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Documentation Index

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Sources are the documents, URLs, videos, and text snippets that NotebookLM reads when answering questions or generating studio content. The nlm source commands let you manage every aspect of a notebook’s source library — from adding a PDF file to syncing stale Google Drive documents — directly from the terminal. The CLI supports two command styles: 
# Noun-first
nlm source add <notebook> --url "https://example.com"

# Verb-first
nlm add url <notebook> "https://example.com"

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Commands

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source add

Add one or more sources to a notebook. Exactly one source type flag must be provided per invocation. 
nlm source add <notebook-id> --url "https://example.com/article"
Source type flags
FlagDescription
--url <url>Web URL (repeatable for bulk add)
--text <content>Inline text content
--file <path>Local file (PDF, DOCX, TXT, etc.)
--youtube <url>YouTube video URL (repeatable)
--drive <doc-id>Google Drive document ID
Additional flags
FlagShortDescription
--wait-wPoll until the source finishes processing
--wait-timeoutMax seconds to wait when --wait is set (default 600)
--titleCustom title for the source (required for text sources)
--typeDrive doc type: doc, slides, sheets, pdf (default doc)
--profile-pProfile to use
Always pass --wait when you plan to query or generate studio content immediately after adding a source. Without it, the source may still be processing when your next command runs, leading to incomplete results.
Examples by source type 
# Single URL
nlm source add <notebook-id> --url "https://example.com/article" --wait

# Multiple URLs in one shot (repeatable flag)
nlm source add <notebook-id> \
  --url "https://example.com/report" \
  --url "https://example.com/appendix"

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source list

List all sources in a notebook. 
nlm source list <notebook-id>
nlm source list myproject          # alias works here
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--full-aShow all columns
--drive-dShow Drive sources with freshness status
--skip-freshness-SSkip freshness checks (faster, useful with --drive)
--json-jOutput as JSON
--quiet-qOutput IDs only
--url-uOutput as ID: URL format
--profile-pProfile to use

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source get

Retrieve the full text content of a source as processed by NotebookLM. 
nlm source get <source-id>
nlm source get returns the raw text content of the source as indexed by NotebookLM. To get an AI-generated summary with keywords instead, use nlm source describe.
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--json-jOutput as JSON
--profile-pProfile to use

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source describe

Ask the AI to generate a summary and extract keywords for a source. This is useful for quickly understanding what is in a large document without reading it yourself. 
nlm source describe <source-id>
nlm source describe produces an AI-generated summary with keywords — it calls the NotebookLM AI layer. nlm source get returns the raw indexed text content without AI processing.
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--json-jOutput as JSON
--profile-pProfile to use

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source content

Get the raw content of a source without any AI processing. Optionally write it directly to a file. 
nlm source content <source-id>
nlm source content <source-id> --output raw-text.txt
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--json-jOutput as JSON
--output-oWrite content to a file instead of stdout
--profile-pProfile to use

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source rename

Rename a source within a notebook. 
nlm source rename <source-id> "New Title" --notebook <notebook-id>
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--notebook-nNotebook ID containing the source (required)
--profile-pProfile to use

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source stale

Check which Google Drive sources in a notebook have been updated since they were last imported — i.e., the Drive document is newer than the cached version in NotebookLM. 
nlm source stale <notebook-id>
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--json-jOutput as JSON
--profile-pProfile to use

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source sync

Re-import all stale Drive sources so NotebookLM has the latest content. 
nlm source sync <notebook-id> --confirm

# Sync only specific sources
nlm source sync <notebook-id> --source-ids "id1,id2" --confirm
Without --confirm, the CLI will prompt you interactively before syncing.
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--source-ids-sComma-separated IDs to sync (default: all stale)
--confirm-ySkip the confirmation prompt
--profile-pProfile to use

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source delete

Permanently delete one or more sources from a notebook.
Deletion is irreversible. The source content is removed from NotebookLM immediately. Pass --confirm in scripts to skip the interactive prompt.
# Delete a single source
nlm source delete <source-id> --confirm

# Bulk delete — pass multiple IDs
nlm source delete <id1> <id2> <id3> --confirm
Flags
FlagShortDescription
--confirm-ySkip the confirmation prompt
--profile-pProfile to use

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End-to-end example

1

Create a notebook and set an alias

nlm notebook create "Product Launch Research"
nlm alias set launch <notebook-id>
2

Add sources and wait for processing

nlm source add launch --url "https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/launch-coverage" --wait
nlm source add launch --file competitive-brief.pdf --wait
nlm source add launch --youtube "https://youtu.be/keynote-recap" --wait
3

Verify all sources are loaded

nlm source list launch
4

Describe a source to check what was extracted

# Grab the first source ID
source_id=$(nlm source list launch --quiet | head -1)
nlm source describe "$source_id"
5

Query the notebook

nlm notebook query launch "What are the main competitive risks identified?"

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