Workflow: Cited Research

Trigger

Run when the user wants a repeatable research workflow that:

• curates web/video/doc sources
• synthesizes them with citations
• persists the output locally
• optionally projects the result into Obsidian or another publisher target

This is the workflow-level synthesis of:

• lev-research for source acquisition
• notebooklm for grounded multi-source reasoning
• publisher/CMS projections for durable local output

Inputs

• Research question or theme
• Source seed list, or permission to discover sources
• Preferred source classes: youtube, web, pdf, notes
• Projection target:
  • markdown only
  • Obsidian vault
  • future CMS/publisher target
• Notebook slug and dashboard title

Steps

1. Acquire or curate sources. Use lev-research or user-provided URLs to build a deliberate source set. Prefer curated relevance over raw volume.

2. Materialize a source manifest. Save the final source list as JSON or markdown so the research input is inspectable and reproducible.

3. Create or select the NotebookLM notebook. Authenticate, create/select notebook, and add sources in batches.

4. Import the notebook into local markdown. Run the notebooklm import workflow to create source files and a dashboard/materialized view.

5. Ask grounded questions. Use notebooklm ask --new --json for each research question. Extract cited passages and resolve citations into durable local links.

6. Project the result. Treat Obsidian as a projection target, not a new authority. If a different publisher exists later, reuse the same markdown artifacts.

7. Close the loop. Produce:

   • source manifest
   • Q&A notes
   • cited passage map
   • concise synthesis of themes, gaps, and next actions

Team

| Role | Responsibility | |------|---------------| | Source Curator | builds and prunes the source set | | Notebook Operator | manages notebook creation, auth, and source import | | Citation Resolver | extracts passages and resolves evidence links | | Publisher Adapter | projects markdown output into Obsidian/CMS targets |

Outputs

• /tmp/notebooklm-sources.json or equivalent source manifest
• Notes/NotebookLM/{slug}/Sources/*.md
• Notes/NotebookLM/{slug}/QA/*.md
• Notes/Dashboards/{dashboard}.md
• A short synthesis note with themes, gaps, and follow-up prompts

Validation

• Source manifest exists and matches the notebook contents
• Q&A notes contain local resolved citations, not bare [N] markers
• Source files contain cited passages
• Projection target renders the result without depending on the NotebookLM web UI
• Workflow can be rerun with a fresh notebook/question set without changing the core steps