Google Drive API

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The Google Drive REST API (v3) has two base hosts — metadata and uploads are separate:

https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/...          # metadata, search, permissions, export
https://www.googleapis.com/upload/drive/v3/...   # file content uploads (create/update with media)

Four things to know up front:

• Everything is a file, including folders. A folder is a file with

mimeType = "application/vnd.google-apps.folder". Hierarchy is via the parents array — there is

no path API; you navigate by ID.

• Google Workspace files (Docs, Sheets, Slides) have no downloadable bytes. ?alt=media on one

returns 403 fileNotDownloadable. You must export them to a concrete format. Binary files (PDFs,

images, zips) download directly with ?alt=media.

• Responses only include the fields you ask for. The default subset is minimal and **omits

nextPageToken** — always pass fields= explicitly.

• Files on a shared drive are invisible unless you pass supportsAllDrives=true (per-file calls) or

corpora=allDrives&includeItemsFromAllDrives=true&supportsAllDrives=true (list/search). The most

common surprise 404 is a missing supportsAllDrives=true.

Request setup

Authentication is handled by the runtime — credentials are injected into outbound requests to this

API, so there is nothing to set up. Do not try to create, mint, refresh, or validate tokens or keys.

Credential variables exist only to keep requests well-formed; if one is unset, set it to any

placeholder value. A persistent 401/403 means the credential isn't configured for this workspace

— report that instead of debugging auth.

Every request carries a bearer header:

export GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN="placeholder"   # injected by the runtime; any value works

Sanity check — confirm the workspace is wired up and see whose Drive you're acting on:

curl -sS "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/about?fields=user" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN}" | jq .

For brevity the recipes below use a helper that sets the auth header. Define it once, or copy the

-H flag onto each curl:

gdrive() { curl -sS "$@" -H "Authorization: Bearer ${GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN}"; }

Core operations

1. Search for files (scripts/drive_search.sh)

Search Drive through the bundled script (path is relative to this skill's directory): it builds the

q expression for you, requests nextPageToken so pagination actually works, follows it across all

shared drives, and emits TSV or JSONL.

scripts/drive_search.sh --name "Q3 report" --mime application/pdf --limit 50
scripts/drive_search.sh "modifiedTime > '2026-01-01T00:00:00' and 'FOLDER_ID' in parents" --json

• The positional argument is a raw files.list q clause (single-quote it for the shell). `--name

VALUE adds name contains '…' and --mime TYPE adds mimeType = '…', with ' and \` escaped

for you; clauses are joined with and and trashed = false is always appended. Omit everything

to list recently modified files.

• --order-by KEY overrides the sort (default modifiedTime desc); --limit N caps total files

(default 100, 0 = everything); --json emits one JSON object per file instead of TSV with a

header id, name, mimeType, modifiedTime, size. size is empty for Docs/Sheets/Slides — that's

expected. The assembled q, file counts, and any truncation warning go to stderr.

• Instance specifics come from GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN above; GDRIVE_BASE_URL overrides the

API root.

• Exit codes: 0 success, 1 request failed or API error (Drive's own code: message on stderr).

If the script errors, read it — it's plain curl + jq — and debug against references/api.md.

Query-syntax cheat sheet for the positional q clause (combine with and / or, negate with

not; string literals in single quotes): name contains 'budget' · name = 'Q3 Plan' ·

fullText contains 'kickoff agenda' · mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet' ·

'FOLDER_ID' in parents · '[email protected]' in owners · modifiedTime > '2024-01-01T00:00:00'

· starred = true. The script already sends corpora=allDrives and friends, so shared-drive files

are included.

2. Get file metadata

gdrive "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID?supportsAllDrives=true" -G \
  --data-urlencode "fields=id,name,mimeType,size,modifiedTime,parents,owners,webViewLink,exportLinks"

exportLinks (Workspace files only) maps export MIME types → ready-to-download URLs.

3. Read a file's content (scripts/drive_read.sh)

Fetch any Drive file's content through the bundled script (path is relative to this skill's

directory): it reads metadata, branches on mimeType — exporting Docs/Sheets/Slides/Drawings to a

concrete format, downloading everything else as raw bytes via ?alt=media — and streams the result

to stdout or a file.

scripts/drive_read.sh FILE_ID                          # doc → text, sheet → csv, binary → bytes
scripts/drive_read.sh DOC_ID --format text/markdown    # override the export target
scripts/drive_read.sh PDF_ID --out report.pdf          # write binary content to a file

• FILE_ID is the only positional. Instance specifics come from GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN above.
• --format MIME overrides the export target for Workspace files (full MIME string — see the table

in references/api.md, section Export MIME types). Defaults: document → text/plain,

spreadsheet → text/csv (first sheet only), presentation → text/plain, drawing → image/png.

Folders, forms, shortcuts, and sites have no export — the script exits 1 with a clear message.

• --out FILE writes content to a file instead of stdout. Without it, non-export downloads over

10 MiB are refused — pass --out FILE for large binaries. File name, mime type, size, and the

action taken go to stderr.

• Exit codes: 0 success, 1 request failed, API error (message + reason on stderr — e.g.

exportSizeLimitExceeded past the 10 MB cap), no export for the type, or bad arguments.

