alterlab-open-notebook
Open Notebook
Overview
Open Notebook is an open-source (MIT), self-hosted alternative to Google's NotebookLM that lets researchers organize materials, generate AI-powered insights, create podcasts, and hold context-aware conversations with their documents. It exposes a full REST API, works with 18+ AI providers through the Esperanto library, and runs entirely on your own infrastructure. This skill targets the 1.x line (v1.14 as of 2026-09; Docker image lfnovo/open_notebook:v1-latest).
Key advantages over NotebookLM:
- Full REST API for programmatic access and automation
- Choice of 18+ AI providers (not locked to Google models), including fully local Ollama / LM Studio
- Multi-speaker podcast generation with 1-4 customizable speakers
- Storage stays on your own machine or server
- Open source and extensible (MIT license)
Data privacy: self-hosting keeps notebooks and files local, but source text is still sent to whichever cloud model provider you configure. For sensitive or IRB-restricted material, use a local provider (Ollama, LM Studio) or one covered by your data agreements.
Repository: https://github.com/lfnovo/open-notebook