Google Docs
Google Docs is a cloud-based word processor with real-time collaboration, version history, and integration with other Google Workspace apps
Verdict
Common use cases
- Draft meeting agendas from Slack threads
- Generate project proposals with formatted sections
- Copy template docs for new client onboarding
- Add footnotes and citations to research reports
- Format bullet lists in shared team documents
Integration
- Vendor
- Google Docs
- Category
- docs
- Auth
- OAUTH2
- Tools
- 32
- Composio slug
googledocs
Tools
- Copy Google Document
Tool to create a copy of an existing google document. use this to duplicate a document, for example, when using an existing document as a template. the copied document will have a default title (e.g., 'copy of [original title]') if no new t
- Create a document
Creates a new google docs document using the provided title as filename and inserts the initial text at the beginning if non-empty, returning the document's id and metadata (excluding body content).
- Create Document Markdown
Creates a new google docs document, optionally initializing it with a title and content provided as markdown text.
- Create Footer
Tool to create a new footer in a google document. use when you need to add a footer, optionally specifying its type and the section it applies to.
- Create Footnote
Tool to create a new footnote in a google document. use this when you need to add a footnote at a specific location or at the end of the document body.
- Create Header
Tool to create a new header in a google document. use this tool when you need to add a header to a document, optionally specifying the section it applies to.
- Create Named Range
Tool to create a new named range in a google document. use this to assign a name to a specific part of the document for easier reference or programmatic manipulation.
- Create Paragraph Bullets
Tool to add bullets to paragraphs within a specified range in a google document. use when you need to format a list or a set of paragraphs as bullet points.
- Delete Content Range in Documentdestructive
Tool to delete a range of content from a google document. use when you need to remove a specific portion of text or other structural elements within a document.
- Delete Footerdestructive
Tool to delete a footer from a google document. use when you need to remove a footer from a specific section or the default footer.
- Delete Headerdestructive
Deletes the header from the specified section or the default header if no section is specified. use this tool to remove a header from a google document.
- Delete Named Rangedestructive
Tool to delete a named range from a google document. use when you need to remove a previously defined named range by its id or name.
- Delete Paragraph Bulletsdestructive
Tool to remove bullets from paragraphs within a specified range in a google document. use when you need to clear bullet formatting from a section of a document.
- Delete Tabledestructive
Tool to delete an entire table from a google document. use when you have the document id and the specific start and end index of the table element to be removed. the table's range can be found by inspecting the document's content structure.
- Delete Table Columndestructive
Tool to delete a column from a table in a google document. use this tool when you need to remove a specific column from an existing table within a document.
- Delete Table Rowdestructive
Tool to delete a row from a table in a google document. use when you need to remove a specific row from an existing table.
- Get Charts from Spreadsheet
Tool to retrieve a list of all charts from a specified google sheets spreadsheet. use when you need to get chart ids and their specifications for embedding or referencing elsewhere, such as in google docs.
- Get document by id
Retrieves an existing google document by its id; will error if the document is not found.
- Insert Inline Image
Tool to insert an image from a given uri at a specified location in a google document as an inline image. use when you need to add an image to a document programmatically.
- Insert Page Break
Tool to insert a page break into a google document. use when you need to start new content on a fresh page, such as at the end of a chapter or section.
- Insert Table Column
Tool to insert a new column into a table in a google document. use this tool when you need to add a column to an existing table at a specific location.
- Insert Table in Google Doc
Tool to insert a table into a google document. use when you need to add a new table at a specific location or at the end of a segment (like document body, header, or footer) in a document.
- Insert Text into Document
Tool to insert a string of text at a specified location within a google document. use when you need to add new text content to an existing document.
- List Charts from Spreadsheet
Tool to retrieve a list of charts with their ids and metadata from a google sheets spreadsheet. use to identify charts available for embedding into google docs.
- Replace All Text in Document
Tool to replace all occurrences of a specified text string with another text string throughout a google document. use when you need to perform a global find and replace operation within a document.
- Replace Image in Document
Tool to replace a specific image in a document with a new image from a uri. use when you need to update an existing image within a google doc.
