NotebookLM — Browser Automation

Requires: A browser automation environment (Claude Code CLI with computer-use, Claude Chrome Extension, or equivalent). Skill will gracefully fail in non-automation contexts with a clear "not supported" message.

Critical: This skill is the only browser-automation skill in the v2 collection. It does NOT follow the research-pack Agent Integrity Rules convention. Different constraints apply (UI dynamics, async generation, login walls).

Step 0: Browser Context Setup (Mandatory)

1. Check whether browser-control tools are loaded in the harness (screenshot, click, find-element, navigate)
2. If unavailable → halt with clear message: "This skill requires browser automation. Currently in {context}. Cannot proceed. Use Claude Code CLI with computer-use, Claude Chrome Extension, or equivalent."
3. If available → take initial screenshot, navigate to https://notebooklm.google.com
4. Detect login wall via screenshot. If login screen detected: halt with "Please log in to NotebookLM in the browser, then re-invoke this skill." Never attempt to handle login automatically.

Phase 0: Grill-Me Intake (Action-Routing)

Q1 (root) — Action

What do you want me to do? Pick one:

1. Read / extract — ask a question of an existing notebook
2. Add a source — push content (URL, text, file, Google Doc, or synthesized content) into a notebook
3. Generate a Studio output — Audio Overview, Study Guide, Briefing Doc, Timeline, FAQ, Infographic, Slides, or Mind Map
4. Create a new notebook — initialize with title + initial sources

Why I'm asking: Each action takes a different path through the UI and requires different parameters. Naming the action upfront prevents wasted screenshots and lets me ask only the follow-up questions that apply.

Q2 (depends on Q1) — Notebook identity

Which notebook? (asked for actions 1, 2, 3 — not for "create new")

Why I'm asking: If you give me a name, I'll search the homepage; if you give me a URL, I'll navigate directly. Names that are ambiguous will get a disambiguation prompt with screenshots.

Q3 (depends on Q1) — Action-specific parameter

"What's the question to ask the notebook? Use natural phrasing — the notebook's chat handles it best."

"What source type? Pick one:

1. URL / website / YouTube link
2. Copied text (paste here or point at content)
3. File upload (provide absolute path)
4. Google Doc (link)
5. Synthesized content (I'll pre-process and add as 'Copied text')

Why I'm asking: Each source type goes through a different sub-flow in the Add Source dialog. Picking upfront saves a step."

"Which Studio output? Audio Overview / Study Guide / Briefing Doc / Timeline / FAQ / Table of Contents / Infographic / Slides / Mind Map. And: any custom-prompt direction? Default prompts produce mediocre output — I always open the customization menu and write a detailed prompt. Tell me the angle or audience.

Why I'm asking: The output type sets the UI button to find. The custom prompt is mandatory for quality."

"Initial sources? Provide URLs, file paths, or 'I'll add later'."

Q4 (depends on Q1 = action 3) — Studio custom prompt detail

Tell me the angle, audience, and length for the Studio output. Examples:

• Audio Overview: "Two-host conversation for a non-technical executive, 8–10 min, focus on business implications not technical depth"
• Infographic: "Decision-tree style, action-oriented, 6 panels max, monochrome navy"
• Study Guide: "Undergrad-level, definitions + 3 practice questions per concept"

Why I'm asking: This becomes the custom prompt. Default Studio prompts produce mediocre output — specific direction produces sharp output.

references/studio_output_custom_prompts.md

Notebook Discovery

1. Navigate to homepage → screenshot
2. If user provided URL → navigate directly
3. If user provided name:
   • Use semantic find() to locate notebook card by visible title text
   • If multiple matches → screenshot homepage, list options, ask user to specify
   • If no match → ask user to provide URL or confirm spelling

1. Locate "New notebook" button on homepage
2. Click → set title from Q2
3. Add initial sources per Q3

Action 1: Read / Extract

1. Open the notebook (notebook discovery above)
2. Locate chat input (semantic find or screenshot coordinates)
3. Type the question (use the user's natural phrasing from Q3)
4. Submit (Enter or send button)
5. Wait 3–5 seconds
6. Screenshot the response area
7. Extract and present in clean format (not raw chat dump)

Action 2: Add Sources

Action 3: Studio Outputs

1. Locate Studio panel (right side; may need toggle)
2. Find the specific output button for the requested type
3. Open customization menu (chevron/arrow next to button) — NOT the main button
4. Write detailed custom prompt (from Q4)
5. Confirm and submit
6. Do NOT wait for completion — confirm generation started, notify user, return

Custom prompt examples (4 output types)

"Two-host conversation between a researcher and an experienced practitioner. Audience: non-technical executive making a budget decision. Length: 8-10 minutes. Focus on business implications, not technical depth. Include one concrete example per major point. Acknowledge counter-arguments briefly."

