NotebookLM Video Research Skill

Automate NotebookLM notebook creation from YouTube videos with automatic research and Audio Overview generation.

Core Principle

Screenshot before every action — verify UI state, identify correct elements, confirm success.

code

📸 Screenshot → 👀 Analyze → 🎯 Target → ✅ Verify → 🖱️ Execute → 📸 Screenshot → ✓ Confirm

Quick Start Workflow

Phase 1: Research

python

# 1. Get video info
Control Chrome:open_url("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID")
Control Chrome:get_page_content()

# 2. Research people mentioned
web_search("[Person Name] background career")

# 3. Create research document (keep under 500k chars)

Phase 2: NotebookLM Automation

python

# 1. Navigate
Control Chrome:open_url("https://notebooklm.google.com/")

# 2. Create notebook
# Click "Create new" button

# 3. Add YouTube source
# Click "Websites" → Enter URL → Click "Insert"

# 4. Add research document  
# Click "Add sources" → "Copied text" → Paste content → Click "Insert"

# 5. Generate audio
# Click "Audio Overview" in Studio panel

Critical: Element Targeting

⚠️ The Main Trap

NotebookLM has multiple textareas. Generic selectors grab the wrong one!

code

SIDEBAR (wrong)          CENTER MODAL (correct)
┌──────────────┐         ┌──────────────────┐
│ Search box   │         │ URL/Text input   │
│ query-input  │         │ "Paste any links"|
└──────────────┘         └──────────────────┘

Correct Selectors

Element	Selector
URL input	`textarea[placeholder="Paste any links"]`
Text input	`textarea[placeholder="Paste text here"]`
Sidebar (AVOID)	`textarea[placeholder*="Search"]`

Angular Event Pattern

javascript

// Simple .value = doesn't work! Use this:
var setter = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(
    HTMLTextAreaElement.prototype, 'value'
).set;
setter.call(textarea, 'content');
textarea.dispatchEvent(new Event('input', {bubbles: true}));
textarea.dispatchEvent(new Event('change', {bubbles: true}));

Button State Check

javascript

var btn = document.querySelector('button');
if (btn && !btn.disabled && !btn.className.includes('disabled')) {
    btn.click();
}

Complete Code Snippets

Enter YouTube URL

javascript

var urlTextarea = document.querySelector('textarea[placeholder="Paste any links"]');
if (urlTextarea) {
    var setter = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(
        HTMLTextAreaElement.prototype, 'value'
    ).set;
    setter.call(urlTextarea, 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID');
    urlTextarea.dispatchEvent(new Event('input', {bubbles: true}));
    urlTextarea.dispatchEvent(new Event('change', {bubbles: true}));
}

Enter Research Text

javascript

var pasteTextarea = document.querySelector('textarea[placeholder="Paste text here"]');
if (pasteTextarea) {
    var setter = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(
        HTMLTextAreaElement.prototype, 'value'
    ).set;
    setter.call(pasteTextarea, RESEARCH_CONTENT);
    pasteTextarea.dispatchEvent(new Event('input', {bubbles: true}));
    pasteTextarea.dispatchEvent(new Event('change', {bubbles: true}));
}

Click Button by Text

javascript

var buttons = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('button'));
var btn = buttons.find(b => b.textContent.includes('Insert'));
if (btn && !btn.disabled) {
    btn.click();
}

Verify State

javascript

// Check what textareas exist
var textareas = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('textarea'));
textareas.map(t => ({
    placeholder: t.placeholder,
    value: t.value.substring(0, 50)
}));

Checkpoint Summary

Step	Verify Before	Verify After
Navigate	-	Home page loaded
Create notebook	Create button visible	Notebook opened
Add URL	Correct textarea identified	URL in center, not sidebar
Click Insert	Button ENABLED	Source added
Add text	Correct textarea identified	Text in center, not sidebar
Click Insert	Button ENABLED	2 sources shown
Audio Overview	Studio panel visible	Generation started

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't	✅ Do
`document.querySelector('textarea')`	`textarea[placeholder="Paste any links"]`
Click without checking state	Verify button enabled first
Assume action succeeded	Screenshot to confirm
Rush through steps	Wait for async operations

Wait Times

Action	Wait
Page navigation	3s
Dialog open	2s
YouTube source processing	8-10s
Text source processing	5s
Audio generation	5-10 minutes

Error Recovery

Wrong input targeted:

•Clear sidebar: document.querySelectorAll('.query-input').forEach(el => el.value = '')
•Re-target with specific selector

Button disabled:

•Re-dispatch events on textarea
•Verify content actually entered

Modal didn't open:

•Wait longer
•Click trigger button again