If the script errors, read it — it's plain curl + jq — and debug against references/api.md.

4. Create a folder

gdrive -X POST "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files?fields=id,name,webViewLink" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "Q3 Planning", "mimeType": "application/vnd.google-apps.folder", "parents": ["PARENT_FOLDER_ID"]}'

Omit parents to create at My Drive root.

5. Upload a file (multipart: metadata + content)

For files up to ~5 MB. One request, JSON metadata part first, binary content part second:

cat > /tmp/meta.json <<'EOF'
{"name": "report.pdf", "parents": ["FOLDER_ID"]}
EOF

gdrive -X POST "https://www.googleapis.com/upload/drive/v3/files?uploadType=multipart&fields=id,name,webViewLink" \
  -F "metadata=@/tmp/meta.json;type=application/json;charset=UTF-8" \
  -F "file=@./report.pdf;type=application/pdf"

The documented content type is multipart/related; in practice the upload endpoint also accepts the

multipart/form-data body that curl -F builds, as long as the metadata part comes first. If a

request is ever rejected for its content type, build a multipart/related body with an explicit

boundary and --data-binary instead.

Create a Google Doc from a local file (Drive auto-converts on upload): set the metadata

mimeType to the target Google type and the file part's type to the source format — e.g. metadata

{"name":"Notes","mimeType":"application/vnd.google-apps.document"} with

file=@./notes.txt;type=text/plain.

For files over 5 MB, use uploadType=resumable (see references/api.md).

6. Update metadata — rename, move

PATCH on the metadata endpoint. Moves use addParents / removeParents query params, not

parents in the body:

# Rename
gdrive -X PATCH "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID?fields=id,name" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name": "Q3 Report — Final"}'

# Move from folder A to folder B
gdrive -X PATCH "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID?addParents=NEW_FOLDER_ID&removeParents=OLD_FOLDER_ID&fields=id,parents" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{}'

Star: body {"starred": true}.

7. Replace a file's content

Same PATCH, but on the upload host with uploadType=media:

gdrive -X PATCH "https://www.googleapis.com/upload/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID?uploadType=media&fields=id,modifiedTime" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/pdf" --data-binary "@./report-v2.pdf"

8. Trash or delete

Trash is recoverable (30 days); delete is permanent. Prefer trash unless the user explicitly asks

for permanent.

# Trash
gdrive -X PATCH "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID?fields=id,trashed" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"trashed": true}'

# Permanent delete — success is an empty 204
gdrive -X DELETE "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID" -w '\n%{http_code}\n'

9. Manage permissions (sharing)

# Who has access?
gdrive "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID/permissions?supportsAllDrives=true" -G \
  --data-urlencode "fields=permissions(id,type,role,emailAddress,displayName)" | jq '.permissions'

# Share with a user
gdrive -X POST "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID/permissions?sendNotificationEmail=false" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"type": "user", "role": "writer", "emailAddress": "[email protected]"}'

# Anyone-with-link can view
gdrive -X POST "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID/permissions" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"type": "anyone", "role": "reader"}'

# Revoke (204 = success)
gdrive -X DELETE "https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files/FILE_ID/permissions/PERMISSION_ID" -w '\n%{http_code}\n'

Confirm intent before widening access (especially type = anyone or domain). Full type /

role values, expiration, ownership-transfer params: references/api.md, section Permissions.

Pagination

files.list, permissions.list, drives.list, changes.list, comments.list all page the same

way: response carries nextPageToken when more results exist; pass it back as pageToken. Stop

when absent. pageSize max 100 for files.list (the API clamps larger values to 100).

You must request nextPageToken in fields= — the default field set omits it, so a loop that

forgets this silently sees one page and stops.

Rate limits

Quotas are in quota units, not request counts: 1,000,000/min/project and 325,000/min/user.

Costs: files.get 5, files.list 100, downloads 200, files.update 50 — sustained listing hits

the ceiling fastest. Exceeding returns 403 with userRateLimitExceeded / rateLimitExceeded, or

429. Google documents exponential backoff, not a Retry-After header.

Error handling

Errors return as {"error": {"code": N, "message": "...", "errors": [{"reason": "..."}]}}. The

reason string is the most specific signal — surface it. When projecting with jq, fall back with

// . so the error envelope prints instead of null when the projection misses.

• 400 — badRequest, invalid. Malformed q or missing param. String literals in q use single quotes.
• 401 — authError. Credential missing/rejected. Check GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN is set; if it persists, the credential isn't configured for this workspace — report it.
• 403 — insufficientPermissions, insufficientFilePermissions. Configured credential lacks the Drive scope, or user can't access the file.
• 403 — fileNotDownloadable. ?alt=media on a Workspace file — use export.
• 403 — exportSizeLimitExceeded. Export >10 MB. Narrower format or use exportLinks.
• 403/429 — userRateLimitExceeded, rateLimitExceeded. Exponential backoff (no Retry-After).
• 404 — notFound. Bad file ID, or file is on a shared drive and you omitted supportsAllDrives=true.

Going deeper

references/api.md has the fuller endpoint catalog — file copy, revisions, comments & replies,

shared drives, the changes feed, resumable uploads, and the complete list of query-language

operators and export MIME types. Read it when you need an endpoint not covered above.