Searches and lists files and folders: id, name, mimeType, size, parents, driveId, modifiedTime, trashed, starred, webViewLink and shortcutDetails per file, plus nextPageToken. The convenience filters (name_contains, full_text_contains, mime_type, parent_id, only_folders) are AND-ed together and with the raw Drive query expression (q syntax, e.g. "modifiedTime > '2026-01-01T00:00:00'"). Trashed files are hidden unless include_trashed=true. Names are NOT unique in Drive — expect several hits and pick by id. parent_id lists a folder's direct children (use 'root' for My Drive's top level). Shared drives: pass drive_id to search one drive, or include_all_drives=true to search everything at once. Paginate with page_token; order_by e.g. 'modifiedTime desc,name'. incompleteSearch=true in the result means some corpora were skipped — narrow the search.

Lists the shared drives (formerly Team Drives) the authorized user is a member of: id, name, createdTime, plus nextPageToken. Use a drive's id as drive_id in search_files to browse its contents, or as parent_id to list its root. name_contains filters by name. My Drive is not a shared drive and never appears here.

Returns a file's metadata (never its content — that is download_file/export_file): id, name, mimeType, size, parents, driveId, createdTime/modifiedTime, trashed, starred, description, md5Checksum, webViewLink, webContentLink, exportLinks (for Google-native files), owners, lastModifyingUser, shortcutDetails (a shortcut's real target id/mimeType) and capabilities (canEdit/canShare/canTrash/canDelete/canDownload — check before mutating). Google-native files (mimeType application/vnd.google-apps.*) report no size and no md5Checksum. Pass fields to select a custom projection (Drive fields syntax) when the default set is too much or too little.

Creates a folder (a Drive file with mimeType application/vnd.google-apps.folder) and returns its id, name, parents and webViewLink. parent_id places it inside a folder or a shared drive ('root' or omitted = My Drive top level). Drive allows several folders with the same name in the same parent — search_files first if the folder might already exist, and reuse its id instead of creating a duplicate.

Copies a file and returns the new copy's metadata (a fresh fileId — the original is untouched). name renames the copy (default: same name as the original, NOT 'Copy of ...'); parent_id places it in a folder (default: same parent as the original for My Drive files). Works on Google-native files (Docs/Sheets/Slides) and binaries alike, but folders cannot be copied — recreate the tree with create_folder + copy_file per file. Comments and permissions are not copied. Each retry would create another copy, so after an ambiguous failure check with search_files before calling again.

Moves a file or folder into another folder (or shared drive) and returns id, name and the new parents. By default the file leaves all its current parents (a plain move); keep_existing_parents=true only adds the new parent — note that files in shared drives always have exactly one parent, so keeping old parents fails there. Moving between My Drive and a shared drive changes ownership rules and may be rejected by the drive's settings. The move costs one extra read (the current parents are fetched first).

Renames a file and/or updates its description and starred flag — metadata only, the content is untouched (that is upload_file with file_id). Only the provided fields change; at least one is required. Works on folders too (folders are files). Returns id, name, description, starred and the new modifiedTime. Moving lives in move_file, trashing in trash_file.

Uploads content to Drive and returns the file's metadata. Without file_id it CREATES a new file (name required; parent_id places it); with file_id it REPLACES that file's content in place (same id, new bytes) — name/parent_id are ignored then. The bytes come from exactly one of content (inline UTF-8 text) or local_path (absolute path to a local file). mime_type describes the uploaded bytes (default: text/plain for content, guessed from the extension for local_path). convert_to=document|spreadsheet|presentation imports the bytes into an editable Google Doc/Sheet/Slides (e.g. a .docx or .csv becomes native; export back with export_file). Cap: 5 MB per upload (multipart) — larger files need a resumable session via raw_request. A retry after an ambiguous failure without file_id would create a duplicate — search_files first.

