Notion Sync

Bi-directional sync between markdown files and Notion pages, plus database management utilities for research tracking and project management.

Upgrading

From v2.0: Replace --token "ntn_..." with --token-file, --token-stdin, or NOTION_API_KEY env var. Bare --token is no longer accepted (credentials should never appear in process listings).

From v1.x: See v2.0 changelog for migration details.

Requirements

• Node.js v18 or later
• A Notion integration token (starts with ntn_ or secret_)

Setup

1. Go to https://www.notion.so/my-integrations

2. Create a new integration (or use an existing one)

3. Copy the "Internal Integration Token"

4. Pass the token using one of these methods (priority order used by scripts):

   Option A — Token file (recommended):

   echo "ntn_your_token" > ~/.notion-token && chmod 600 ~/.notion-token
   node scripts/search-notion.js "query" --token-file ~/.notion-token
   

   Option B — Stdin pipe:

   echo "$NOTION_API_KEY" | node scripts/search-notion.js "query" --token-stdin
   

   Option C — Environment variable:

   export NOTION_API_KEY="ntn_your_token"
   node scripts/search-notion.js "query"
   

   Auto default: If ~/.notion-token exists, scripts use it automatically even without --token-file.

5. Share your Notion pages/databases with the integration:

   • Open the page/database in Notion
   • Click "Share" → "Invite"
   • Select your integration

JSON Output Mode

All scripts support a global --json flag.

• Suppresses progress logs written to stderr
• Keeps stdout machine-readable for automation
• Errors are emitted as JSON: { "error": "..." }

Example:

node scripts/query-database.js <db-id> --limit 5 --json

Path Safety Mode

Scripts that read/write local files are restricted to the current working directory by default.

• Prevents accidental reads/writes outside the intended workspace
• Applies to: md-to-notion.js, add-to-database.js, notion-to-md.js, watch-notion.js
• Override intentionally with --allow-unsafe-paths

Examples:

# Default (safe): path must be inside current workspace
node scripts/md-to-notion.js docs/draft.md <parent-id> "Draft"

# Intentional override (outside workspace)
node scripts/notion-to-md.js <page-id> ~/Downloads/export.md --allow-unsafe-paths

Core Operations

1. Search Pages and Databases

Search across your Notion workspace by title or content.

node scripts/search-notion.js "<query>" [--filter page|database] [--limit 10] [--json]

Examples:

# Search for newsletter-related pages
node scripts/search-notion.js "newsletter"

# Find only databases
node scripts/search-notion.js "research" --filter database

# Limit results
node scripts/search-notion.js "AI" --limit 5

Output:

[
  {
    "id": "page-id-here",
    "object": "page",
    "title": "Newsletter Draft",
    "url": "https://notion.so/...",
    "lastEdited": "2026-02-01T09:00:00.000Z"
  }
]

2. Query Databases with Filters

Query database contents with advanced filters and sorting.

node scripts/query-database.js <database-id> [--filter <json>] [--sort <json>] [--limit 10] [--json]

Examples:

# Get all items
node scripts/query-database.js xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

# Filter by Status = "Complete"
node scripts/query-database.js <db-id> \
  --filter '{"property": "Status", "select": {"equals": "Complete"}}'

# Filter by Tags containing "AI"
node scripts/query-database.js <db-id> \
  --filter '{"property": "Tags", "multi_select": {"contains": "AI"}}'

# Sort by Date descending
node scripts/query-database.js <db-id> \
  --sort '[{"property": "Date", "direction": "descending"}]'

# Combine filter + sort
node scripts/query-database.js <db-id> \
  --filter '{"property": "Status", "select": {"equals": "Complete"}}' \
  --sort '[{"property": "Date", "direction": "descending"}]'

Common filter patterns:

• Select equals: {"property": "Status", "select": {"equals": "Done"}}
• Multi-select contains: {"property": "Tags", "multi_select": {"contains": "AI"}}
• Date after: {"property": "Date", "date": {"after": "2024-01-01"}}
• Checkbox is true: {"property": "Published", "checkbox": {"equals": true}}
• Number greater than: {"property": "Count", "number": {"greater_than": 100}}

3. Update Page Properties

Update properties for database pages (status, tags, dates, etc.).

node scripts/update-page-properties.js <page-id> <property-name> <value> [--type <type>] [--json]

