NotebookLM CLI

Use nlm to list notebooks, select a target, and ask questions via generate-chat or chat.

Workflow

1. •

   Verify CLI

   • •command -v nlm (if missing, ask how they want to install)
2. •

   Verify auth

   • •Check ~/.nlm/env or env vars NLM_AUTH_TOKEN, NLM_COOKIES
   • •If missing, run:
     • •nlm auth --all --notebooks
     • •If profiles are locked: NLM_USE_ORIGINAL_PROFILE=1 nlm auth --all --notebooks --debug
   • •If auth still fails, fail fast and ask the user to complete browser login manually
3. •

   Select notebook

   • •nlm list (shows recent)
   • •Ask user to pick an ID if not provided
4. •

   Interact

   • •Headless single question: nlm generate-chat <notebook-id> "<prompt>"
   • •Interactive session: nlm chat <notebook-id>
   • •Source-based transformations: ask for source IDs, then use summarize, explain, outline, faq, briefing-doc, timeline, toc
5. •

   Guardrails

   • •Always confirm before destructive operations: rm, rm-source, rm-note, delete-artifact, audio-rm
   • •Confirm before privacy-impacting actions: share (public) and share-private

Quick commands

nlm list
nlm generate-chat <notebook-id> "Question about my knowledge base"
nlm chat <notebook-id>

Notes

• •If user says "talk to my knowledge base", ask which notebook ID to use
• •No implicit state: do not assume a last-used notebook