Downloads a binary file's bytes. With save_path (absolute local path) the file is written to disk (refuses to overwrite unless overwrite=true) and the result reports saved_to/bytes; without save_path small textual files (≤100 KB, text/JSON/XML) are returned inline as content. Google-native files (Docs/Sheets/Slides — mimeType application/vnd.google-apps.*) have no bytes: this tool rejects them, use export_file; for a shortcut it names the real target to download instead. acknowledge_abuse=true downloads a file Drive flagged as malware/abuse (owner only).

Exports (converts) a Google-native file — Doc, Sheet, Slides, Drawing — to a regular format. mime_type picks the target: Docs → text/markdown, text/plain, text/html, application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document (.docx), application/rtf; Sheets → text/csv (FIRST sheet only), application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet (.xlsx); Slides → application/pdf, text/plain, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation (.pptx); Drawings → image/png, image/svg+xml, application/pdf. With save_path the result is written to disk; without it small textual exports (≤100 KB) come back inline as content. Export is capped at 10 MB by the API — use the file's exportLinks (get_file) for bigger documents. Binary (non-Google) files are not exportable — use download_file.

action=trash moves a file (or folder, with everything inside) to the Drive trash; action=restore brings it back. Trashing is REVERSIBLE — the file stays recoverable until the trash auto-purges it after ~30 days — and is the safe default whenever a user asks to 'delete' something: only use delete_file_forever when they explicitly want it gone beyond recovery. Trashed files disappear from search_files unless include_trashed=true. Only the owner (or a shared-drive member with the right role) can trash; restore puts the file back at its old parent. Returns id, name, trashed and explicitlyTrashed.

PERMANENTLY deletes a file, BYPASSING the trash — there is no undo, no 30-day grace period, and a folder takes every descendant with it. This is NOT the same as trash_file: when a user says 'delete', they almost always mean the reversible trash — use trash_file unless they explicitly confirmed permanent, unrecoverable deletion. Requires ownership (or organizer on a shared drive). Returns {ok:true} on success (the API responds with an empty 204).

Manages who can access a file. action=list shows the grants (id, type, role, emailAddress/domain, expirationTime, pendingOwner). action=share grants access: type=user/group (needs email_address), domain (needs domain), or anyone (link sharing; allow_file_discovery=true also makes it searchable); role=reader, commenter, writer, fileOrganizer/organizer (shared drives only) or owner. Sharing with a user emails them by default — send_notification_email=false suppresses it (not allowed for ownership transfers); email_message adds a note. action=update changes an existing grant's role (needs permission_id from list); action=remove revokes it. Ownership transfer: role=owner with transfer_ownership=true — between personal accounts this only INVITES the new owner (pendingOwner until they accept). Changes are live immediately; removing your own access to someone else's file is irreversible from your side. role=owner/organizer grants full control including permanent deletion — prefer writer or less.

Manages Drive comments on a file (Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs, images...). action=list pages through comments with their replies and resolved state (page_token; include_deleted shows tombstones); get fetches one (needs comment_id). create adds a comment (needs content; quoted_text attaches the passage it refers to — display only; positional anchoring inside a Doc's text is not possible through this API, such comments appear file-level). reply answers a thread (needs comment_id + content). resolve / reopen close or reopen a thread (need comment_id; optional content adds a closing note). delete removes a comment and its replies permanently (needs comment_id; author only). Comments carry author, createdTime/modifiedTime, resolved and quotedFileContent. Not for Docs suggestions — those are a Docs feature this API cannot touch.

Escape hatch to call any Google Drive API v3 path directly, for requests the typed tools don't cover — e.g. revisions ("drive/v3/files//revisions"), changes ("drive/v3/changes?pageToken=..."), shortcut creation (POST "drive/v3/files" with shortcutDetails), emptying the trash (DELETE "drive/v3/files/trash"), generateIds, or starting a resumable upload session (POST "upload/drive/v3/files?uploadType=resumable"). The path is relative to https://www.googleapis.com and may carry a query string (remember supportsAllDrives=true for shared-drive items). The Bearer token is added automatically; the method defaults to GET; the response must be JSON (binary media downloads belong to download_file/export_file).