Google Drive MCP server: official setup, tools and limits

Updated 8 min read

Google Drive MCP is Google’s own remote MCP server for Drive, at https://drivemcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1. It gives an agent eight tools to search Drive, read and download files, check metadata and sharing, and create or copy files, all with the signed-in user’s permissions. It is in Google’s Workspace Developer Preview, so you need to be in that program, run a Google Cloud project and create your own OAuth client before Claude, Antigravity or another MCP client can connect.

The setup below is from Google’s Drive MCP guide, last updated 12 October 2026. On 19 October 2026 we called the server’s tools/list ourselves and read its OAuth metadata; the tool details below come from that response. We have not connected it to a Drive account.

Does Google have an official Google Drive MCP server?

Yes. Google runs a remote server for Drive and separate ones for Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Chat, People and Classroom, each at its own googleapis.com address. All of them are in the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program, which Google describes as early access to certain features. The Drive server uses Streamable HTTP and OAuth 2.0.

The older reference server, src/gdrive in the MCP project’s modelcontextprotocol/servers repository, first written by Anthropic, is archived. It moved to servers-archived, which holds reference servers that are no longer maintained. Google’s top ten for “google drive mcp” on 14 October 2026 still linked its old address, which returned 404 when we tried it on 19 October.

Option Runs Sign-in Tools Status
Google’s Drive MCP server Google, remote Your own OAuth client in Google Cloud 8 Developer Preview
Claude’s Google Drive connector Google, remote, added in Claude Each person’s Google account Search, read, upload, share, move, trash Available to all Claude users
Archived reference server (gdrive) Your machine Desktop OAuth client, credentials file 1 tool plus file resources Archived, unmaintained
piotr-agier/google-drive-mcp Your machine, npx Local OAuth 130, across Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Calendar Active, MIT, 228 stars
isaacphi/mcp-gdrive Your machine Local OAuth Drive search and read, Sheets read and update Last push May 2025, MIT, 282 stars

Star counts and push dates were read from GitHub on 19 October 2026.

What tools does the Google Drive MCP server have?

The tools/list call returned eight tools on 19 October 2026, the same eight Google’s reference page lists:

  • search_files searches with Drive’s structured query syntax (query_term operator values, combined with and, or and not).
  • list_recent_files lists files by recency or another sort order.
  • get_file_metadata returns a file’s details, with content snippets whose length you can set to save context.
  • get_file_permissions lists who a file is shared with.
  • read_file_content returns a text version of a file, and its comments if asked. Its description tells the model to use a file ID from a search, never one guessed from a title.
  • download_file_content returns a file as base64, exporting Google Docs, Sheets and Slides to plain text or CSV unless you choose another format.
  • create_file creates or uploads a file, including empty Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
  • copy_file copies a file, by default into the same folder as “Copy of” the original.

Six of the eight carry readOnlyHint: true in their annotations. create_file and copy_file do not. None is marked destructive, and the server has no tool to edit, move, share or delete a file. Google’s security note on the setup page still warns that MCP hosts can “read, modify, and delete data in your Google Account” through it, and asks you to screen prompts and responses for prompt injection, for example with Google’s Model Armor.

The server’s OAuth metadata lists three scopes: drive, drive.readonly and drive.file. Google’s setup guide adds only drive.readonly and drive.file to the consent screen.

How do I set up the Google Drive MCP server?

From Google’s guide:

  1. Join the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program and create a Google Cloud project.
  2. Enable the Drive API and the Drive MCP API:
gcloud services enable drive.googleapis.com --project=PROJECT_ID
gcloud services enable drivemcp.googleapis.com --project=PROJECT_ID
  1. In Google Auth Platform, configure the consent screen. Choose Internal as the audience if you can (External needs test users), and add the scopes https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file.
  2. Create an OAuth client of type Web application, add your MCP client’s redirect URI, and tick “Use this client for an AI-powered agent”. Google says requests are rejected without that setting, and that an existing client used for non-agent features should not be reused for the agent.

Google’s authorization server publishes no dynamic client registration endpoint (its OpenID configuration, read 19 October 2026, has no registration_endpoint). An MCP client therefore cannot register itself; you paste in the client ID and secret from step 4.

How do I add Google Drive MCP to Claude?

Google’s guide says Claude.ai and Claude Desktop need the Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan. Use https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback as the redirect URI on the OAuth client. Then in Claude go to Customize > Connectors (Google’s guide calls it Settings, or Admin settings, > Connectors), choose Add custom connector, name it Google Drive, enter https://drivemcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1, and put the client ID and secret under Advanced settings.

