Google Drive Cowork

MCP server that lets Claude Cowork create and edit Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Runs as a local stdio process — no hosted backend.

What it does

22 tools exposed over the Model Context Protocol:

Google Docs (9 tools)

Tool	Purpose
create_google_doc	Create a new doc (with dedup)
get_google_doc	Read structure or full text
append_text	Append text with optional heading style
replace_text	Global find/replace
replace_section	Rewrite one section by heading
insert_heading	Add a heading after a section or at end
insert_table	Insert a table with optional pre-fill data
share_doc	Share with email recipients
move_doc	Move to a Drive folder

Google Sheets (7 tools)

Tool	Purpose
sheets_create	Create a new spreadsheet
sheets_get	Read metadata, tabs, named ranges
sheets_read	Read cell values from a range
sheets_write	Write values (atomic batch)
sheets_format	Apply formatting via batchUpdate
sheets_manage_tabs	Add, rename, delete, freeze tabs
sheets_create_chart	Create embedded charts

Google Slides (6 tools)

Tool	Purpose
slides_create	Create a new presentation
slides_get	Read presentation structure
slides_get_content	Read text from a specific slide
slides_add_slide	Add slide with layout
slides_update	Apply batchUpdate requests
slides_insert_image	Insert image from URL

Install

Two paths, same plugin. Pick the one that matches how you use Claude.

Path 1: Claude Code

claude plugin marketplace add https://github.com/sashakang/google-drive-cowork-plugin
claude plugin install google-drive-cowork-mcp

Then follow CONNECTORS.md to set up GCP credentials and authenticate.

Path 2: Cowork (via Claude Code)

Cowork can't install MCP plugins directly. Use Claude Code to set it up once, then Cowork picks it up on restart.

git clone https://github.com/sashakang/google-drive-cowork-plugin.git
cd google-drive-cowork-plugin
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .

Then follow CONNECTORS.md to set up GCP credentials, authenticate, and add the MCP server to your Claude Desktop config. Restart Claude — the 22 tools will be available in Cowork.

Architecture

Claude Cowork / Claude Code
  └─ MCP (stdio transport)
       └─ python3 -m server.main
            ├─ Google Docs API v1    (document operations)
            ├─ Google Drive API v3   (folders, sharing)
            ├─ Google Sheets API v4  (spreadsheet operations)
            └─ Google Slides API v1  (presentation operations)

All state lives in ~/.config/gdocs-mcp/:

File	Purpose
client_secret.json	OAuth client (from GCP Console)
credentials.json	Refresh token (auto-generated)
config.json	Optional folder/domain allowlists
audit.log	Append-only JSONL operation log

Safety

• Read-before-write — all write tools require a prior read call (server-enforced, 5 min window)
• Prompt injection mitigation — returned doc content is prefixed with a machine-readable warning banner
• Folder and domain allowlists — restrict where docs can be moved and who they can be shared with
• Create deduplication — same title within 30s returns the cached doc
• Typed errors with recovery hints — every error includes an LLM-actionable recovery field
• Audit trail — all operations logged to JSONL (no doc content stored)
• Timeout — 60s per tool call; returns a clear error on timeout
• Thread-safe caches — locking around all shared state

Optional: Docker

docker build -t gdocs-mcp .
docker run -v ~/.config/gdocs-mcp:/root/.config/gdocs-mcp gdocs-mcp

Configuration

Create ~/.config/gdocs-mcp/config.json to restrict operations:

{
  "allowed_folder_ids": ["1ABC...xyz"],
  "allowed_sharing_domains": ["yourcompany.com"]
}

Empty arrays (or no file) means allow all.

Troubleshooting

"Server disconnected" in Claude: Check the MCP log at ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-google-docs.log. Common causes:

• Wrong Python (must use venv): use the bash -c config shown in CONNECTORS.md
• TypeError: Server.run() missing ... initialization_options: update mcp package in venv

"Credential scopes outdated": The server needs 4 scopes (docs, drive, sheets, presentations). Re-run python3 -m server.auth --setup to re-authorize.

"redirect_uri_mismatch": Your OAuth client must be a Desktop type (not Web). The redirect_uris should be ["http://localhost"].

"externally-managed-environment": You're using Homebrew Python without a venv. Activate the venv first: source .venv/bin/activate.

Auth flow hangs / no browser opens: The auth command starts a local HTTP server and waits for a callback. If the browser didn't open automatically, copy the URL from the terminal and open it manually. You'll see "Waiting for browser authorization..." in the terminal while it waits.

Project structure

server/
  main.py           — MCP server, tool routing, dispatch
  docs_api.py       — Google Docs API client
  drive_api.py      — Google Drive API client
  sheets_api.py     — Google Sheets API client
  slides_api.py     — Google Slides API client
  workspace_client.py — Base class for all API clients
  auth.py           — OAuth 2.0 credential management
  config.py         — Policy enforcement (allowlists, TTL cache)
  errors.py         — Typed exceptions + shared HTTP error handler
  paths.py          — Centralized path constants
  tools/
    docs.py         — Docs tool definitions and dispatch
    sheets.py       — Sheets tool definitions and dispatch
    slides.py       — Slides tool definitions and dispatch
skills/
  google-docs/SKILL.md  — LLM skill definition
commands/
  create-doc.md         — /create-doc slash command
  replace-section.md    — /replace-section slash command

License

MIT