Google Sheets

You can automate and extend your Google Workspace work with the Google Sheets MCP Server, enabling programmatic access to Google Sheets, Docs, and Drive via MCP clients. Use it to read and update data, manage documents, and search or share files seamlessly from your applications.

How to use

This server exposes a set of tools that integrate with MCP clients to interact with Google Sheets, Docs, and Drive. Start the local server and connect your MCP client to the provided command. When using a client, specify the server by name and run the documented tools to perform actions such as reading sheet data, updating cells, creating or renaming sheets, extracting document text, and searching Drive.

How to install

Prerequisites you need before installation: Python 3.8+ and an active internet connection.

Clone the repository, set up a virtual environment, and install dependencies.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/mcp-google-sheets.git
cd mcp-google-sheets

# Create a virtual environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux/Mac
# or
venv\Scripts\activate  # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Configuration and running

You configure authentication and environment variables to enable Google API access and runtime behavior.

Set the credentials path for your service account or OAuth flow. The recommended method uses a service account and requires a key file. Export the path in your environment as follows.

export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/path/to/service-account-key.json"

Run the server

Start the MCP server locally using Python. This launches the server process that MCP clients can communicate with.

python server.py

Authentication methods

You can authenticate using either a service account or OAuth 2.0. The service account method is the recommended approach for unattended or server-to-server interactions.

Service Account steps involve creating a service account in Google Cloud Console, downloading the key file, and granting access to the necessary Sheets and Drive resources.

OAuth 2.0 steps involve creating OAuth credentials, downloading credentials.json, authorizing on first run, and storing the token in token.json.

Environment variables

Define the following environment variables to configure the server behavior and Google access.

| Variable | Description | Default |
|----------|-------------|---------|
| GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS | Path to the service account key file | service-account-key.json |
| CREDENTIALS_CONFIG | Base64-encoded JSON service account | - |
| DRIVE_FOLDER_ID | Drive folder ID to search for spreadsheets | - |
| ENABLE_CREATE_TOOLS | Enable creation tools (true/false) | false |

Usage with MCP clients

To connect an MCP client, provide the server connection details as shown in the example below. This config connects a client named google-sheets to the local Python server.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-sheets": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["server.py"]
    }
  }
}

Available tools

get_sheet_data

Retrieve data from a specified Google Sheet range.

get_sheet_formulas

Fetch formulas from cells within a sheet.

update_cells

Update values in one or more cells.

batch_update_cells

Perform batch updates across multiple ranges in a sheet.

add_rows

Insert new rows into a sheet.

add_columns

Insert new columns into a sheet.

list_sheets

List and enumerate sheets within a spreadsheet.

copy_sheet

Copy an existing sheet to a new sheet.

rename_sheet

Rename an existing sheet.

delete_sheet

Delete a sheet from a spreadsheet.

list_spreadsheets

List spreadsheets accessible in Drive.

share_spreadsheet

Grant access to a spreadsheet for users or groups.

get_doc_content

Retrieve the full content of a Google Doc.

get_doc_text

Extract plain text from a Google Doc.

search_drive_files

Search files and documents in Google Drive.