- Search Documents
Search for google documents using various filters including name, content, date ranges, and more.
- Unmerge Table Cells
Tool to unmerge previously merged cells in a table. use this when you need to revert merged cells in a google document table back to their individual cell states.
- Update Document Markdown
Replaces the entire content of an existing google docs document with new markdown text; requires edit permissions for the document.
- Update Document Style
Tool to update the overall document style, such as page size, margins, and default text direction. use when you need to modify the global style settings of a google document.
- Update existing document
Applies programmatic edits, such as text insertion, deletion, or formatting, to a specified google doc using the `batchupdate` api method.
- Update Table Row Style
Tool to update the style of a table row in a google document. use when you need to modify the appearance of specific rows within a table, such as setting minimum row height or marking rows as headers.
Setup
Setup guide
- 11. Open the Space where you want to use Google Docs and click the MCP panel in the sidebar. 2. Search for Google Docs and click Connect. 3. You'll be redirected to Google's OAuth consent screen — sign in with the Google account that has access to the documents you need. 4. Grant the requested scopes: read and write access to Google Docs and Drive metadata (the MCP needs these to create and modify documents). 5. After authorizing, you'll return to Switchy and see Google Docs listed as connected. 6. Test the connection by typing '@Google Docs create a document titled Test' in the Space chat — if it returns a document ID and link, you're ready. 7. To invoke other tools, @mention Google Docs followed by the action (e.g. '@Google Docs create header in document [ID]').
What teammates see: by default, memories from Google Docs are scoped to the Space (PROJECT visibility) - you can mark any memory PRIVATE or share it ORG-wide.
Works well with
Top models
Compatibility data appears once enough Spaces have used this MCP together with a given model.
How Switchy teams use it
Starter prompts
Draft Meeting Notes
@Google Docs create a document titled 'Team Sync Notes [today's date]' and insert a markdown outline with sections for Agenda, Discussion, and Action Items.Open in a Space →
Copy Proposal Template
@Google Docs copy the document with ID [paste ID here] and rename it 'Q2 Proposal - [Client Name]'.Open in a Space →
Add Header to Report
@Google Docs create a header in document [paste ID here] with the text 'Confidential - Internal Use Only'.Open in a Space →
Format List as Bullets
@Google Docs create paragraph bullets in document [paste ID here] starting at index 50 and ending at index 200.Open in a Space →
Insert Footnote Reference
@Google Docs create a footnote in document [paste ID here] at index 300 with the text 'Source: Internal survey, March 2024'.Open in a Space →
Example outputs
Illustrative - representative of the model's voice and quality, not literal recordings.
@Google Docs list all documents modified in the last 7 days and summarize their main topics
I found 12 documents modified in the past week. The main topics include: three product roadmap drafts discussing Q2 feature priorities, four customer feedback summaries from recent user interviews, two internal process docs covering onboarding updates, and three meeting notes from leadership syncs. The roadmap drafts show consensus around prioritizing mobile performance improvements, while the feedback summaries highlight recurring requests for bulk export functionality.
This example demonstrates read-heavy document discovery paired with AI synthesis. Requires Google Drive read scope in addition to Docs access. The MCP returns document metadata and content; the AI performs the topic clustering. Results depend on your Drive's folder structure and sharing permissions.
@Google Docs create a new meeting agenda titled 'Q1 Planning - Engineering' with sections for goals, blockers, and action items
I've created a new document titled 'Q1 Planning - Engineering' with three main sections: Goals (with placeholder bullet points for team objectives), Blockers (formatted as a numbered list for discussion items), and Action Items (set up as a table with columns for task, owner, and due date). The document ID is 1a2b3c4d5e6f and is now available in your Google Drive root folder.
This showcases the MCP's document creation and formatting tools, including headers, bullets, and tables. The document is created in your Drive root by default—you'll need to move it to a shared folder manually or specify a folder ID if the MCP supports it. Formatting options match Google Docs' native capabilities.
