Google Drive MCP Server

Google Drive

Browse, search, upload, and audit files across My Drive and shared drives. Native Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides export to text, PDF, CSV, or HTML.

Operational order

1. Confirm access with token validation when connection health is unknown.
2. Locate content: search by name or full text, list a known folder, or find a folder by exact name under a parent.
3. Read metadata before downloading large binaries; use content export with an explicit export format for Google Workspace files.
4. Create folders before bulk uploads when organizing new material; pass returned folder id as parent_id on create.
5. After sharing or moving sensitive material, check permissions or public access before reporting completion.

Data model

• file_id — opaque Drive id; also appears in webViewLink URLs.
• parent_id — folder id; use root for My Drive top level.
• mimeType — application/vnd.google-apps.folder for folders; Docs/Sheets/Slides use application/vnd.google-apps.*.
• Shared drives — list shared drives first when content may live on a Team Drive; pass drive id via list/search query as needed.

Query language (structured search)

Examples for structured queries:

• name contains 'Quarterly' and trashed = false
• mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.folder' and 'PARENT_ID' in parents
• 'root' in parents and trashed = false
• modifiedTime > '2026-01-01T00:00:00'

Use full-text search only when you need to match inside document bodies — it is slower and quota-heavy.

Export formats (Google Workspace → downloadable)

Small exports return inline text or base64; larger payloads return a presigned download link.

Permission sets

• Standard — create and manage files the app creates; limited browse.
• Full Access — browse all files, export content, create folders, copy, move, trash, and share (includes drive write scope).

Gotchas

• Trash is reversible via update (trashed=false) until the user empties trash in Drive.
• Share grants require Full Access; reconnect if share calls fail with insufficient permissions.
• Moving a file replaces all parents when parent_id is set on update — it is a move, not add-parent.
• Do not guess file_id from URLs without extracting the id segment; prefer list/search/find folder results.