Claude also lists its own Google Drive connector, which needs no Google Cloud project. Per Claude’s docs, Google builds and runs it, each person signs in with their own Google account, and on Team and Enterprise plans it appears only after an Owner adds it. It can share, move and trash files, with Claude asking for approval first by default. Our Claude connectors guide covers how connectors work on each plan.

How do I add it to Claude Code, Cursor or Codex?

Google gives steps for Antigravity, Claude and “others”, not for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex. Because there is no dynamic registration, the client has to accept an OAuth client ID you created yourself.

Claude Code does, per its MCP docs. Add http://localhost:8080/callback as a redirect URI on the Google OAuth client, then:

claude mcp add --transport http \
  --client-id YOUR_CLIENT_ID --client-secret --callback-port 8080 \
  drive https://drivemcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1

--client-secret prompts for the secret and stores it in the macOS keychain or a credentials file, not in the config. Run /mcp to sign in. This combines two vendors’ docs; we have not run it against Google’s server. The Claude Code MCP guide explains scopes, including --scope project for sharing the server address with a team through git.

For Cursor and Codex, check that your version accepts a preset OAuth client ID for a remote server before you start; the Cursor MCP guide and Codex MCP guide show where each reads its config. For Antigravity, Google’s guide adds this to ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json, with https://antigravity.google/oauth-callback as the redirect URI:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "drive": {
      "serverUrl": "https://drivemcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1",
      "oauth": {
        "clientId": "OAUTH_CLIENT_ID",
        "clientSecret": "OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET"
      }
    }
  }
}

Why does Google Drive MCP ask me to sign in every hour?

Google’s troubleshooting section says this happens when the client gets no refresh token. Google issues one only when the authorization request includes access_type=offline; the OIDC offline_access scope alone is not enough. If your client accepts custom authorization parameters, add access_type=offline, plus prompt=consent for a user who already granted access.

If requests are rejected outright, check that the OAuth client has “Use this client for an AI-powered agent” ticked. An administrator can see the OAuth log events in Google’s security investigation tool.

How do we keep an agent read-only on Drive?

One agent in our own fleet reads a company’s Google Drive through Composio rather than Google’s server. Its Drive access is limited to one Google account and 48 read-only Drive, Docs and Sheets tools, with connection management turned off, so it has no Drive tool that writes until someone widens its session.

With Google’s server, the two tools that write are create_file and copy_file. In a client with per-tool permissions, deny those two and the agent keeps the six read-only tools.

Should agents keep what they learn in Drive?

Drive holds what people wrote, such as specs, contracts and spreadsheets, and agents should read it. For what agents learn while they work, it fits less well:

  • Every member signs in with their own Google account and reaches only the files that account can open, so two teammates’ agents can see different parts of Drive.
  • In Claude, Drive files can be added only to private projects. In a shared project the option is dimmed and shows “Only accessible from private projects”.
  • Google’s server has no tool to edit a file, so an agent cannot update a note it wrote earlier; it can only create another file.

Our company wiki guide covers where team knowledge should live. The same question for Notion and Confluence is in Notion MCP and Atlassian MCP.

A wiki your agents share: Dexio

Dexio is a hosted wiki for AI agents. Agents list, read, search, write, edit, move and link markdown pages through MCP, and people see what their agents know as a page graph at https://app.dexio.wiki. A team’s agents connect to the same server, https://app.dexio.wiki/mcp, so Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and the rest share one context, and every change is kept with the agent that made it.

PDFs, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files can live beside the pages, and read_page returns the text inside them, so an agent can keep a copy of a Drive document next to its notes on it. Claude and ChatGPT connect to Dexio as connectors. An agent that runs commands signs in once through a link the person opens, and every other agent can then use the same API key with no browser step. To connect one, send it:

Connect yourself to my Dexio wiki. The steps are at https://dexio.wiki/agents.md: read the whole file, not a summary, and follow them.

Dexio is free for one person. Team is $10 and Business $20 a member a month; agents never count as members and there are no usage charges.

FAQ

Is Google Drive MCP free?

Google’s Drive MCP pages list no price. The server is part of the Developer Preview, and you need a Google Cloud project to enable it.

Is there a Google Sheets or Google Docs MCP server?

Yes. Google lists separate servers at https://sheetsmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1 and https://docsmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1, also in the Developer Preview. The Drive server reads Docs and Sheets as text but cannot edit them.

Can the Google Drive MCP server delete files?

Its tool list on 19 October 2026 had no delete tool. It can create and copy files.

Sources

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