jackwener/OpenCLI · error · CommandExecutionError

NotebookLM AddFileSource (o4cbdc) RPC returned no source id;

Error message

NotebookLM AddFileSource (o4cbdc) RPC returned no source id; cannot start file upload.

What it means

After registering a file source via the NotebookLM AddFileSource RPC (id o4cbdc), the library parses the response for a source id. If none is found it cannot proceed to the Drive resumable upload, so it throws this CommandExecutionError. It indicates the backend rejected or failed the registration step.

Source

Thrown at clis/notebooklm/add-source.js:228

        const filePath = typeof kwargs.file === 'string' && kwargs.file.trim() ? kwargs.file.trim() : '';
        const modes = [url ? 'url' : '', content !== null ? 'text' : '', filePath ? 'file' : ''].filter(Boolean);
        if (modes.length === 0) {
            throw new ArgumentError('Pass exactly one of --url <url>, --content <text>, or --file <path>');
        }
        if (modes.length > 1) {
            throw new ArgumentError('Pass exactly one of --url, --content, --file (got: ' + modes.join(' + ') + ')');
        }
        requireNotebooklmExecute(kwargs.execute, 'add a NotebookLM source');
        const title = parseSourceTitle(kwargs.title, 'Text Source');
        await ensureNotebooklmHome(page);
        await requireNotebooklmSession(page);
        if (filePath) {
            const file = readFileForUpload(filePath);
            const mime = inferMimeType(file.filename, kwargs['mime-type']);
            const registerRpc = await callNotebooklmRpc(page, NOTEBOOKLM_ADD_FILE_SOURCE_RPC_ID, buildRegisterFileSourceArgs(notebookId, file.filename));
            const sourceId = parseAddSourceResult(registerRpc.result, [notebookId]);
            if (!sourceId) {
                throw new CommandExecutionError('NotebookLM AddFileSource (o4cbdc) RPC returned no source id; cannot start file upload.');
            }
            await uploadFileViaDriveResumable(page, notebookId, sourceId, file.filename, file.base64, file.size);
            await verifyNotebooklmSourceAdded(page, notebookId, sourceId, 'add-source --file');
            return [{
                notebook_id: notebookId,
                source_id: sourceId,
                kind: 'file',
                identifier: `${file.filename} (${mime}, ${file.size} bytes)`,
                notebook_url: buildNotebooklmNotebookUrl(notebookId),
            }];
        }
        const args = url
            ? buildAddSourceFromUrlArgs(notebookId, url)
            : buildAddSourceFromTextArgs(notebookId, title, content);
        const rpc = await callNotebooklmRpc(page, NOTEBOOKLM_ADD_SOURCES_RPC_ID, args);
        const sourceId = parseAddSourceResult(rpc.result, [notebookId]);
        if (!sourceId) {
            throw new CommandExecutionError('NotebookLM AddSources RPC returned no source id; verify the input reaches the NotebookLM backend.');

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Re-run the command after confirming an active NotebookLM session (browser login / auth refresh).
2. Verify the file type is supported by NotebookLM (pdf, txt, md, docx, audio, etc.) and that the file is non-empty.
3. Check whether the NotebookLM web UI can add the same file manually; if not, it is a backend/permission issue.
4. Capture the raw RPC result (logging) and compare against the expected schema — the RPC id may have changed.

if (!fs.existsSync(filePath) || fs.statSync(filePath).size === 0) throw new Error(`File missing or empty: ${filePath}`);

try {
  await addSource({ file: path });
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('returned no source id')) {
    // refresh session, verify file type supported, then retry once
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `add-source --file <path>` where callNotebooklmRpc succeeds at the transport level but the o4cbdc response body contains no source id adjacent to the notebook id.

Common situations: Uploading an unsupported or zero-byte file type; the NotebookLM session is stale so the RPC silently fails; NotebookLM changed the RPC response schema; network interruption mid-RPC.

Related errors

• --file path does not exist: ${filePath}
• --file path is not a regular file: ${filePath}
• NotebookLM file upload failed:
• NotebookLM AddSources RPC returned no source id; verify the
• NotebookLM CreateProject RPC returned no notebook id

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b92e73725b61c7dd. Report an issue: GitHub.