Creativity · MCP — server

MCP Google Drive Server

The MCP Google Drive Server authenticates via OAuth 2.0 and surfaces a user's Google Drive as Model Context Protocol resources and tools. An MCP client like Claude Desktop can list folders, search Drive, open a Google Doc, and read a Sheet tab — without copying data into chat first.

MCP facts

Kind: server
Ecosystem: anthropic-mcp
Language: TypeScript / Node.js
Transports: stdio

Capabilities

Tools: gdrive_search (query Drive like drive.google.com), gdrive_read_file
Resources: gdrive://file/<id> with auto-conversion of Docs → Markdown, Sheets → CSV, Slides → plain text
Auth: OAuth 2.0 with drive.readonly scope by default
Caches tokens locally for headless re-use after first consent

Install

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-gdrive auth

Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gdrive": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-gdrive"],
      "env": {
        "GDRIVE_OAUTH_PATH": "/Users/you/.config/gcp-oauth.keys.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Frequently asked questions

How does the Google Drive MCP server handle authentication?

You download an OAuth client credentials JSON from Google Cloud Console, run the `auth` subcommand once to produce a refresh token, and point GDRIVE_OAUTH_PATH at the keyfile. After that Claude Desktop can read Drive headlessly.

Can it write to Google Drive?

By default no — the server is configured with drive.readonly. To write you must broaden the OAuth scope and extend the server with tools like create_document or update_sheet.

How are Google Docs and Sheets converted for the LLM?

Docs are exported as Markdown, Sheets as CSV, Slides as plain text. This keeps the content small and faithfully formatted for LLM consumption — no images or complex layouts travel over the wire.

Sources

modelcontextprotocol/servers — gdrive — accessed 2026-04-20
Google Drive API — OAuth scopes — accessed 2026-04-20