Google Drive: Seamless Access & Secure Collaboration

Key Features of Google Drive: Seamless Access & Secure Collaboration?

• Format Agnosticism: Access native files or converted Workspace documents through uniform URLs (gdrive:///)
• Smart Conversion: Auto-exports Docs → Markdown, Sheets → CSV, and more
• Search Capabilities: Full-text search using standard query syntax with MIME-type filtering
• Secure Auth Flow: OAuth 2.0 with scoped permissions ensures minimal data exposure

Use Cases of Google Drive: Seamless Access & Secure Collaboration?

Common applications include:

• Automating report generation by pulling Sheets data
• Content management systems importing Drive documents
• Team collaboration tools showing real-time file listings
• Legacy system integrations needing standardized file access

FAQ from Google Drive: Seamless Access & Secure Collaboration?

How do I handle expired credentials?

Rerun the authentication process - the server will refresh tokens automatically

Can I access restricted files?

Only files the authenticated user has access to will be visible - enforce proper sharing permissions in Drive

What happens if a file is deleted?

Requests return errors for missing files - implement try/catch logic in your application

Why use this over native Drive API calls?

Reduces boilerplate code for authentication and format handling, providing a unified interface for all file types

Google Drive server

This MCP server integrates with Google Drive to allow listing, reading, and searching over files.

Components

Tools

• search
  • Search for files in Google Drive
  • Input: query (string): Search query
  • Returns file names and MIME types of matching files

Resources

The server provides access to Google Drive files:

• Files (gdrive:///<file_id>)
  • Supports all file types
  • Google Workspace files are automatically exported:
    • Docs → Markdown
    • Sheets → CSV
    • Presentations → Plain text
    • Drawings → PNG
  • Other files are provided in their native format

Getting started

1. Create a new Google Cloud project
2. Enable the Google Drive API
3. Configure an OAuth consent screen ("internal" is fine for testing)
4. Add OAuth scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly
5. Create an OAuth Client ID for application type "Desktop App"
6. Download the JSON file of your client's OAuth keys
7. Rename the key file to gcp-oauth.keys.json and place into the root of this repo (i.e. servers/gcp-oauth.keys.json)

Make sure to build the server with either npm run build or npm run watch.

Authentication

To authenticate and save credentials:

1. Run the server with the auth argument: node ./dist auth
2. This will open an authentication flow in your system browser
3. Complete the authentication process
4. Credentials will be saved in the root of this repo (i.e. servers/.gdrive-server-credentials.json)

Usage with Desktop App

To integrate this server with the desktop app, add the following to your app's server configuration:

json { "mcpServers": { "gdrive": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-gdrive" ] } } }

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.