Google Drive MCP

Google Drive MCP

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A1 Google Drive MCP lets an AI app work with your Google Drive in plain language. Find a file, tidy up folders, upload and download content, export a Doc as Markdown, share it with the right people — and keep the trash between you and permanent deletion.

It uses the Google Drive API with your Google account. It sees My Drive and shared drives alike, treats “delete” as the reversible trash and makes the limits of the Drive API explicit instead of implying that every file task is possible.

• 21 tools. Search and metadata, folders and moving, upload and download, export of Docs/Sheets/Slides, the trash, sharing and comments.
• Connects from the conversation. Say "connect Google Drive": the server walks you through the OAuth client, catches Google's redirect on 127.0.0.1 with PKCE and keeps the tokens itself — no config files, no restart.
• The trash comes first. “Delete” means the reversible trash; permanent deletion is a deliberately separate tool that cannot be picked by accident.
• Documents stay intact. Docs, Sheets and Slides move, copy, export and convert as whole files — the server never edits the text inside them.
• You choose the scope. drive.readonly covers every read and drive.file limits access to app-created files; the full tool surface needs drive.

Start with a read-only question:

Find the project roadmap doc in my Drive, export it to Markdown and summarize it.

Connect the server · Explore use cases · Open technical documentation

See it work in a minute

You: Show me what’s in the “Contracts 2025” folder, newest first.

Assistant: Lists the files with their types, owners and modification dates. Nothing changes.

You: Prepare an “Archive” subfolder and move everything older than a year into it.

Assistant: Shows the folder it would create and the files it would move, then asks for confirmation.

You: Confirm.

Assistant: Creates the folder and moves the files. Nothing is shared, trashed or deleted unless you ask separately.

Contents

• Quick start
• What you can ask it to do
• How your Drive changes
• What can change
• Getting access
• Configuration
• Data, limits and background work
• Technical documentation
• Support

Quick start

You need Node.js 20+ and a Google account. Credentials are not required at install time — the server connects from the conversation.

1. Add the server to your AI app.
2. Say "connect Google Drive": the assistant walks you through creating the OAuth client and approving access without editing config files.
3. Ask the read-only question above.

Codex

In the desktop app: open Settings → MCP servers, select Add server, choose STDIO, and enter the command npx -y @a1-x-tech/mcp-google-drive@latest with GOOGLE_DRIVE_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_DRIVE_CLIENT_SECRET and GOOGLE_DRIVE_REFRESH_TOKEN. Select Save, then Restart.

In the IDE extension: open the gear menu → MCP servers, select Add server, choose STDIO, and enter the same command and environment variables. Select Save, then Restart extension.

From the command line:

codex mcp add google-drive \

-- npx -y @a1-x-tech/mcp-google-drive@latest

codex mcp list

Codex MCP documentation

Claude Code

claude mcp add \

--transport stdio --scope user google-drive \ -- npx -y @a1-x-tech/mcp-google-drive@latest

claude mcp list

Claude Code MCP documentation

Claude Desktop

The current official path is Settings → Extensions. For a custom desktop extension, open Advanced settings → Extension Developer → Install Extension…, select a .mcpb file and follow the prompts.

This repository currently publishes an npm stdio package and does not contain a .mcpb bundle. For Claude Desktop builds that still support local configuration, use the following JSON stdio configuration as a fallback:

{

"mcpServers": { "google-drive": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@a1-x-tech/mcp-google-drive@latest"] } } }

In those builds, save it to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows.

Claude Desktop MCP documentation

Cursor

Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json on macOS/Linux or %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json on Windows:

{

"mcpServers": { "google-drive": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@a1-x-tech/mcp-google-drive@latest"] } } }

Cursor MCP documentation

VS Code

Run MCP: Open User Configuration and add:

{

"servers": { "google-drive": { "type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@a1-x-tech/mcp-google-drive@latest"] } } }

Check it with MCP: List Servers.

VS Code MCP documentation

What you can ask it to do

Find and read files

• Find last quarter’s budget spreadsheet and show where it lives and who owns it.
• Export the project brief to Markdown and summarize the open questions.
• Download the signed contract PDF into my reports folder.

Organize and transfer content

• Create a “2026 Reports” folder and move the monthly reports into it.
• Upload these meeting notes and convert them into a Google Doc.
• Copy the proposal template and rename the copy for the new client.

Share and discuss

• Share the folder with a teammate as a commenter and add a note to the invitation.
• List the open comments on the design doc and resolve the ones we’ve addressed.
• Revoke the external contractor’s access to the archive.

Clean up deliberately

• Trash the outdated drafts — and restore the one deleted by mistake.
• Permanently delete the folder of test uploads once I confirm.
• Show what’s in the trash before anything is purged.

How your Drive changes

1. Everything in Drive — folders and shared-drive items included — is a file with an id. Names are not unique, so tools act on ids, and duplicate names are legal: it pays to search before creating.
2. “Delete” means the trash: reversible, auto-purged by Google after about 30 days. Permanent deletion bypasses the trash, takes folder subtrees with it and lives in a deliberately separate tool.
3. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are moved, copied, shared, exported and converted as whole units. The server has no tool that edits text inside a Doc or cells inside a Sheet.
4. A write is never replayed after an uncertain failure: retries after network and 5xx errors apply to reads only, so a copy, upload or new folder cannot be duplicated behind your back.

Built-in uploads are capped at 5 MB (larger files go through a resumable session via raw_request), exports at 10 MB per the Drive API. Comments created through the API cannot be anchored to a specific passage inside a Doc.

What can change

The AI client controls confirmation prompts. The server marks reads, writes and destructive tools so the client can distinguish an inspection from a live change.

Getting access

Google Drive requires OAuth 2.0; an API key is not enough. There are two ways in, and the first one needs no configuration files.

Connect from the chat (recommended)

Say "connect Google Drive" and the assistant runs the flow with you:

1. setup_instructions prints the checklist: create or select a Google Cloud project, enable Google Drive API, configure the consent screen and create a Desktop app OAuth client.
2. Download that client's JSON ("Download JSON") and give the assistant its path — set_client stores it owner-only. The secret never goes through the conversation.
3. start_login returns a Google consent link. Open it on this machine and approve; the code comes back to a one-shot listener on 127.0.0.1 (PKCE), never through the chat.
4. finish_login exchanges the code and saves the tokens to ~/.config/mcp-google-drive/credentials.json (mode 0600) and verifies them with a real Google Drive API call — so an API that is still switched off is caught right there.

The tokens are re-read on every call, so the connection works immediately — no restart of the AI app. auth_status shows what is connected, logout revokes and deletes it.

Environment variables (CI, unattended installs)

1. Create or select a Google Cloud project and enable Google Drive API.
2. Configure the OAuth consent screen and create a Desktop app OAuth client.
3. Authorize the Google account whose files the server should work with. The OAuth 2.0 Playground can obtain the refresh token when Use your own OAuth credentials is enabled.
4. Request the narrowest scope that covers your use:

The server uses whatever scope the refresh token was minted with; a call outside it fails with an insufficientPermissions error.

Testing-mode OAuth refresh tokens can expire after seven days. Publish the OAuth app, or use an Internal app in a Workspace domain, when you need long-lived access. Treat the client secret and refresh token as passwords.

Configuration

Every variable is optional — with none of them the server connects [from the chat]