Google Docs MCP Server

Create a powerful Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Google Docs in minutes with our AI Gateway. This guide walks you through setting up seamless document automation with enterprise-grade security and instant OAuth authentication.

About Google Docs API

The Google Docs API enables programmatic creation, editing, and formatting of documents. It provides fine-grained control over document structure, styling, and collaborative features, making it ideal for document automation and content management workflows.

Key Capabilities

• Document Creation: Generate documents from templates
• Content Manipulation: Insert, update, and delete text
• Rich Formatting: Apply styles, fonts, and colors
• Structural Elements: Headers, lists, tables, images
• Collaborative Features: Comments, suggestions, revisions
• Template Management: Create reusable document templates
• Batch Operations: Multiple edits in single request
• Export Options: PDF, Word, HTML formats

API Features

• REST API v1: Document manipulation
• Real-time Updates: Live document changes
• Revision History: Track document versions
• OAuth 2.0: Secure authentication
• Batch Requests: Efficient operations
• Rich Text Support: Full formatting control
• Named Ranges: Reference document sections
• Merge Fields: Dynamic content insertion

What You Can Do with Google Docs MCP Server

The MCP server transforms Google Docs API into a natural language interface, enabling AI agents to:

Document Creation & Management

• Document Operations

  • "Create new report from quarterly template"
  • "Generate contract with client details"
  • "Copy document and update for new project"
  • "Create meeting notes template"

• Batch Creation

  • "Generate 10 personalized letters"
  • "Create individual reports for each team"
  • "Produce certificates for all attendees"
  • "Generate invoices from spreadsheet data"

• Template Management

  • "Save document as reusable template"
  • "Update company letterhead in templates"
  • "Create template with merge fields"
  • "Clone template for department use"

Content Editing & Formatting

• Text Operations

  • "Insert executive summary at beginning"
  • "Replace all instances of old company name"
  • "Update date fields to current month"
  • "Append signature block at end"

• Formatting Control

  • "Format headings as title style"
  • "Apply company brand colors"
  • "Set document to double spacing"
  • "Create numbered list from bullets"

• Advanced Formatting

  • "Insert page breaks between sections"
  • "Add table of contents"
  • "Create footnotes for references"
  • "Apply conditional formatting"

Tables & Structured Content

• Table Management

  • "Insert 5x3 table after paragraph 2"
  • "Add row with totals to existing table"
  • "Format table with alternating colors"
  • "Convert list to table format"

• Data Integration

  • "Import CSV data as table"
  • "Update table from spreadsheet"
  • "Calculate column totals"
  • "Sort table by date column"

• Table Formatting

  • "Merge header cells"
  • "Set column widths"
  • "Apply borders and shading"
  • "Center align numeric columns"

Images & Media

• Image Operations

  • "Insert company logo in header"
  • "Add chart from Google Sheets"
  • "Replace placeholder images"
  • "Resize images to fit page"

• Layout Control

  • "Wrap text around images"
  • "Center align all images"
  • "Create image gallery"
  • "Add captions to figures"

• Media Management

  • "Update all image links"
  • "Compress images for size"
  • "Convert images to inline"
  • "Extract images from document"

Collaboration Features

• Comments & Suggestions

  • "Add comment requesting review"
  • "Suggest edit to paragraph 3"
  • "Reply to all open comments"
  • "Resolve completed discussions"

• Review Workflow

  • "Accept all suggestions"
  • "Reject formatting changes only"
  • "Assign action items in comments"
  • "Export comments to task list"

• Sharing & Permissions

  • "Share with team as editors"
  • "Create view-only link"
  • "Set expiration for access"
  • "Transfer ownership to manager"

Document Structure

• Headers & Footers

  • "Add page numbers to footer"
  • "Insert date in header"
  • "Create different first page header"
  • "Add document title to all pages"

• Sections & Navigation

  • "Create table of contents"
  • "Add bookmarks to sections"
  • "Insert hyperlinks to headings"
  • "Create index of terms"

• Page Layout

  • "Set margins to 1 inch"
  • "Change to landscape orientation"
  • "Create two-column layout"
  • "Add page borders"

Automation & Integration

• Mail Merge

  • "Merge contact list into letters"
  • "Generate personalized certificates"
  • "Create name tags from roster"
  • "Produce customized reports"

• Dynamic Content

  • "Update date fields automatically"
  • "Insert data from API"
  • "Refresh charts from Sheets"
  • "Pull content from database"

• Workflow Integration

  • "Export to PDF when complete"
  • "Send notification on changes"
  • "Trigger approval workflow"
  • "Archive to Drive folder"

Prerequisites

• Access to Cequence AI Gateway
• Google Workspace account
• Google Docs API enabled
• Appropriate Drive permissions

Step 1: Enable Google Docs API

1.1 Access Google Cloud Console

1. Go to console.cloud.google.com
2. Select or create a project
3. Enable billing if required

1.2 Enable APIs

1. Navigate to APIs & Services Library
2. Search and enable:
   • Google Docs API
   • Google Drive API (required for file operations)

1.3 Create OAuth 2.0 Credentials

1. Go to APIs & Services Credentials
2. Click Create Credentials OAuth client ID
3. Configure consent screen if needed
4. Application type: Web application
5. Add redirect URI:

   https://auth.aigateway.cequence.ai/v1/outbound/oauth/callback

1.4 Get Credentials

1. Copy Client ID
2. Copy Client Secret
3. Note authorized redirect URIs

Step 2-4: Standard Setup

Follow standard steps to access AI Gateway, find Google Docs API, and create MCP server.