Supported types: select, multi_select, checkbox, number, url, email, date, rich_text

Examples:

# Set status
node scripts/update-page-properties.js <page-id> Status "Complete" --type select

# Add multiple tags
node scripts/update-page-properties.js <page-id> Tags "AI,Leadership,Research" --type multi_select

# Set checkbox
node scripts/update-page-properties.js <page-id> Published true --type checkbox

# Set date
node scripts/update-page-properties.js <page-id> "Publish Date" "2024-02-01" --type date

# Set URL
node scripts/update-page-properties.js <page-id> "Source URL" "https://example.com" --type url

# Set number
node scripts/update-page-properties.js <page-id> "Word Count" 1200 --type number

4. Batch Update

Batch update a single property across multiple pages in one command.

Mode 1 — Query + Update:

node scripts/batch-update.js <database-id> <property-name> <value> --filter '<json>' [--type select] [--dry-run] [--limit 100]

Example:

node scripts/batch-update.js <db-id> Status Review \
  --filter '{"property":"Status","select":{"equals":"Draft"}}' \
  --type select

Mode 2 — Page IDs from stdin:

echo "page-id-1\npage-id-2\npage-id-3" | \
  node scripts/batch-update.js --stdin <property-name> <value> [--type select] [--dry-run]

Features:

• --dry-run: prints pages that would be updated (with current property value) without writing
• --limit <n>: max pages to process (default 100)
• Pagination in query mode (has_more/next_cursor) up to limit
• Rate-limit friendly updates (300ms between page updates)
• Progress and summary on stderr, JSON result array on stdout

5. Markdown → Notion Sync

Push markdown content to Notion with full formatting support.

node scripts/md-to-notion.js \
  "<markdown-file-path>" \
  "<notion-parent-page-id>" \
  "<page-title>" [--json] [--allow-unsafe-paths]

Example:

node scripts/md-to-notion.js \
  "projects/newsletter-draft.md" \
  "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  "Newsletter Draft - Feb 2026"

Supported formatting:

• Headings (H1-H3)
• Bold/italic text
• Links
• Bullet lists
• Code blocks with syntax highlighting
• Horizontal dividers
• Paragraphs

Features:

• Batched uploads (100 blocks per request)
• Automatic rate limiting (350ms between batches)
• Rich text is automatically chunked to Notion's 2000-character limit (including bold/italic/link spans)
• Returns Notion page URL and ID

Output:

Parsed 294 blocks from markdown
✓ Created page: https://www.notion.so/[title-and-id]
✓ Appended 100 blocks (100-200)
✓ Appended 94 blocks (200-294)

✅ Successfully created Notion page!

6. Notion → Markdown Sync

Pull Notion page content and convert to markdown.

node scripts/notion-to-md.js <page-id> [output-file] [--json] [--allow-unsafe-paths]

Example:

node scripts/notion-to-md.js \
  "abc123-example-page-id-456def" \
  "newsletter-updated.md"

Features:

• Converts Notion blocks to markdown
• Preserves formatting (headings, lists, code, quotes)
• Optional file output (writes to file or stdout)

7. Change Detection & Monitoring

Monitor Notion pages for edits and compare with local markdown files.

node scripts/watch-notion.js "<page-id>" "<local-markdown-path>" [--state-file <path>] [--json] [--allow-unsafe-paths]

Example:

node scripts/watch-notion.js \
  "abc123-example-page-id-456def" \
  "projects/newsletter-draft.md"

State tracking: By default maintains state in memory/notion-watch-state.json (relative to current working directory). You can override with --state-file <path> (supports ~ expansion):

node scripts/watch-notion.js "<page-id>" "<local-path>" --state-file ~/.cache/notion-watch-state.json

Default state schema:

{
  "pages": {
    "<page-id>": {
      "lastEditedTime": "2026-01-30T08:57:00.000Z",
      "lastChecked": "2026-01-31T19:41:54.000Z",
      "title": "Your Page Title"
    }
  }
}

Output:

{
  "pageId": "<page-id>",
  "title": "Your Page Title",
  "lastEditedTime": "2026-01-30T08:57:00.000Z",
  "hasChanges": false,
  "localPath": "/path/to/your-draft.md",
  "actions": ["✓ No changes since last check"]
}

Automated monitoring: Schedule periodic checks using cron, CI pipelines, or any task scheduler:

# Example: cron job every 2 hours during work hours
0 9-21/2 * * * cd /path/to/workspace && node scripts/watch-notion.js "<page-id>" "<local-path>"

The script outputs JSON — pipe it to any notification system when hasChanges is true.

