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.

text

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

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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

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Critical: Element Targeting#

⚠️ The Main Trap#

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

text

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

Correct Selectors#

ElementSelectorURL inputtextarea[placeholder="Paste any links"]Text inputtextarea[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();
}

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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)
}));

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Checkpoint Summary#

StepVerify BeforeVerify AfterNavigate-Home page loadedCreate notebookCreate button visibleNotebook openedAdd URLCorrect textarea identifiedURL in center, not sidebarClick InsertButton ENABLEDSource addedAdd textCorrect textarea identifiedText in center, not sidebarClick InsertButton ENABLED2 sources shownAudio OverviewStudio panel visibleGeneration started

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Anti-Patterns#

❌ Don't✅ Dodocument.querySelector('textarea')``textarea[placeholder="Paste any links"]Click without checking stateVerify button enabled firstAssume action succeededScreenshot to confirmRush through stepsWait for async operations

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Wait Times#

ActionWaitPage navigation3sDialog open2sYouTube source processing8-10sText source processing5sAudio generation5-10 minutes

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Error Recovery#

Wrong input targeted:

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

Button disabled:

1. Re-dispatch events on textarea
2. Verify content actually entered

Modal didn't open:

1. Wait longer
2. Click trigger button again