@Google Docs copy the 'Customer Case Study Template' document and customize it for Acme Corp, updating the company name and placeholder sections
I've duplicated the template document and created 'Customer Case Study - Acme Corp'. I updated the title, replaced all instances of '[Company Name]' with 'Acme Corp' throughout the document, and cleared the placeholder text in the Challenge, Solution, and Results sections so you can fill them with Acme-specific details. The new document ID is 9z8y7x6w5v4u and is ready for your team to complete.
This example combines the copy tool with text replacement and content manipulation. Useful for templatized workflows like case studies, proposals, or onboarding docs. The MCP can perform bulk text operations, but complex formatting preservation depends on the template's structure. You'll need edit access to the original template document.
Use-case deep-dives
When Google Docs MCP beats manual copy-paste for recurring deliverables
A 6-person consulting team ships weekly status reports to 12 clients. Each report follows the same structure but pulls fresh data from Linear, Slack threads, and internal notes. The Google Docs MCP wins here because it can duplicate a template doc, inject markdown-formatted sections, and create named ranges for programmatic updates—all in one workflow. The OAuth2 setup is a one-time 10-minute lift, and the 32 tools cover everything from footnotes to bullet formatting. The threshold: if your reports need complex tables or charts, you'll still need manual cleanup. But for text-heavy status docs with consistent structure, this MCP cuts report prep from 45 minutes to 5. Worth the integration if you're shipping more than 3 templated docs per week.
How this MCP scales new-hire docs without drowning in admin
A 15-person startup onboards 2-3 people per month. HR manually copies a master checklist doc, renames it, and fills in role-specific sections. The Google Docs MCP automates this: create a new doc from markdown, insert headers for each department, and populate named ranges with role-specific tasks pulled from Notion or Airtable. The copy tool handles template duplication, and the create-paragraph-bullets tool formats task lists without touching the UI. The trade-off: if your checklist needs conditional logic (e.g., engineers get different steps than designers), you'll need a separate system to generate the markdown first. This MCP is the write layer, not the decision layer. Break-even point is 5+ onboarding docs per quarter—below that, manual copying is faster than maintaining the OAuth connection.
When Google Docs MCP makes standup notes searchable and actionable
A 4-person product team runs daily standups and wants notes in Docs for discoverability, but manually formatting action items is a tax. The Google Docs MCP creates a new doc per meeting, inserts markdown-formatted sections (blockers, decisions, next steps), and uses create-footnote to link action items back to Linear tickets. The named-range tool tags each section so a weekly script can pull all action items into a digest. The limitation: this MCP doesn't read existing docs well—it's built for writing, not parsing. If you need to search old notes or extract historical action items, you'll hit the API rate limit around 50 docs. Best fit for teams generating 3-5 meeting docs per week who want structured output without fighting Google's UI.
Frequently asked
What can the Google Docs MCP do in Switchy?
It creates, copies, and edits Google Docs programmatically. You can generate new documents from scratch or markdown, add headers and footers, insert footnotes, create named ranges, and format paragraphs as bullet lists. It handles document structure and content manipulation — not real-time collaborative editing or commenting workflows.
Which Google OAuth scopes does this MCP request?
It requires the drive.file scope to create and modify documents the MCP creates, plus docs scope for full read-write access to document structure and content. You'll authenticate once via OAuth; Switchy stores the refresh token. No admin consent needed unless your workspace restricts third-party app access.
Can it edit existing Google Docs I didn't create through Switchy?
Yes, if you grant the broader docs scope during setup. The Copy Google Document tool explicitly works with existing documents as templates. However, it won't see docs unless they're shared with the authenticated Google account or you explicitly pass their document IDs.
How does this compare to using Google Docs API directly?
The MCP wraps 32 Docs API methods into natural-language tools your AI agents can call. You skip writing OAuth flows, parsing batch update requests, and handling API pagination. Trade-off: you lose fine-grained control over inline object positioning and some advanced formatting the raw API exposes.
Who on my team should connect the Google Docs MCP?
Whoever owns the Google account that should author the documents. If you're generating client reports, connect the account clients expect to see as the document owner. The MCP doesn't support service accounts yet, so pick a real user with appropriate Drive folder access.