Step 5: Configure API Endpoints

1. Base URL: https://docs.googleapis.com/v1
2. Select endpoints:
   • Document creation endpoints
   • Batch update endpoints
   • Get document endpoints
3. Click Next

Step 6: MCP Server Configuration

1. Name: "Google Docs Automation"
2. Description: "Document creation and editing"
3. Configure production mode
4. Click Next

Step 7: Configure Authentication

1. Authentication Type: OAuth 2.0
2. Authorization URL:

   https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth

3. Token URL:

   https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token

4. Enter Client ID and Secret
5. Select required scopes

Available Google Docs OAuth Scopes

Document Access

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents

  • Full read/write access
  • Create new documents
  • Edit existing documents
  • Delete documents

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

  • Read document content
  • View formatting
  • Access revision history
  • Export documents

Drive Integration

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

  • Access files created by app
  • Required for document creation
  • Manage document metadata
  • Organize in folders

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

  • List user's documents
  • Search for documents
  • View folder structure
  • Access shared documents

Additional Scopes

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.metadata.readonly
  • View document metadata
  • List document properties
  • Check sharing status
  • See revision info

Recommended Scope Combinations

For Document Automation:

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

For Full Document Management:

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

For Read-Only Access:

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

Step 8-10: Complete Setup

Configure security, choose deployment, and deploy.

Using Your Google Docs MCP Server

With Claude Desktop

{
  "servers": {
    "google-docs": {
      "url": "your-mcp-server-url",
      "auth": {
        "type": "oauth2",
        "client_id": "your-client-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Natural Language Commands

• "Create monthly report from template"
• "Insert table with Q4 sales data"
• "Format document with company branding"
• "Add executive summary at beginning"
• "Export as PDF and share with team"

API Integration Example

// Initialize MCP client
const mcpClient = new MCPClient({
  serverUrl: 'your-mcp-server-url',
  auth: {
    type: 'oauth2',
    token: 'access-token'
  }
});

// Create document from template
const doc = await mcpClient.googleDocs.create({
  title: 'Q4 2025 Sales Report',
  body: {
    content: [
      {
        paragraph: {
          elements: [
            {
              textRun: {
                content: 'Quarterly Sales Report\n',
                textStyle: {
                  fontSize: { magnitude: 24, unit: 'PT' },
                  bold: true
                }
              }
            }
          ],
          paragraphStyle: {
            alignment: 'CENTER'
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
});

// Batch update document
const requests = [
  // Insert table
  {
    insertTable: {
      rows: 4,
      columns: 3,
      location: { index: 50 }
    }
  },
  // Add header row
  {
    insertText: {
      location: { index: 51 },
      text: 'Product'
    }
  },
  {
    insertText: {
      location: { index: 60 },
      text: 'Units Sold'
    }
  },
  {
    insertText: {
      location: { index: 73 },
      text: 'Revenue'
    }
  },
  // Format table
  {
    updateTableCellStyle: {
      tableCellStyle: {
        backgroundColor: {
          color: {
            rgbColor: { red: 0.9, green: 0.9, blue: 0.9 }
          }
        }
      },
      fields: 'backgroundColor',
      tableRange: {
        tableCellLocation: {
          tableStartLocation: { index: 50 },
          rowIndex: 0
        },
        rowSpan: 1,
        columnSpan: 3
      }
    }
  }
];

await mcpClient.googleDocs.batchUpdate({
  documentId: doc.documentId,
  requests: requests
});

// Insert image
await mcpClient.googleDocs.batchUpdate({
  documentId: doc.documentId,
  requests: [
    {
      insertInlineImage: {
        location: { index: 150 },
        uri: 'https://example.com/chart.png',
        objectSize: {
          height: { magnitude: 200, unit: 'PT' },
          width: { magnitude: 400, unit: 'PT' }
        }
      }
    }
  ]
});

// Add comment
await mcpClient.googleDocs.batchUpdate({
  documentId: doc.documentId,
  requests: [
    {
      createComment: {
        comment: {
          content: 'Please review these numbers with finance team',
          quotedText: 'Q4 Revenue: $1.2M'
        }
      }
    }
  ]
});

// Export as PDF
const pdfBlob = await mcpClient.googleDocs.export({
  documentId: doc.documentId,
  mimeType: 'application/pdf'
});

// Create from template with merge
const letters = await mcpClient.googleDocs.mailMerge({
  templateId: 'template-doc-id',
  data: [
    { name: 'John Doe', amount: '$1,000', date: '2025-01-15' },
    { name: 'Jane Smith', amount: '$2,500', date: '2025-01-15' }
  ],
  fields: ['name', 'amount', 'date']
});

Common Use Cases

Document Automation

• Report generation
• Contract creation
• Letter templates
• Certificate production

Content Management

• Blog post drafting
• Documentation updates
• Policy management
• Handbook maintenance

Business Processes

• Invoice generation
• Proposal creation
• Meeting minutes
• Status reports

Educational Content

• Worksheet creation
• Lesson plans
• Study guides
• Assessment forms

Security Best Practices

1. OAuth Security:

   • Use minimal scopes
   • Implement token refresh
   • Monitor access logs
   • Revoke unused tokens

2. Document Protection:

   • Set appropriate sharing
   • Use view-only where possible
   • Audit document access
   • Enable revision history

3. Content Security:

   • Validate input data
   • Sanitize merge fields
   • Check image sources
   • Monitor API usage

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Authentication Errors

   • Verify OAuth credentials
   • Check token expiration
   • Validate redirect URI
   • Review consent screen

2. Document Errors

   • Check document permissions
   • Verify document exists
   • Validate request syntax
   • Review index positions

3. Formatting Issues

   • Verify style syntax
   • Check color values
   • Validate font sizes
   • Test in UI first

Getting Help

• Documentation: AI Gateway Docs
• Support: support@cequence.ai
• Google Docs API: developers.google.com/docs/api

---