NotebookLM MCP Server v1.0

Read this in other languages: Русский Production-ready, fully asynchronous Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Google NotebookLM.

This server acts as a bridge between AI agents (like Claude Desktop, Cursor, Antigravity) and NotebookLM, allowing your AI to read your notebooks, interact with your sources, and generate reports.

Features

• Asynchronous Execution: Fully utilizes asyncio for high concurrency handling.

• Robust Execution: Wrap NotebookLM CLI commands with timeouts and proper error handling.

• Thread Safety (Command Queue): Multiple simultaneous requests are queued safely via asyncio.Lock().

• Advanced MCP Tools: Includes create_notebook, delete_notebook, add_source, list_sources, get_source_text, generate_audio, generate_report, and get_history.

• Multi-language Support (i18n): All tool docstrings are in English, ensuring seamless compatibility with any LLM globally.

• Network Mode (SSE Transport): Supports both Standard I/O (local) and SSE (network) transport protocols.

• Retries & Caching: Temporary CLI failures are retried automatically. Read operations are cached.

• Diagnostics: Built-in health_check() tool to verify CLI availability and authentication status.

Related MCP server: notebooklm-mcp

Installation

You can install this server either automatically (recommended) or manually.

Method A: One-Click Automatic Install (Recommended)

This method automatically sets up a virtual environment, installs all dependencies (including notebooklm-py and Chromium for Playwright), and registers the server in your IDEs (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Antigravity).

1. Clone or download this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Vetal711/notebooklm-mcp.git
   cd notebooklm-mcp

2. Run the auto-installer script:

   • Windows: Double-click install.bat (or run it in the terminal).

   • Mac/Linux: Run bash install.sh

3. Authenticate with Google: Once the installation is complete, you must authenticate the CLI. Run the following command and follow the instructions in the browser window:

   • Windows: venv\Scripts\notebooklm.exe login

   • Mac/Linux: ./venv/bin/notebooklm login

4. Restart your IDE/Agent (Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Antigravity) and the server will be available!

Method B: Manual Installation

If you prefer to configure everything manually or use a global Python environment:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Vetal711/notebooklm-mcp.git
   cd notebooklm-mcp

2. Create a virtual environment and install dependencies:

   python -m venv venv
   # On Windows:
   venv\Scripts\pip install -e .
   # On Mac/Linux:
   ./venv/bin/pip install -e .

3. Install the Playwright browser driver:

   # On Windows:
   venv\Scripts\playwright install chromium
   # On Mac/Linux:
   ./venv/bin/playwright install chromium

4. Authenticate:

   # On Windows:
   venv\Scripts\notebooklm.exe login
   # On Mac/Linux:
   ./venv/bin/notebooklm login

5. Manual Configuration for MCP Clients: Instead of running the automated configuration script, you can manually add the following JSON block to your MCP client's configuration file (e.g., claude_desktop_config.json, cline_mcp_settings.json, or mcp_config.json).

   Make sure to replace /absolute/path/to/notebooklm-mcp with the actual absolute path to your cloned directory.

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "NotebookLM": {
         "command": "/absolute/path/to/notebooklm-mcp/venv/bin/notebooklm-mcp",
         "args": []
       }
     }
   }

   (Note for Windows users: Use venv\\Scripts\\notebooklm-mcp.exe and escape backslashes in paths).

   Important: The server will automatically generate a .env file in the root folder on first run (or during installation) to handle absolute paths properly.

Troubleshooting

Error: Authentication expired If you receive this error in Claude/Cursor, it means the Playwright session's Google tokens have expired. WARNING: DO NOT run the login command inside the AI agent's chat or terminal! AI agents run in a background window station, which makes the popup browser window completely invisible, causing the login process to hang forever.

Solution:

1. Open a standard, real OS terminal (or just double-click the script).

2. Run login.bat (Windows) or login.sh (Mac/Linux) located in the project folder.

3. A visible browser window will appear. Complete the login, and the window will close automatically.

4. Ensure that your MCP client's configuration file (e.g., claude_desktop_config.json) includes the "cwd": "/absolute/path/to/notebooklm-mcp" parameter so it doesn't lose the session again.

Docker Deployment

To build and run via Docker:

docker build -t notebooklm-mcp .
docker run -i --rm -v ~/.notebooklm:/root/.notebooklm notebooklm-mcp

(Note: You need to mount the .notebooklm config directory to share your local authentication session).