Google appears to be working on a notable addition to Opal, its no-code workflow builder from Google Labs, that would bring NotebookLM notebooks directly into the builder as native assets. According to findings from an internal build, users will be able to select from a list of NotebookLM notebooks tied to their Google account, with the chosen notebook appearing as a dedicated tile within the Opal canvas. From there, it connects to the rest of the workflow blocks just like any other node.
The practical implication sits inside the Generate block. When configuring a generation step, users can instruct the workflow to pull or reference data from the linked NotebookLM notebook via a natural-language prompt. This turns a passive research collection into an active data source for automated pipelines, something Opal currently lacks natively. The builder already supports a Memory block for temporarily storing data during a workflow run, and the NotebookLM tile would slot in alongside that as a persistent, curated knowledge layer.
Google Labs, which operates both Opal and NotebookLM, has been methodically expanding Opal since its launch, adding multi-country access, parallel execution, and tighter Gemini integration after folding it into Super Gems last December. Both products share the same Labs DNA, making a deeper bridge between them a logical next step rather than a stretch. Researchers, analysts, and knowledge workers who already use NotebookLM to organize sources could soon feed those notebooks directly into automated Opal pipelines without manual data transfers.
Also found in the same build is a partially hidden Agent option described as capable of using "any model", though it remains locked from regular access and appears to be in early stages. No timeline has been announced for either feature, and Google has not made any public statements on this development.
