Google Sheets MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that gives Claude (and other MCP clients) read/write access to any Google Sheet via OAuth.

Tools

All tools accept a full Google Sheets URL or a bare spreadsheet ID.

Security notes

• credentials.json and token.json are excluded from git via .gitignore — never commit them
• The OAuth token is stored locally and only grants access to your own Google account
• Scopes requested: spreadsheets (read/write) and drive.readonly (to resolve sheet metadata)

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A Google account
• A Google Cloud project (free)

Setup

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/generalist-club/google-sheets-mcp.git
cd google-sheets-mcp
npm install

2. Create a Google Cloud project & OAuth credentials

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or select an existing one)
3. Enable the Google Sheets API and Google Drive API:
   • Navigate to APIs & Services → Library
   • Search for and enable both APIs
4. Create OAuth credentials:
   • Navigate to APIs & Services → Credentials
   • Click Create Credentials → OAuth client ID
   • Application type: Desktop app
   • Download the JSON file
5. Rename the downloaded file to credentials.json and place it in the project root

3. Authenticate

Run the auth script to generate your token:

node auth.js

It will print a URL. Open it in your browser, authorize the app, then paste the code back into the terminal. This creates a token.json file locally — keep it secret.

Token refresh: The server automatically refreshes the access token when it expires. You should only need to run auth.js once.

4. Configure Claude Desktop (or any MCP client)

Add this server to your Claude Desktop config at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-sheets": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/google-sheets-mcp/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Replace /absolute/path/to/google-sheets-mcp with the actual path on your machine.

Restart Claude Desktop. The five Google Sheets tools will now be available.

Usage examples

Once connected, you can ask Claude things like:

• "Read the data from this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/..."
• "Append a new row with today's date and 42 to Sheet1"
• "What sheets are in this workbook and how many rows does each have?"
• "Clear the range B2:D10 in my spreadsheet"

License

MIT