google-drive-mcp

MCP server to browse and manage Google Drive: search files, read Docs/Sheets content, move/rename/copy files and folders, manage the trash, permissions, revision history and comments.

Tools (27)

Browsing and reading

Organizing

Trash

Permissions

Revision history

Comments

Shared drives, storage and change tracking

Related MCP server: google-drive-mcp-server

Safety

• Every tool carries MCP Tool Annotations from the spec (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint).

• Execution errors propagate as real MCP protocol errors (isError=true) — never as a JSON payload that looks like a success.

• Sensitive operations carry a confirmed: bool = False parameter. Without it, the tool returns a preview of what it would do instead of executing: trash_file, share_file, remove_permission, delete_comment. share_file is the most sensitive of the set — it exposes a document to someone new, so treat the preview as a real gate, not a formality.

Setup

1. Create a Google Cloud project (or reuse one) and enable the Google Drive API.

2. Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID of type "Desktop app" and download it as client_secret.json.

3. If the app is in "Testing" mode, add your Google account(s) as test users.

4. Install dependencies:

   python3 -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate
   pip install -r requirements.txt

5. Run the OAuth flow once per account you want to expose:

   CLIENT_SECRET_PATH=~/.config/google-drive-mcp/client_secret.json \
   TOKEN_OUT=~/.config/google-drive-mcp/token.json \
     python3 setup_auth.py

   This opens a browser — log in and grant access. Repeat with a different TOKEN_OUT for each additional account.

MCP client configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-drive": {
      "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python3",
      "args": ["/path/to/google-drive-mcp/server.py"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_DRIVE_TOKEN_PATH": "~/.config/google-drive-mcp/token.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Notes

• Scope used is https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive (read + write) — needed for move_file, rename_file, create_folder and every write tool below to work. A drive.readonly token will fail on those.

• search_files matches on file name by default; pass search_content=True to search inside the document body instead (Drive's fullText search) when you remember what a file says but not its name.

• download_file is capped at 10 MB to avoid pulling huge binaries into the model's context — use it to confirm a file's existence/size beyond that limit, not to read its content.

• If you run this server under two different Google accounts (e.g. one per client workspace), a search or read against the wrong account's token does not error — it silently returns an empty result. Don't conclude a file doesn't exist without checking you're on the right account.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.