How It Works
Understand the Notebook Studio architecture and feature set
Tech Stack
Notebook Studio is built with a modern, production ready stack:
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Framework | Next.js (App Router, Turbopack) |
| Language | TypeScript (strict mode) |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS v4 + shadcn/ui |
| Database | Convex (reactive serverless DB) |
| Auth | Better Auth via @convex-dev/better-auth |
| AI | Google Gemini (tutor chat, summaries, study tools) |
| Payments | Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Flutterwave, Dodo Payments, Paddle |
| Resend | |
| Hosting | Vercel |
| Docs | Fumadocs |
| i18n | next-intl (5 languages) |
Live Product
See Notebook Studio in action at your deployed URL after following the setup guides.
How It Works
Notebook Studio takes students from a curiosity to genuine understanding in a few simple steps.
Create a Notebook
A notebook is a focused study space for a single topic, subject, or assignment. Students create one from the dashboard and give it a title - for example "The Future of Digital Health and AI-Driven Care".
Add Sources
Students add learning material to the notebook: URLs, pasted text, or uploaded files. Notebook Studio extracts the content so the AI tutor can read and answer questions about it.
Chat with Your AI Tutor
A personalized AI tutor (powered by Gemini) answers questions grounded in the notebook's sources. Every user gets their own private chat tied to their account.
Turn Notes into Study Tools
The Studio panel generates study aids from your sources: audio overviews, data tables, mind maps, reports, flashcards, and quizzes. These persist and improve the learning workflow.
Built-in Growth and Admin Tools
Version 3.5 adds everything you need to run the product, not just the study app:
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Blog | A public blog with an admin block editor (headings, lists, quotes, images), drafts, publish, tags, and cover images. Ships with a homepage "Latest from the blog" section and an RSS feed at /feed.xml. |
| Onboarding | A short NotebookLM-style wizard (goal, subject, level, study style, cadence) shown after sign-up. The dashboard stays gated until the student completes or skips it. |
| Announcements | Publish a dismissible banner across your students' dashboard (info, warning, or maintenance) with an optional schedule window. |
| Admin dashboard | Activity and AI generation mix charts, user and plan management, email template editing, blog management, featured notebooks, billing config, and a payments and ledger audit log. |
See What's New in v3.5 for the full list of additions.
How You Make Money
Subscription Plans
Notebook Studio uses a subscription model with configurable plans. Students pay a monthly or yearly fee to unlock higher usage limits and priority AI access.
Configurable Pricing Engine
All pricing is controlled from the Admin Dashboard - no code changes needed:
| Config | Description |
|---|---|
| Free plan price | Set to $0 for a free tier, or above to gate the app |
| Monthly plan | Name + USD price shown across the upgrade dialog |
| Yearly plan | Name + USD price shown across the upgrade dialog |
| Payment gateways | Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Flutterwave, Dodo, Paddle - enable any |
- Students subscribe via your chosen gateway; billing recurs automatically.
- The gateway webhook records the active subscription (plan, renewal date, cancel status) through Convex; cancellations keep access until the period end, then revert to the free tier or no plan.
- Free-tier limits and paid features are enforced through the Convex
getBillingStatusquery and the plan gate.
Every subscription earns you margin - no royalties, no revenue sharing - you keep everything.