Google Workspace MCP

Python MCP server for reading Google Docs and Google Sheets with structured output and better image handling.

What It Does

• Reads Google Docs as structured JSON with paragraphs, tables, inline objects, positioned objects, and image metadata.

• Reads Google Sheets values, grid data, formulas, notes, hyperlinks, and chip runs.

• Extracts over-grid sheet images from Drive export -> XLSX.

• Detects in-cell IMAGE("...") formulas separately from drawing exports.

Project Layout

google_workspace_mcp/
  cli.py        # command-line entrypoint
  client.py     # Google API auth + HTTP client
  common.py     # shared constants and parsing helpers
  docs.py       # Google Docs normalization helpers
  server.py     # FastMCP server instance
  sheets.py     # Google Sheets normalization helpers
  tools.py      # MCP tool definitions
mcp_google_workspace.py  # compatibility wrapper for local scripts/config
tests/

Authentication Options

Recommended for private files shared to your Google account: OAuth desktop client

Use a Google OAuth client ID for Desktop App if the files are private but shared to your personal Google account.

1. Enable:

   • Google Sheets API

   • Google Docs API

   • Google Drive API

2. Create an OAuth client ID with application type Desktop app.

3. Download the client secret JSON.

4. Set:

$env:GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRETS_FILE="C:\path\to\oauth-client-secret.json"

5. Run the one-time browser login flow:

google-workspace-mcp auth

This stores a refreshable token by default at:

$HOME\.google-workspace-mcp\oauth-token.json

Use this to inspect the cached token scopes and see which scopes are still missing:

google-workspace-mcp auth status

If you need to overwrite the cached token with a specific client secret file and token path, you can also run:

google-workspace-mcp auth login --client-secrets C:\path\to\oauth-client-secret.json --token-file C:\path\to\oauth-token.json

Recommended: service account

Use a Google Cloud service account for the most reliable setup.

1. Enable:

   • Google Sheets API

   • Google Docs API

   • Google Drive API

2. Create a service account key.

3. Share the target Docs/Sheets files with the service account email.

4. Set:

$env:GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_FILE="C:\path\to\service-account.json"

Public Sheets only: API key

Suitable for public Google Sheets reads. Not recommended for Docs or Drive export.

$env:GOOGLE_API_KEY="your_api_key"

Existing bearer token: OAuth access token

$env:GOOGLE_OAUTH_ACCESS_TOKEN="ya29...."

Installation

git clone https://github.com/NgoQuocViet2001/google-workspace-mcp.git
cd google-workspace-mcp
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -r requirements.txt

Install from GitHub

Option 1: clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/NgoQuocViet2001/google-workspace-mcp.git
cd google-workspace-mcp
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
pip install -r requirements.txt

Option 2: install directly from GitHub

pip install "git+https://github.com/NgoQuocViet2001/google-workspace-mcp.git"

If you install it this way, the console entrypoint is:

google-workspace-mcp

Running the Server

cd <path-to-repo>
.venv\Scripts\python.exe mcp_google_workspace.py

Or, if you installed it directly from GitHub:

google-workspace-mcp

To bootstrap OAuth for a private user account:

google-workspace-mcp auth

To inspect the current auth setup:

google-workspace-mcp auth status

Codex MCP Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-workspace": {
      "command": "<path-to-repo>/.venv/Scripts/python.exe",
      "args": ["<path-to-repo>/mcp_google_workspace.py"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRETS_FILE": "C:/path/to/oauth-client-secret.json",
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_TOKEN_FILE": "C:/path/to/oauth-token.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

For public Sheets only, replace the env block with:

{
  "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your_api_key"
}

If you installed the package directly from GitHub into an environment on your PATH, you can also use:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-workspace": {
      "command": "google-workspace-mcp",
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRETS_FILE": "C:/path/to/oauth-client-secret.json",
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_TOKEN_FILE": "C:/path/to/oauth-token.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

• diagnose_google_auth

• resolve_google_file

• read_sheet_values

• read_sheet_grid

• get_sheet_row

• search_sheet

• sheet_to_json

• inspect_sheet_images

• read_google_doc

• download_google_doc_images

• export_google_file

Example Prompts

Replace placeholders such as <spreadsheet-id>, <sheet-name>, and <output-dir> with your own values.

Google Sheets URLs with gid and range are resolved automatically. If the caller omits the sheet prefix, the server uses the tab identified by gid.

Read one row from a sheet

get_sheet_row(
  "<spreadsheet-id>",
  "<sheet-name>",
  42,
  1
)

read_sheet_values also accepts row-style input such as <sheet-name>!42:42 and normalizes it to a valid full-row A1 range automatically.

Read directly from a Sheets URL with gid and range

read_sheet_values(
  "https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/<spreadsheet-id>/edit?gid=<gid>#gid=<gid>&range=38:38"
)

Read grid data with formulas, notes, and links

read_sheet_grid(
  "<spreadsheet-id>",
  "<sheet-name>!A1:Z200"
)

Search across a sheet

search_sheet(
  "<spreadsheet-id>",
  "login"
)

If you pass a Sheets URL with gid, search_sheet() searches only that tab by default instead of scanning the full workbook.

Convert a sheet to JSON

sheet_to_json(
  "<spreadsheet-id>",
  "<sheet-name>",
  1
)

Extract images from a sheet

inspect_sheet_images(
  "<spreadsheet-id>",
  "<sheet-name>",
  "C:/path/to/output/sheet-images"
)

Read a Google Doc with text and image metadata

read_google_doc(
  "https://docs.google.com/document/d/<doc-id>/edit",
  null,
  false,
  null
)

Download images from a Google Doc

download_google_doc_images(
  "https://docs.google.com/document/d/<doc-id>/edit",
  "C:/path/to/output/doc-images",
  null
)

Practical Limitations

• Google Docs image metadata is available directly through the Docs API, so document extraction is strong.

• Google Sheets does not expose over-grid images as cleanly as cell data, so this server uses XLSX export to recover them.

• In-cell IMAGE("...") formulas are detected separately from exported drawing images.

• Private files shared to your user account should use the OAuth desktop client flow.

• Private files shared to a robot identity should use a service account.

• An API key is only suitable for public Sheets.