notion-sync-lib 1.1.1

Sync Notion pages like Git commits. Smart content-based diffing, automatic rate limiting, zero headaches.

notion-sync-lib

Sync Notion pages like Git commits. Smart content-based diffing, automatic rate limiting, zero headaches.

Not another CRUD wrapper—this is a sync engine that understands your content and makes minimal changes automatically.

from notion_sync import get_notion_client, generate_diff, execute_diff

client = get_notion_client()
ops = generate_diff(current_blocks, new_blocks)
execute_diff(client, ops, page_id)  # Magic happens ✨

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What Can You Build With This?

📝 Keep Your Docs in Sync

Sync your GitHub README to Notion automatically. No more copy-paste. Update once, sync everywhere.

# Your CI pipeline
markdown = fetch_github_readme()
blocks = markdown_to_notion(markdown)
sync_to_notion(page_id, blocks)  # Only updates what changed

🌍 Translation Workflows

Maintain 20 language versions of your docs. Update master → slaves sync in seconds, not hours.

# Example: sync NL master to EN/DE/FR translations
for lang in ["EN", "DE", "FR"]:
    ops = generate_recursive_diff(master, translate(master, lang))
    execute_recursive_diff(client, ops)  # 10x faster than full sync

🏢 Workspace Migration

Moving 500 pages to a new workspace? Clone everything with preserved structure—toggles, columns, nested content, all intact.

# Clone entire workspace
for page_id in source_pages:
    content = fetch_blocks_recursive(client_A, page_id)
    clone_to_workspace_B(content)  # All nested content preserved

📋 Template System

Generate 100 project pages from one template. Replace placeholders, customize layouts, done.

# Create project pages from template
template = fetch_blocks_recursive(client, template_page)
for project in projects:
    customized = replace_placeholders(template, project)
    create_page(project.name, customized)

📓 Obsidian/Markdown Sync

Daily sync from your markdown notes to Notion. Only changed files get updated.

# Sync markdown vault
for note in obsidian_vault:
    if note.changed_today():
        sync_to_notion(note)  # Smart diff = minimal API calls

🤖 Automated Reports

Generate weekly reports with 3-column layouts, charts, and metrics—all programmatically.

# Build complex layouts
columns = [
    {"children": [make_heading(2, "Summary"), *summary_blocks], "width_ratio": 0.5},
    {"children": [make_heading(2, "Metrics"), *metrics], "width_ratio": 0.25},
    {"children": [make_heading(2, "Charts"), chart], "width_ratio": 0.25}
]
create_column_list(client, report_page, columns)

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Why This Library?

🧠 Smart Diff Engine (Like Git for Notion)

Traditional approach: Match blocks by position → Everything breaks when you add/remove a block.

Our approach: Match blocks by content → Robust to any structural change.

# You have: [A, B, C]
# You want: [A, X, B, C, D]

# Traditional: "Replace B→X, C→B, add C, add D" (4 operations)
# Smart diff: "Insert X after A, append D" (2 operations)

Result: Fewer API calls = faster syncs + lower rate limit risk.

⚡ Two Sync Modes for Different Needs

Structural Sync (generate_diff)

• Add, remove, reorder blocks freely
• Content-based matching with SequenceMatcher
• Use for: Documentation sync, markdown conversion, testing

Content-Only Sync (generate_recursive_diff)

• Update text in identical structures
• 10x faster (only UPDATE operations)
• Use for: Translation workflows, bulk text changes

🛡️ Production-Ready from Day One

• Automatic rate limiting: 3 req/sec with exponential backoff on 429 errors
• Smart batching: Handles 1000+ blocks automatically (100-block API limit)
• Resilient execution: Skips archived blocks, handles edge cases
• Request tracking: Monitor API usage with client.request_count

🏗️ Build Complex Layouts Easily

from notion_sync import make_paragraph, make_heading, make_toggle, create_column_list

# Create nested structures
page_content = [
    make_heading(1, "Project Overview"),
    make_toggle("Details", children=[
        make_paragraph("Hidden content..."),
        make_bulleted_list_item("Nested item")
    ])
]

# Create column layouts with width ratios
columns = [
    {"children": [make_paragraph("Left")], "width_ratio": 0.7},
    {"children": [make_paragraph("Right")], "width_ratio": 0.3}
]
create_column_list(client, page_id, columns)

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Installation

pip install git+https://github.com/mvletter/notion-sync-lib.git

Set your Notion API token:

export NOTION_API_TOKEN=secret_xxx

Or create a .env file:

NOTION_API_TOKEN=secret_xxx

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Quick Examples

Sync Markdown to Notion

from notion_sync import get_notion_client, fetch_page_blocks, generate_diff, execute_diff

def sync_markdown_to_notion(markdown: str, page_id: str):
    """Convert markdown and sync to Notion in one go."""
    client = get_notion_client()

    # Convert markdown to Notion blocks (your converter)
    new_blocks = markdown_to_notion_blocks(markdown)

    # Fetch current state and generate diff
    current_blocks = fetch_page_blocks(client, page_id)
    ops = generate_diff(current_blocks, new_blocks)

    # Execute minimal changes
    stats = execute_diff(client, ops, page_id)
    print(f"✅ Synced: {stats['inserted']} added, {stats['updated']} updated, {stats['deleted']} removed")