"Decision-tree style. Action-oriented (each panel ends with a decision or action). 6 panels max. Monochrome navy + amber highlight. Each panel has: title (4-6 words), 1-2 sentence body, decision/action line. No filler panels."

"Undergraduate-level (define every technical term). Structure: 6 concepts × 4 elements each (definition / why it matters / one worked example / 3 practice questions). Practice questions Bloom-higher-order (apply/analyze), not recall."

"12 slides max. 1-2 sentences per slide body. Presenter notes per slide with: one concrete example + one likely audience objection + how to address it. No bullet points in slide bodies — prose only. End with one-slide call-to-action."

references/studio_output_custom_prompts.md

Action 4: Create New Notebook

1. Navigate to homepage
2. Click "New notebook"
3. Set title from Q2
4. Add initial sources from Q3 (use Action 2 sub-flows per source type)
5. Wait for auto-summary generation (this one IS synchronous — usually completes in <30 sec)
6. Screenshot final state

Critical Async Behavior

Async output rule: For Studio generations (especially Audio Overview — 5-10 min), DO NOT wait for completion. The user's session will time out.

Workflow: Click Generate → confirm generation has started via screenshot → tell the user "Generation in progress — NotebookLM will notify you when ready" → end the task.

scripts/async_action_classifier.py

references/async_action_discipline.md

Screenshot-First Discipline

• Account tier (free vs Plus vs Enterprise)
• Feature rollout (some Studio types not yet available to all users)
• Recent UI changes (Google iterates the product frequently)

1. Verify the UI matches expectations before acting
2. Catch login walls early
3. Detect unexpected layout changes
4. Audit trail for debugging

screenshot()

references/browser_automation_canon.md

find()-Before-Click

• ✅

  find(text="Audio Overview")

  → returns element regardless of position
• ❌

  click(x=420, y=380)

  → breaks when UI rearranges

• Semantic find() returns nothing
• Element has no stable text/aria-label/data-attribute
• Visual position is the only reliable signal

Saving Outputs to Workspace

1. Extract chat response cleanly (strip UI chrome)
2. Format readably (paragraphs, lists, code blocks as appropriate)
3. If user requested → save to file (

   ${WORKSPACE}/notebooklm/<notebook-slug>-<action>-<date>.md

   )
4. Otherwise → return in chat as final summary

1. NotebookLM hosts the output (Audio Overview is in-app, Infographic downloadable, etc.)
2. Report the location (URL or in-app navigation path) to user
3. Don't try to download/save Studio outputs to local workspace — that's NotebookLM's job

Reporting Back Format

1. Take final screenshot if visually relevant
2. Give clean summary (not raw chat dump):
   • Notebook used (name)
   • Action taken (specific)
   • Result (1-2 sentences)
   • For generated outputs: what was created + where it is + when ready
3. For fire-and-notify actions: explicit "NotebookLM will notify you when ready"

Error Handling

Tooling

scripts/action_router.py

scripts/custom_prompt_template_generator.py

scripts/async_action_classifier.py

References

• references/browser_automation_canon.md

  — screenshot-first + find-before-click + tool-agnostic patterns (7+ sources)

• references/studio_output_custom_prompts.md

  — why defaults are mediocre + per-output-type templates (7+ sources)

• references/async_action_discipline.md

  — fire-and-notify pattern for slow UI ops (7+ sources)

Anti-Patterns To Reject

• Tool-specific tool names without abstraction (e.g., hardcoding "Claude Chrome Extension")
• Synchronous waiting on Studio generations (especially Audio Overview)
• Skipping screenshots between actions
• Using pixel coordinates when semantic find() is available
• Attempting to handle login flows automatically
• Generating Studio outputs without opening customization menu
• Using default Studio prompts (always write custom)

megaprompts/03-notebooklm-megaprompt.md