claude-notebook

Let Claude read your Gemini Notebooks (notebook.google.com), with your client names blacked out before Claude ever sees them.

You ask Claude Code things like "read my portfolio notebook and list what I've built", and it opens the notebook in your own Chrome (signed in as you), reads it, and answers. No copy-pasting, no API keys.

New to all this? Perfect — this guide assumes you've never used a terminal or git. Every step says exactly what to type and what you should see. Skim the glossary if a word is unfamiliar.

Contents

1. What you need

2. Open PowerShell

3. Install the tools

4. Download claude-notebook

5. Set it up

6. Connect it to Claude Code

7. Sign in to Google (once)

8. Hide your client names

9. Use it

10. Troubleshooting

11. Updating and uninstalling

12. How it works · Privacy · Glossary

Related MCP server: notebooklm-claude-integration

1. What you need

Time needed: about 15 minutes the first time.

2. Open PowerShell

PowerShell is the window where you type commands. Every gray box below is something you type there.

1. Press the Windows key, type PowerShell, press Enter.

2. A blue or black window opens with a line ending in >. That's it — you're ready.

How to run a command: click in the window, paste (right-click or Ctrl+V) the command from a gray box, press Enter, and wait until the > line comes back.

3. Install the tools (one time)

Skip any you already have. To check, run the "check" command — if it prints a version, you have it.

Python

python --version

If you see Python 3.10 or higher, skip ahead. Otherwise:

winget install -e --id Python.Python.3.12

Then close PowerShell and open a new one (so it notices Python), and run python --version again.

No winget? Download Python from https://www.python.org/downloads/, run the installer, and tick "Add python.exe to PATH" on the first screen before clicking Install Now.

Google Chrome

If you don't have it: winget install -e --id Google.Chrome (or download from https://www.google.com/chrome/).

Claude Code

claude --version

No version? Install it by following https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/setup, then run claude once and sign in when it asks.

4. Download claude-notebook

Pick one option.

Option A — ZIP (easiest, no git needed)

1. Go to https://github.com/chchchadzilla/claude-notebook.

2. Click the green Code button → Download ZIP.

3. Open your Downloads folder, right-click the ZIP → Extract All… → change the destination to C:\ → Extract.

4. Rename the new folder from claude-notebook-main to claude-notebook, so it's at C:\claude-notebook.

Option B — git

git clone https://github.com/chchchadzilla/claude-notebook C:\claude-notebook

5. Set it up

Run these three commands, one at a time:

cd C:\claude-notebook
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python -m pip install -e .

What they do: move into the folder · create a private Python space (.venv) just for this project · install claude-notebook and its two dependencies into it:

• mcp — the protocol Claude Code uses to talk to tools

• playwright — lets Python control Chrome

The last one takes a minute and prints a lot. It's done when you see Successfully installed ….

Mac / Linux: use python3 instead of python, and .venv/bin/python instead of .venv\Scripts\python everywhere. Not yet tested there.

6. Connect it to Claude Code

Still in C:\claude-notebook, run:

claude mcp add --scope user notebook "$PWD\.venv\Scripts\claude-notebook.exe"

This tells Claude Code: "there's a tool server called notebook; start it with this program." --scope user makes it available in every folder you use Claude Code in.

Why the .exe and not python -m …? In PowerShell, claude is a script wrapper that silently eats the -- separator, so claude mcp add … -- python -m claude_notebook fails with unknown option '-m'. The claude-notebook.exe launcher (created in step 5) needs no extra arguments. Mac/Linux: use "$PWD/.venv/bin/claude-notebook".

Check it worked:

claude mcp list

You should see a line starting with notebook: that ends in ✓ Connected.

7. Sign in to Google (once)

1. Start Claude Code: type claude and press Enter.

2. Type: sign me in to my notebook

3. A Chrome window opens on Gemini Notebook. Click Sign in and log in with your Google account.

4. When your notebooks appear, the window closes by itself (you have 5 minutes). Claude says "Signed in".

You won't need to do this again unless you sign out or Google expires the session.

8. Hide your client names (recommended)

If your notebooks mention clients or other people, list their names so they're replaced with [Client A], [Client B]… before Claude sees anything.

1. Open the list in Notepad (it's created if it doesn't exist):

   mkdir "$HOME\.claude-notebook" -Force | Out-Null; notepad "$HOME\.claude-notebook\redact.txt"

2. Type one name per line, save, close:

   # lines starting with # are notes
   Acme Corp
   Jane Doe = [Client A lead]
   Doe

   • Matching ignores upper/lower case and only matches whole words (Acme won't touch Acmeville).

   • It also catches names inside filenames like Acme-01-Invoice.pdf.

   • Put full names and last names if both appear. Longer names are matched first.

   • Name = [label] picks your own label; otherwise labels are assigned in order.

3. Changes apply to the very next request — no restart needed.

Ask Claude how many names are redacted? to confirm (it reports the count, never the names).

⚠️ Only names on the list are hidden. Skim a notebook's output once and add anything that slipped through.

9. Use it

In Claude Code, just ask in plain English:

The tools behind those requests:

10. Troubleshooting

Still stuck? Open an issue — remove any notebook text and names before pasting.

11. Updating and uninstalling

Update (ZIP): download the ZIP again, replace the folder, re-run step 5. Update (git): cd C:\claude-notebook; git pull; .venv\Scripts\python -m pip install -e .

Uninstall:

claude mcp remove notebook --scope user
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force C:\claude-notebook
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$HOME\.claude-notebook"   # also deletes your sign-in and redaction list

How it works

Claude Code ──MCP──▶ claude-notebook ──Playwright──▶ your Chrome (own profile) ──▶ notebook.google.com
     ▲                     │
     └── redacted text ◀───┘  (names on your redact.txt replaced on your PC)

1. Claude Code starts claude-notebook in the background when it needs it.

2. When asked to read, it starts Chrome invisibly with a separate profile in ~/.claude-notebook/chrome-profile, opens the notebook, and grabs the visible text.

3. The text is cleaned up, client names are replaced, and only then returned to Claude.

Quirks and the story behind the project: ABOUT.md.

Privacy & safety

• Read-only. It never edits, deletes or shares your notebooks.

• Only notebook.google.com. It refuses to open any other site.

• Separate Chrome profile. Your normal browsing, passwords and tabs aren't touched.

• Your sign-in stays on your PC in ~/.claude-notebook/chrome-profile. Treat that folder like a password; delete it to sign out.

• Redaction happens locally, before Claude sees the text. The redaction list never leaves your PC.

• The text Claude does see is sent to Claude like anything else you discuss with it.

For developers

.venv\Scripts\python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
.venv\Scripts\python -m pytest -q

Code map and rules for contributors (and AI agents): AGENTS.md · CONTRIBUTING.md.

Glossary

• Terminal / PowerShell — a window where you type commands instead of clicking.

• Repository (repo) — a project folder stored on GitHub, with its full history.

• Git — a tool that downloads and tracks changes to repos. Optional here.

• Python — the programming language this is written in.

• Virtual environment (.venv) — a private copy of Python packages for one project, so nothing else on your PC is affected.

• MCP (Model Context Protocol) — the standard way Claude connects to outside tools.

• Playwright — a library that lets a program control a web browser.

• Redaction — replacing sensitive words (here, names) with placeholders.

License

MIT © 2026 Chad Keith — use it, change it, share it; keep the copyright notice.