An MCP server for Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Lets AI assistants manage files, folders, permissions, labels, and trash with full read/write access across multiple Google accounts. Includes automatic Workspace format conversion (Docs to Markdown, Sheets to CSV/JSON, Slides to text).

Tools

Account Management

Tool	Description
`gdrive_list_accounts`	List all configured Google accounts with labels and emails
`gdrive_switch_account`	Set the active account for subsequent calls
`gdrive_add_account`	Generate an authorization URL to add a new Google account

Files

Tool	Description
`gdrive_list_files`	List files with optional search query and folder filtering
`gdrive_get_metadata`	Get detailed metadata for a file by ID
`gdrive_read_file`	Read file content with automatic Workspace format conversion
`gdrive_download_file`	Download a file to local disk (supports Workspace export)
`gdrive_create_file`	Create a new file with optional OCR on image/PDF uploads
`gdrive_update_file`	Update a file's content, name, or description
`gdrive_copy_file`	Copy a file, optionally to a different folder
`gdrive_move_file`	Move a file to a different folder
`gdrive_search_files`	Full-text search across file names and content

Folders

Tool	Description
`gdrive_create_folder`	Create a new folder
`gdrive_list_folder`	List contents of a specific folder
`gdrive_delete_folder`	Delete a folder (trash or permanent)

Trash

Tool	Description
`gdrive_trash_file`	Move a file or folder to trash
`gdrive_untrash_file`	Restore a file or folder from trash
`gdrive_empty_trash`	Permanently delete all trashed files (irreversible)
`gdrive_list_trash`	List files currently in trash

Permissions

Tool	Description
`gdrive_share_file`	Share a file with a user, group, domain, or anyone
`gdrive_list_permissions`	List all permissions on a file or folder
`gdrive_update_permission`	Update a permission's role
`gdrive_remove_permission`	Remove a permission (unshare)
`gdrive_transfer_ownership`	Transfer file ownership to another user

Labels

Tool	Description
`gdrive_list_labels`	List available Drive labels
`gdrive_list_file_labels`	List labels applied to a file
`gdrive_set_file_labels`	Add, update, or remove labels on a file

Google Docs

Tool	Description
`gdrive_export_doc`	Export a Google Doc (markdown, html, text, docx, pdf). Use `savePath` to save binary formats to disk
`gdrive_create_doc`	Create a Google Doc from Markdown content
`gdrive_update_doc`	Replace a Google Doc's content with Markdown

Google Sheets

Tool	Description
`gdrive_create_sheet`	Create a new spreadsheet with named tabs
`gdrive_export_sheet`	Export a sheet to CSV, JSON, or XLSX. Use `savePath` to save XLSX to disk
`gdrive_list_sheets`	List all sheets/tabs in a spreadsheet
`gdrive_read_sheet_range`	Read a specific range from any tab (A1 notation)
`gdrive_write_sheet_range`	Write data to a specific range

Google Slides

Tool	Description
`gdrive_create_slides`	Create a new presentation
`gdrive_export_slides`	Export slides to text, PDF, or PPTX. Use `savePath` to save binary formats to disk
`gdrive_get_slide_thumbnail`	Get a thumbnail image URL for a specific slide

What's New in v2.2

outputFormat parameter — 12 read/list tools now accept outputFormat: "json" | "yaml" | "text". Default is json (backwards compatible). Use yaml for structured output or text for compact human-readable tables. Supported on: list_accounts, list_files, list_folder, list_trash, list_permissions, list_labels, list_file_labels, list_sheets, get_metadata, read_sheet_range, get_slide_thumbnail, search_files.

v2.1

gdrive_download_file — Download any file from Drive to a local disk path. Workspace files (Docs, Sheets, Slides) are automatically exported to the specified format (pdf, docx, xlsx, pptx, csv, txt, html, or markdown).
savePath on export tools — gdrive_export_doc, gdrive_export_sheet, and gdrive_export_slides now accept an optional savePath parameter. When provided, binary exports (docx, pdf, xlsx, pptx) are saved to disk instead of returned as base64. Omitting savePath preserves the v2.0 behavior.
gdrive_list_accounts email resolution — Accounts migrated from v0.x that showed "migrated" instead of an email address now auto-resolve via the Google userinfo API on first call.
Documentation fixes — gdrive_empty_trash notes eventual consistency; gdrive_transfer_ownership notes cross-org limitation.

Output Formats

All read and list tools support an outputFormat parameter:

Format	Description	Use Case
`json`	Pretty-printed JSON (default)	Machine consumption, API pipelines
`yaml`	YAML serialization	Human-readable structured data, config files
`text`	Compact aligned tables and key-value pairs	Quick scanning, terminal output, token-efficient LLM context

Example: gdrive_list_files({ query: "name contains 'report'", outputFormat: "text" }) returns:

files:
  id             name              mimeType         modifiedTime  size
  -------------  ----------------  ---------------  ------------  ----
  abc123def456   Q1 Report.pdf     application/pdf  2026-04-01    1024
  ghi789jkl012   Q2 Report.docx    application/pdf  2026-03-15    2048
resultCount: 2

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+
A Google Cloud project with these APIs enabled:
- Google Drive API
- Google Docs API
- Google Sheets API
- Google Slides API
OAuth2 desktop application credentials

Setup

Create a project in the Google Cloud Console and enable the Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides APIs
Create OAuth2 credentials (Application type: Desktop app) and download the JSON file
Save the credentials file:

mkdir -p ~/.config/mcp-google-gdrive
cp ~/Downloads/client_secret_*.json ~/.config/mcp-google-gdrive/credentials.json
chmod 600 ~/.config/mcp-google-gdrive/credentials.json

Run the one-time authorization flow:

npx mcp-google-gdrive --auth primary

This prints a URL for Google consent. After granting access, paste the authorization code back into the terminal.

Multi-Account Setup

Add additional accounts with unique labels:

npx mcp-google-gdrive --auth work
npx mcp-google-gdrive --auth personal

Each account gets its own token file at ~/.config/mcp-google-gdrive/tokens/{label}.json. Use the account parameter on any tool to specify which account to use, or call gdrive_switch_account to change the default.

Configuration

Gemini CLI

Add to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-gdrive": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-google-gdrive"]
    }
  }
}

watsonx Orchestrate

orchestrate toolkits import --kind mcp \
  --name google-gdrive \
  --description "Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides" \
  --command "npx -y mcp-google-gdrive" \
  --tools "*"

Claude Code

claude mcp add -s user google-gdrive -- npx -y mcp-google-gdrive

VS Code / Cursor

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-gdrive": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-google-gdrive"]
    }
  }
}

Authentication

The server uses OAuth2 for Google Drive access. Credentials are stored locally:

~/.config/mcp-google-gdrive/credentials.json — OAuth2 client (shared across accounts)
~/.config/mcp-google-gdrive/tokens/{label}.json — Per-account tokens (chmod 600)
~/.config/mcp-google-gdrive/config.json — Active account and account registry

Access tokens expire after one hour and are refreshed automatically using stored refresh tokens. Token refresh is transparent and requires no user interaction.

Migrating from v0.x

If upgrading from a single-account v0.x installation, the server automatically migrates your existing token.json to tokens/primary.json on first start.