Translation Workflow (Content-Only Updates)

Perfect for maintaining translated pages:

from notion_sync import get_notion_client, fetch_blocks_recursive, generate_recursive_diff, execute_recursive_diff

client = get_notion_client()

# Fetch master page structure
master = fetch_blocks_recursive(client, master_page_id)

# Apply translations (preserve structure!)
translated = apply_translations(master, translations)

# Update only changed text (10x faster)
ops = generate_recursive_diff(master, translated)
stats = execute_recursive_diff(client, ops)

print(f"✅ Updated {stats['updated']} blocks")

Clone Page to Another Workspace

from notion_sync import get_notion_client, fetch_blocks_recursive, append_blocks

# Fetch from source workspace
client_A = get_notion_client()  # Uses token from workspace A
content = fetch_blocks_recursive(client_A, source_page_id)

# Clone to target workspace
client_B = get_notion_client()  # Uses token from workspace B
new_page_id = create_page_in_workspace_B(title)
append_blocks(client_B, new_page_id, content)

print(f"✅ Cloned page with {len(content)} blocks")

Preview Changes Before Applying

from notion_sync import generate_diff, format_diff_preview, execute_diff

ops = generate_diff(current_blocks, new_blocks)

# Show human-readable preview
print(format_diff_preview(ops))
# Output:
# ============================================================
# Diff Preview
# ============================================================
# Summary: 2 new, 1 modified, 0 replaced, 1 deleted, 5 unchanged
# ------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Changes:
#
# + [NEW] paragraph
#   "This is new content"
#   -> Will be inserted at position 3
#
# ~ [MODIFIED] heading_1
#   "Old Title" -> "New Title"
#   -> Will update block abc123...

# Execute after confirmation
if confirm():
    stats = execute_diff(client, ops, page_id)

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When to Use Which Diff?

Your Situation	Use This	Why
Syncing markdown/docs to Notion	generate_diff	Content may be added/removed/reordered
Translating existing pages	generate_recursive_diff	Structure identical, only text changes
Migrating workspaces	generate_diff	Flexible, handles any changes
Bulk text updates (find/replace)	generate_recursive_diff	10x faster, updates only changed blocks
Building pages programmatically	Block builders + append_blocks	Direct construction
Testing/prototyping	generate_diff + dry_run=True	Preview mode

Pro tip: When in doubt, use generate_diff. It handles everything.

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Features

Core Capabilities

• ✅ Smart content-based diffing - Minimal API calls, like Git for Notion
• ✅ Two sync modes - Structural (flexible) + Content-only (fast)
• ✅ Automatic rate limiting - 3 req/sec with exponential backoff
• ✅ Recursive fetching - Get entire page trees with nested content
• ✅ Smart batching - Handles 1000+ blocks automatically

Advanced Features

• ✅ Column layout support - Create/read/unwrap with width ratios
• ✅ Block builders - 10+ block types (paragraphs, headings, toggles, code, etc.)
• ✅ Text extraction - 30+ block types → plain text
• ✅ TypedDict returns - Full IDE autocomplete
• ✅ Dry-run mode - Preview changes before applying
• ✅ Request tracking - Monitor API usage

Production-Ready

• ✅ Error resilience - Handles archived blocks, API errors gracefully
• ✅ Type safety - Full type hints (passes mypy strict mode)
• ✅ Comprehensive tests - 25 integration tests
• ✅ Well documented - Usage guide + API reference + pitfalls doc

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Real-World Use Cases

Use Case	Complexity	Demand	Key Feature
📝 Documentation sync (GitHub → Notion)	Medium	🔥🔥🔥 Very High	Smart diff
🌍 Multi-language content management	High	🔥🔥🔥 Very High	Recursive diff
🏢 Workspace migration	Medium	🔥🔥 High	Recursive fetch
📋 Template system	Low	🔥🔥 High	Block builders
📓 Markdown sync (Obsidian/Roam)	Medium	🔥🔥 High	Smart diff
🔄 Bulk content transformation	High	🔥 Medium	Recursive diff
🤖 Automated page layouts	Low	🔥 Medium	Column builders
💾 Backup system	Low	🔥 Medium	Text extraction
📅 Meeting notes automation	Low	🔥🔥 High	Block builders

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What Makes This Different?

Other Notion libraries:

# Manual position tracking, full page replacement
for i, block in enumerate(new_blocks):
    client.update_block(old_blocks[i].id, block)  # Breaks if count differs

This library:

# Content-based matching, minimal operations
ops = generate_diff(old_blocks, new_blocks)
execute_diff(client, ops, page_id)  # Handles add/remove/reorder automatically

Result: Your code works when blocks are added/removed/reordered. No manual tracking.

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Documentation

📖 Usage Guide - Complete examples and patterns 📚 API Reference - Full API documentation ⚠️ Common Pitfalls - Mistakes to avoid 🛠️ Development Guide - Contributing and testing

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Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Notion API token (get one here)

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Contributing

We welcome contributions! See Development Guide for setup and testing.

Quick start:

git clone https://github.com/mvletter/notion-sync-lib.git
cd notion-sync-lib
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest -v

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License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

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Credits

Built by Mark Vletter for handling large-scale Notion translation workflows at Voys.

Inspired by Git's diff algorithm and the need for a production-ready Notion sync tool.

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💡 Have a use case? Share it in discussions