Google Docs MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol server for Google Docs with full tab support — something most existing servers get wrong or skip entirely.

Uses Google service accounts with domain-wide delegation, so it works in Workspace orgs without OAuth consent screens.

<!-- mcp-name: io.github.gigabrain-observer/google-docs-mcp-server -->

What it does

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | list_tabs | List all tabs (including nested) in a document | | read_document | Read one tab or all tabs as markdown with proper heading levels | | get_document_info | Lightweight metadata: title, ID, link, tab list | | create_document | Create a new doc with optional initial text | | append_text | Append text to the end of a specific tab | | insert_text | Insert text at a character index in a tab | | replace_text | Find and replace within a tab (or whole doc) | | batch_update | Full batchUpdate access — formatting, tables, images, styles | | list_documents | Search Drive for docs by name |

All tab-targeting tools accept tab_id or tab_title (case-insensitive). The batch_update tool auto-injects tabId into requests so you don't have to.

Why this exists

Google Docs has supported tabs since late 2024, but most MCP servers either:

• Ignore tabs entirely (only read the first tab)
• Don't use includeTabsContent=True, so tab content is invisible
• Don't handle nested tabs

This server handles all of that correctly and converts content to markdown with proper heading structure.

Install

pip install google-docs-mcp-server

Or run directly with uv:

uvx google-docs-mcp-server

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• A Google Cloud service account with domain-wide delegation

Setup

1. Create a GCP service account

1. Go to Google Cloud Console and create (or select) a project
2. Enable the Google Docs API and Google Drive API
3. Create a service account under IAM & Admin > Service Accounts
4. Create a JSON key and download it

2. Enable domain-wide delegation

1. In GCP, on the service account details page, enable Domain-wide Delegation and note the Client ID
2. In Google Workspace Admin > Security > API Controls > Domain-wide Delegation
3. Add the Client ID with these scopes:

   https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents
   https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly

3. Configure your MCP client

Add to your MCP config (e.g. ~/.claude/mcp.json or .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-docs": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["google-docs-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PATH": "/path/to/your-service-account-key.json",
        "SUBJECT_EMAIL": "you@yourdomain.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

SUBJECT_EMAIL is the Workspace user the service account impersonates.

Environment variables

| Variable | Required | Description | |----------|----------|-------------| | SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PATH | Yes | Path to the service account JSON key file | | SUBJECT_EMAIL | Yes | Email of the Workspace user to impersonate |

License

MIT