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Connecting Google Drive

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Google Drive connects through Google’s hosted MCP server. Indent can search and read files available to the connected account, create files and folders, and copy existing files.

Configure Google Cloud

Select a Google Cloud project

Open the Google Cloud Console and select or create the project that owns the OAuth client.

Enable both Drive APIs

Enable the Google Drive API (drive.googleapis.com) and the Google Drive MCP API (drivemcp.googleapis.com). The integration requires both services.

Configure the OAuth consent screen

Under Google Auth Platform, configure Branding and Audience. Choose Internal when only members of the Google Workspace organization need access. For an External app in testing, add every person who will connect under Audience → Test users.

Add the Drive scopes

Under Google Auth Platform → Data Access, manually add these scopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file

Create an OAuth client

Under Google Auth Platform → Clients, create a Web application client. Add https://app.indent.com/integrations/callback as an authorized redirect URI, then copy the client ID and client secret.

Connect Google Drive in Indent

Open Settings → Integrations, find Google Drive, choose organization or personal scope, and enter the OAuth client credentials. Sign in as the Google account whose Drive access Indent should use.

What the scopes allow

  • drive.readonly lets the MCP server view and download files the connected account can access.
  • drive.file lets the MCP server create files and work with files created or opened through the application. It does not grant general write access to every existing file.

Google classifies drive.readonly as a restricted scope. External OAuth apps must complete Google’s verification before people outside the configured test users can connect.

Write support

Google’s current Drive MCP server exposes create_file and copy_file as write operations. It can create Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, folders, and uploaded files. It can also copy an existing file into a folder where the connected account has write access.

The server does not currently expose tools to edit an existing file’s content, change its sharing, or delete it. Adding the full https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive scope does not add those tools. Use a custom MCP server that implements the required Drive API operations when Indent needs general write access.

Troubleshooting

  • Confirm that both drive.googleapis.com and drivemcp.googleapis.com are enabled in the same project as the OAuth client.
  • Confirm that the account connecting an External app is listed under Test users.
  • Confirm that the OAuth client is a Web application and the redirect URI matches exactly.
  • Reconnect the integration after changing APIs, scopes, audience, or OAuth client settings.

See Google’s Drive MCP setup guide and Drive MCP tool reference for the upstream configuration and current tool surface.

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