you don't need to install Python separately — uv handles it for you.

If you prefer to install Python manually:

Platform	Command
macOS	brew install python
Ubuntu / Debian	sudo apt install python3
Arch / Manjaro	sudo pacman -S python
Fedora	sudo dnf install python3
Windows	Download from python.org — tick "Add to PATH" during install

Alternative Install Methods

The Quick Start uses uv because it's the simplest (single binary, no Python version conflicts). Other options:

# pipx (if you already have it)
pipx install notebooklm-mcp-2026

# pip (inside a virtual environment)
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install notebooklm-mcp-2026

# From source
git clone https://github.com/julianoczkowski/notebooklm-mcp-2026.git
cd notebooklm-mcp-2026
pip install -e .

Authentication

notebooklm-mcp-2026 uses Google session cookies extracted via Chrome DevTools Protocol. No passwords are stored — only session cookies.

Important: Close Google Chrome completely before running login. The login process needs to launch Chrome with special debugging flags, which won't work if Chrome is already running.

notebooklm-mcp-2026 login

This opens Chrome, you log in to Google, and the tool saves the session cookies locally. Cookies last 2–4 weeks. When they expire, run login again.

If Chrome can't be found automatically, the tool will show you the exact command to launch Chrome manually, or you can specify the path:

notebooklm-mcp-2026 login --chrome-path "/path/to/chrome"

Where credentials are stored

Platform	Location
Linux	~/.local/share/notebooklm-mcp-2026/auth.json
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/notebooklm-mcp-2026/auth.json
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\notebooklm-mcp-2026\auth.json

Override with: NOTEBOOKLM_MCP_DATA_DIR=/custom/path

CLI Commands

Command	Description
notebooklm-mcp-2026 setup	Interactive setup wizard — authenticates and configures your MCP client
notebooklm-mcp-2026 login	Authenticate via Chrome (opens browser window)
notebooklm-mcp-2026 logout	Remove stored credentials and start fresh
notebooklm-mcp-2026 serve	Start the MCP server over stdio (used by MCP clients)
notebooklm-mcp-2026 status	Show authentication and MCP client configuration status
notebooklm-mcp-2026 doctor	Diagnose common issues (Chrome, auth, permissions)
notebooklm-mcp-2026 version	Print version

MCP Client Configuration

The setup command auto-configures your MCP client. You should not need to edit these files manually, but if you do:

Claude Code — ~/.claude.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "notebooklm-mcp-2026": {
      "command": "notebooklm-mcp-2026",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor — ~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "notebooklm-mcp-2026": {
      "command": "notebooklm-mcp-2026",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code (Copilot) — mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "notebooklm-mcp-2026": {
      "command": "notebooklm-mcp-2026",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop does not inherit your terminal's PATH, so you must use the full path to the executable.

First, find your executable path:

# macOS / Linux
which notebooklm-mcp-2026

# Windows (PowerShell)
where notebooklm-mcp-2026

Then edit your config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

macOS example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "notebooklm-mcp-2026": {
      "command": "/Users/YOUR_USER/.local/bin/notebooklm-mcp-2026",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Windows example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "notebooklm-mcp-2026": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\YOUR_USER\\.local\\bin\\notebooklm-mcp-2026.exe",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_USER with your actual username, or paste the exact path from the which/where command above.

Available Tools (9)

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
login	Launch Chrome for Google OAuth login	timeout (default: 300s)
check_auth	Verify stored credentials are valid	—
list_notebooks	List all notebooks with metadata	max_results (default: 50)
get_notebook	Get notebook details + source list	notebook_id
list_sources	List sources in a notebook	notebook_id
get_source_content	Get full text of a source	source_id
query_notebook	Ask the AI a question	notebook_id, query, source_ids?, conversation_id?
add_source_url	Add a URL/YouTube source	notebook_id, url
add_source_text	Add pasted text source	notebook_id, text, title?

Typical workflow

1. list_notebooks          → find the notebook ID you want
2. list_sources            → see what sources are in it
3. query_notebook          → ask questions about the sources
4. get_source_content      → read raw source text if needed

Example output

When your AI assistant calls list_notebooks, it gets back structured data like this:

{
  "status": "success",
  "count": 2,
  "notebooks": [
    {
      "id": "abc123-def456",
      "title": "Research Notes",
      "source_count": 3,
      "is_owned": true,
      "modified_at": "2026-01-15T10:30:00+00:00"
    },
    {
      "id": "ghi789-jkl012",
      "title": "Project Planning",
      "source_count": 5,
      "is_owned": true,
      "modified_at": "2026-01-14T08:00:00+00:00"
    }
  ]
}

And query_notebook returns:

{
  "status": "success",
  "answer": "Based on the sources, the main topics covered are...",
  "conversation_id": "conv-uuid-123",
  "turn_number": 1,
  "is_follow_up": false
}

Follow-up conversations

query_notebook returns a conversation_id. Pass it back to ask follow-up questions in the same conversation context:

# First question
result = query_notebook(notebook_id="abc", query="What is the main topic?")
# result.conversation_id = "uuid-123"

# Follow-up
result = query_notebook(notebook_id="abc", query="Tell me more about that", conversation_id="uuid-123")

Troubleshooting

"Not authenticated" error

Run notebooklm-mcp-2026 login in your terminal.

"Cookies expired" error

Session cookies have a limited lifespan (2–4 weeks). Run notebooklm-mcp-2026 login again.

"Chrome not found" error

Install Google Chrome or Chromium. On Linux, ensure google-chrome or chromium is in your PATH. You can also specify the path directly:

notebooklm-mcp-2026 login --chrome-path "/path/to/chrome"

Empty notebook list

Make sure you're logged into the correct Google account that has NotebookLM notebooks.

"Build label" errors

Google occasionally rotates their build label. Set the updated label:

NOTEBOOKLM_BL="boq_labs-tailwind-frontend_YYYYMMDD.XX_p0" notebooklm-mcp-2026 serve

Rate limit errors

NotebookLM free tier allows ~50 queries per day. Wait until the next day or upgrade.

Something else?

Run the diagnostic tool:

notebooklm-mcp-2026 doctor

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
NOTEBOOKLM_MCP_DATA_DIR	Platform default	Override data storage location
NOTEBOOKLM_BL	boq_labs-tailwind-frontend_20260108.06_p0	Google build label
NOTEBOOKLM_QUERY_TIMEOUT	120.0	Query timeout in seconds

Security

• No passwords stored — only Google session cookies
• File permissions — credentials saved with 0o600 (owner read/write only)
• Directory permissions — data directory created with 0o700 (owner only)
• No eval/exec — no dynamic code execution anywhere
• No shell=True — Chrome launched with explicit argument lists
• Cookie filtering — only essential Google auth cookies are persisted
• Chrome cleanup — Chrome process always terminated in finally blocks
• Input validation — all tool parameters validated before use
• Timeouts — all HTTP requests have explicit timeouts
• CSRF protection — tokens passed in request body, auto-refreshed on expiry

Development

# Install dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest

# Lint
ruff check src/ tests/

Testing with MCP Inspector

The MCP Inspector lets you interactively test the server's tools in a web UI:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector notebooklm-mcp-2026 serve

This opens a browser where you can call each of the 9 tools with custom parameters and inspect responses. You must run notebooklm-mcp-2026 login first.

Getting Help

• Questions? Start a Discussion
• Found a bug? Open an Issue
• Want to contribute? See CONTRIBUTING.md
• Security issue? See SECURITY.md for responsible disclosure

License

MIT