8. Database Management

Add Markdown Content to Database

Add a markdown file as a new page in any Notion database.

node scripts/add-to-database.js <database-id> "<page-title>" <markdown-file-path> [--json] [--allow-unsafe-paths]

Examples:

# Add research output
node scripts/add-to-database.js \
  xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx \
  "Research Report - Feb 2026" \
  projects/research-insights.md

# Add project notes
node scripts/add-to-database.js \
  <project-db-id> \
  "Sprint Retrospective" \
  docs/retro-2026-02.md

# Add meeting notes
node scripts/add-to-database.js \
  <notes-db-id> \
  "Weekly Team Sync" \
  notes/sync-2026-02-06.md

Features:

• Creates database page with title property
• Converts markdown to Notion blocks (headings, paragraphs, dividers)
• Handles large files with batched uploads
• Returns page URL for immediate access

Note: Additional properties (Type, Tags, Status, etc.) must be set manually in Notion UI after creation.

Inspect Database Schema

node scripts/get-database-schema.js <database-id> [--json]

Example output:

{
  "object": "database",
  "id": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
  "title": [{"plain_text": "Ax Resources"}],
  "properties": {
    "Name": {"type": "title"},
    "Type": {"type": "select"},
    "Tags": {"type": "multi_select"}
  }
}

Use when:

• Setting up new database integrations
• Debugging property names/types
• Understanding database structure

Archive Pages

node scripts/delete-notion-page.js <page-id> [--json]

Note: This archives the page (sets archived: true), not permanent deletion.

Common Workflows

Collaborative Editing Workflow

1. Push local draft to Notion:

   node scripts/md-to-notion.js draft.md <parent-id> "Draft Title"
   

2. User edits in Notion (anywhere, any device)

3. Monitor for changes:

   node scripts/watch-notion.js <page-id> <local-path>
   # Returns hasChanges: true when edited
   

4. Pull updates back:

   node scripts/notion-to-md.js <page-id> draft-updated.md
   

5. Repeat as needed (update same page, don't create v2/v3/etc.)

Research Output Tracking

1. Generate research locally (e.g., via sub-agent)

2. Sync to Notion database:

   node scripts/add-research-to-db.js
   

3. User adds metadata in Notion UI (Type, Tags, Status properties)

4. Access from anywhere via Notion web/mobile

Page ID Extraction

From Notion URL: https://notion.so/Page-Title-abc123-example-page-id-456def

Extract: abc123-example-page-id-456def (last part after title)

Or use the 32-char format: abc123examplepageid456def (hyphens optional)

Limitations

• Property updates: Database properties (Type, Tags, Status) must be added manually in Notion UI after page creation. API property updates can be temperamental with inline databases.
• Block limits: Very large markdown files (>1000 blocks) may take several minutes to sync due to rate limiting.
• Formatting: Some complex markdown (tables, nested lists >3 levels) may not convert perfectly.

Troubleshooting

"Could not find page" error:

• Ensure page/database is shared with your integration
• Check page ID format (32 chars, alphanumeric + hyphens)

"Module not found" error:

• Scripts use built-in Node.js https module (no npm install needed)
• Ensure running from the skill's directory (where scripts/ lives)

Rate limiting:

• Notion API has rate limits (~3 requests/second)
• Scripts handle this automatically with 350ms delays between batches

Resources

scripts/

Core Sync:

• md-to-notion.js - Markdown → Notion sync with full formatting
• notion-to-md.js - Notion → Markdown conversion
• watch-notion.js - Change detection and monitoring

Search & Query:

• search-notion.js - Search pages and databases by query
• query-database.js - Query databases with filters and sorting
• update-page-properties.js - Update database page properties
• batch-update.js - Batch update one property across many pages (query or stdin IDs)

Database Management:

• add-to-database.js - Add markdown files as database pages
• get-database-schema.js - Inspect database structure
• delete-notion-page.js - Archive pages

Utilities:

• notion-utils.js - Shared utilities (error handling, property formatting, API requests)

All scripts use only built-in Node.js modules (https, fs) - no external dependencies required.

references/

• database-patterns.md - Common database schemas and property patterns