Automatically enrich your Notion book database with comprehensive metadata from Google Books API!

Simply add a book title + author (or just an ISBN) to your Notion database, click a button, and watch as all the missing details get filled in automatically - including ISBN, publication year, page count, publisher, description, ratings, and more.

Create a new Notion database with these required columns:

Column Name	Type	Description
Title	Title	The book's title
Author	Rich Text	The book's author
ISBN	Rich Text	Book's ISBN (auto-filled)
Year Published	Number	Publication year (auto-filled)
Page Count	Number	Number of pages (auto-filled)
Publisher	Rich Text	Publisher name (auto-filled)

Optional columns you can add for even more data:

• Description (Rich Text) - Book summary
• Categories (Multi-select) - Genres/subjects
• Average Rating (Number) - Google Books rating
• Ratings Count (Number) - Number of ratings
• Language (Rich Text) - Book language
• Subtitle (Rich Text) - Book subtitle

1. Create a Notion Integration:

   • Go to https://www.notion.so/my-integrations
   • Click "New integration"
   • Give it a name like "Book Auto-Populator"
   • Copy the Integration Token (starts with secret_)

2. Share Your Database:

   • Open your book database in Notion
   • Click the "..." menu → "Add connections"
   • Select your integration

3. Get Your Database ID:

   • Copy the URL of your database page
   • Extract the database ID (the long string of letters/numbers after the last / and before any ?)
   • Example: https://notion.so/myworkspace/a8aec43384f447ed84390e8e42c2e089?v=...
   • Database ID: a8aec43384f447ed84390e8e42c2e089

1. Fork this Val to your account
2. Set Environment Variables:
   • NOTION_API_TOKEN = Your integration token from Step 2
   • NOTION_DATABASE_ID = Your database ID from Step 2

1. Add a test book to your Notion database:

   • Enter just the Title and Author (like "The Great Gatsby" and "F. Scott Fitzgerald")
   • OR just enter an ISBN (like "9780743273565")

2. Run the enrichment:

   • Visit your Val URL: https://your-val-name.web.val.run/
   • Watch as the missing fields get automatically filled in!

Method 1: Title + Author

• Add the book title and author to a new row
• The script will find and fill in ISBN, year, page count, publisher, etc.

Method 2: ISBN Only

• Add just the ISBN to a new row
• The script will find and fill in title, author, year, page count, publisher, etc.
• Perfect when you have a book in hand but don't want to type details!

Process all incomplete books:

GET https://your-val-name.web.val.run/

Check if everything is set up correctly:

GET https://your-val-name.web.val.run/status

Process just one specific book:

GET https://your-val-name.web.val.run/process/NOTION_RECORD_ID

See all available commands:

GET https://your-val-name.web.val.run/help

Want to connect this lookup database to your main reading tracker? Here's how:

1. In your main reading database, add a new property:

   • Name: "Book Info"
   • Type: Relation
   • Related database: Your book lookup database

2. Add rollup properties to display the metadata:

   • ISBN: Rollup → Book Info → ISBN
   • Year: Rollup → Book Info → Year Published
   • Pages: Rollup → Book Info → Page Count
   • Publisher: Rollup → Book Info → Publisher

Now when you add a book to your reading list, just link it to the enriched record!

This tool pulls comprehensive metadata from Google Books API:

Always Filled:

• ✅ ISBN (prefers ISBN-13, falls back to ISBN-10)
• ✅ Publication Year
• ✅ Page Count
• ✅ Publisher

Often Available:

• 📝 Description/Summary
• 🏷️ Categories/Genres
• ⭐ Average Rating
• 📊 Number of Ratings
• 🌍 Language
• 📅 Full Publication Date
• 🔗 Google Books Preview Link

"System not properly configured" error:

• Check that both environment variables are set correctly
• Verify your Notion integration has access to the database

No books getting processed:

• Make sure you have books with Title+Author OR ISBN but missing other fields
• Check that your database column names match exactly (case-sensitive)

Books not found:

• Try adding more specific author information
• Some books may not be in Google Books database
• Check that Title and Author are spelled correctly

Manual Processing: The system only processes books when you visit the URL - no automatic background processing

Smart Matching: Uses both exact and relaxed search algorithms to find the best matches

Data Preservation: Only fills in empty fields - never overwrites your existing data

Expandable: Add any of the optional columns to capture even more book metadata

• backend/index.ts - Main HTTP endpoints and API
• backend/notion.ts - Notion database integration
• backend/books.ts - Google Books API integration
• backend/processor.ts - Core processing logic

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Ready to automatically enrich your book collection? Fork this Val and start building your ultimate book database! 📚✨