Google Drive MCP

Overview

The Google Drive MCP lets an AI agent read, edit, and search your Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides files on your behalf — using your own @qiscus.com account. Set it up once, and the access token refreshes automatically with no need to log in again.

For @qiscus.com Google Workspace accounts only. Personal Gmail accounts are not allowed.

Capabilities

Install Steps

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

• A @qiscus.com Google Workspace account
• Claude Desktop installed — download
• Node.js v18+ installed — check with node --version. Don’t have it? Install from nodejs.org (choose LTS)

1. Log In & Download the Setup Files

Open your browser to: https://gdrive-mcp-auth.qiscus.io

Click “Log in with Google” → choose your @qiscus.com account → click Allow on every permission.

Important: click Allow on every scope. Denying any one scope means the refresh token won’t be issued and the setup will fail.

After logging in, the setup page shows 3 download buttons:

Tip: click “Download setup ZIP” — one click gets you everything. The setup session lasts 10 minutes — finish the next steps before it expires.

2. Move the Files to the Install Folder

Pick the one that matches your OS:

macOS / Linux:

mkdir -p ~/.config/gdrive-mcp
mv ~/Downloads/gcp-oauth.keys.json ~/Downloads/tokens.json ~/.config/gdrive-mcp/

If you downloaded the ZIP:

unzip ~/Downloads/gdrive-mcp-setup.zip -d ~/Downloads/gdrive-setup
mkdir -p ~/.config/gdrive-mcp
mv ~/Downloads/gdrive-setup/gcp-oauth.keys.json ~/Downloads/gdrive-setup/tokens.json ~/.config/gdrive-mcp/

Verify:

ls -la ~/.config/gdrive-mcp/
# Should contain gcp-oauth.keys.json and tokens.json

Windows (PowerShell):

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:APPDATA\gdrive-mcp" | Out-Null
Move-Item -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\gcp-oauth.keys.json","$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\tokens.json" "$env:APPDATA\gdrive-mcp\"

Verify:

Get-ChildItem "$env:APPDATA\gdrive-mcp\"
# Should contain gcp-oauth.keys.json and tokens.json

3. Update claude_desktop_config.json

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developers → Edit Config.

On the setup page, click “Copy snippet” (make sure the OS tab is correct). The snippet for macOS looks roughly like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-drive": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@piotr-agier/google-drive-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_DRIVE_OAUTH_CREDENTIALS": "/Users/<you>/.config/gdrive-mcp/gcp-oauth.keys.json",
        "GOOGLE_DRIVE_MCP_TOKEN_PATH": "/Users/<you>/.config/gdrive-mcp/tokens.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windows: command becomes npx.cmd, and the path becomes C:/Users/<you>/AppData/Roaming/gdrive-mcp/...

Replace <you> with your username (check it with whoami in the terminal). For example, if your username is nurcholis:

"GOOGLE_DRIVE_OAUTH_CREDENTIALS": "/Users/nurcholis/.config/gdrive-mcp/gcp-oauth.keys.json"

If your config already has other MCP servers, don’t overwrite the whole file — merge the google-drive entry into the existing mcpServers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "slack": { "..." },
    "google-drive": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@piotr-agier/google-drive-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_DRIVE_OAUTH_CREDENTIALS": "/Users/nurcholis/.config/gdrive-mcp/gcp-oauth.keys.json",
        "GOOGLE_DRIVE_MCP_TOKEN_PATH": "/Users/nurcholis/.config/gdrive-mcp/tokens.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note the comma before "google-drive" — JSON requires a comma between entries. Forget it and Claude Desktop fails to load.

Save the file (Cmd+S / Ctrl+S).

4. Restart Claude Desktop

Quit fully — don’t just close the window:

• macOS: Cmd+Q, or the Claude menu → Quit Claude Desktop
• Windows: system tray in the bottom right → Claude icon → right-click → Quit
• Linux: system tray → Claude icon → Quit. Or pkill claude in the terminal

Open Claude Desktop again.

5. Enable & Test

1. Open the Cowork tab in Claude Desktop
2. Find the connector named google-drive in the list of MCP servers
3. Make sure its status is enabled / connected (green toggle)
4. Test with a prompt:

List the 5 most recent files in my Google Drive

If it works, Claude will return a list of your files. 🎉

After Setup

• The access token lasts 1 hour. The MCP refreshes it automatically using the refresh token — no need to set up again.
• The refresh token doesn’t expire for internal Workspace apps. This setup stays valid indefinitely, or until you revoke access from myaccount.google.com.
• The tokens.json file on your disk gets updated automatically on every refresh — that’s normal, just leave it.

Troubleshooting

How to reset from scratch:

# macOS / Linux
rm -rf ~/.config/gdrive-mcp

# Windows
Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:APPDATA\gdrive-mcp"

Remove the google-drive entry from the config, restart Claude, and start from Step 1.

Security

• The server doesn’t store your token — it only lives in an in-memory session for 10 minutes, then it’s deleted.
• The token is stored on your local disk as tokens.json with owner-only permissions. Don’t share that folder.
• The token grants full access to Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Calendar — treat it like a password.
• If you resign or switch laptops: delete the gdrive-mcp folder from the old laptop and revoke access from myaccount.google.com.

Help

Stuck? Contact nurcholis@qiscus.com and include:

• Your OS (Windows / macOS / Linux + version)
• Your Claude Desktop version (Settings → About)
• The exact error message (a screenshot is fine)
• The steps you’ve already tried