Google Drive MCP
Google Drive MCP server: search files, organise folders and manage sharing.
ドキュメント
Google Drive MCP is a free MCP server that gives your AI agent two tools for finding files and one admin tool for organising and sharing them. You can ask for a file by name or by what it says. It is its own VS Code extension, it runs on your machine, and it talks to your own Google account.
There is no server to host and no config file to edit. You install the extension, sign in to Google once, and the Drive tools appear in every agent it finds: VS Code Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Google Gemini, Windsurf, Continue.dev, and Cline.
What you can ask
- “Show me the files in my Drive”
- “Find the Q4 report”
- “What is in the Contracts folder?”
- “Create a folder called Launch and move the brief into it”
- “Who can see the pricing sheet?”
- “Share the roadmap with the design lead as view only”
The two Google Drive MCP tools
| Tool | What it does | What you can pass |
|---|---|---|
drive_list | List the files in your Drive or in one folder | A folder ID (the root by default), a result limit (25 by default), a page token |
drive_search | Search files by name or by content | The search text and a result limit |
Both are read tools. Each file comes back with its name, type, size, last modified time, parent folder, and a link, which the agent then uses for whatever you ask next. drive_search is a full-text search, so it finds a phrase inside a document as well as in a file name.
The Drive admin tool
Anything that changes a file or who can open it goes through one admin tool with named actions.
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
create_folder | Create a new folder, optionally inside another |
move, copy, rename | Reorganise files |
delete | Delete a file (needs confirmation) |
share | Give someone access. View only unless you ask for more, and Google emails them unless you say not to |
unshare | Remove someone’s access |
get_permissions | Show who has access now, and at what level |
Deleting a file needs explicit confirmation
The delete action only runs with confirm: true. The agent is told this up front, so it has to ask you before it removes anything. Listing, searching, and checking permissions do not need it.
Reading what is inside a file
The Drive tools find files. They do not open them. For the contents, add Google Docs MCP for documents or Google Sheets MCP for spreadsheets. With both installed, a typical exchange is “find the project proposal” followed by “read it”, and the agent chains the two tools itself. Google Workspace MCP has all of them in one install.
Three things people use it for
Finding the spec while you code
Ask for the document that mentions a feature name. drive_search looks inside files, so you do not need to remember what the file is called.
A sharing audit
Ask who can open a file and the agent calls get_permissions. It lists each person and their role, and you can have it remove the ones who should no longer have access.
Tidying a project folder
Create a folder, move the loose files into it, and rename them to one pattern. Each step is one admin action, and the agent runs them in order.
Set it up in five steps
A setup wizard opens the first time you launch the extension. Most people pick OAuth, which works with a personal Google account and with a Google Workspace account.
- Create a project in the Google Cloud Console, or pick one you already have.
- Enable the Google Drive API under APIs and Services.
- Create an OAuth client ID of type Desktop app.
- Paste the client ID and secret into the wizard.
- Sign in to Google in the browser window that opens, and authorize.
If your consent screen is set to External, add yourself as a test user first. Developers who already use the gcloud CLI can pick Application Default Credentials instead, and Workspace admins can use a service account key.
Using Google Drive MCP with Claude Code, Cursor and other agents
You do not add a server entry by hand. The extension writes the registration for each agent it finds: ~/.claude.json for Claude Code, ~/.cursor/mcp.json for Cursor, ~/.codex/config.toml for OpenAI Codex, ~/.gemini/settings.json for Gemini, and the matching files for Windsurf, Continue.dev, and Cline. VS Code Copilot picks it up through the VS Code API.
Open a new session in any of them and the Drive tools are in the tool list. If you only want some agents to have them, switch the others off in VS Code settings under gdriveMcp.agents. The command “Google Drive MCP: Remove from All Agents” takes every registration back out.
How it compares with Google’s own Drive MCP server
Google now offers a remote Google Drive MCP server as part of its Workspace MCP servers. It is in Developer Preview, so you need to join the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program and set it up through a Google Cloud project and the gcloud CLI.
| Google Drive MCP (this extension) | Google’s Drive MCP server | |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Released, installs from the extension stores | Developer Preview |
| Where it runs | On your machine | Remote, hosted by Google |
| Search and list files | Yes | Yes |
| Read file contents | No. Google Docs MCP and Google Sheets MCP do that | Yes, read_file_content |
| Move, rename, delete | Yes | Not listed |
| Share and unshare | Yes | Read permissions only |
| Agent setup | Automatic for eight agents | You configure each MCP client |
Google’s list was read from its developer documentation on November 12, 2026, and a preview can change.
Limits
- It does not upload or download files.
- It does not open files of any type. It finds, organises, and shares them.
- Lists and searches return 25 files unless you ask for more.
Common questions
Is Google Drive MCP free?
Yes. The extension is free and MIT licensed.
Does it work with shared files?
The tools see what your signed-in Google account can see, so files shared with you turn up in searches the same way they do in Drive.
Does it work with Claude Code and Cursor?
Yes. Both are registered automatically, along with six other agents.
Does it cover other Google services?
No. Google Drive MCP covers Google Drive only. Each service has its own extension: Gmail MCP, Google Calendar MCP, Google Docs MCP, Google Sheets MCP. Google Workspace MCP bundles all five.
Where does my file data go?
Nowhere except Google. The MCP server runs on your own machine and calls the Google API with your credentials. There is no telemetry, and the sign-in token is kept in VS Code’s encrypted secret storage.
Use it without VS Code
Google Drive MCP is also on npm, for Claude Code, Cursor, or any other MCP client. It needs Node.js 22 or newer.
npx -y @renzo.johnson/google-drive-mcp
In Claude Code, one command adds it:
claude mcp add google-drive-mcp -- npx -y @renzo.johnson/google-drive-mcp
Outside VS Code there is no setup wizard, so the server takes your Google sign-in from the environment. It uses the first one it finds: an OAuth client ID, secret, and refresh token in GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET, and GOOGLE_OAUTH_REFRESH_TOKEN; a key file named in GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS; or the gcloud CLI’s Application Default Credentials. The npm package page has the config block for Claude Code and Cursor.
Install it
Google Drive MCP is free and MIT licensed. It is its own extension, with only the Drive tools. If you want Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, and Sheets in one install, use Google Workspace MCP instead. Install one or the other, because both register the same Drive tools.
- Install Google Drive MCP from the VS Code Marketplace
- Install Google Drive MCP from Open VSX for VSCodium, Cursor, and Windsurf
- Run Google Drive MCP from npm with npx, in any MCP client
Listed in the official MCP Registry as com.renzojohnson/google-drive-mcp.
Related
- Google Workspace MCP, all five Google services in one extension
- Gmail MCP, Google Calendar MCP, Google Sheets MCP, and Google Docs MCP, the other service pages
- All Google MCP servers, the full list of 20