AutomationFlowsAI & RAG › Google Drive MCP Server with AI Tools

Google Drive MCP Server with AI Tools

Original n8n title: Build Your Own Google Drive Mcp Server

ByJimleuk @jimleuk on n8n.io

This MCP example is based off an official MCP reference implementation which can be found here -https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers/tree/main/src/gdrive A MCP server trigger is used and connected to 1x Google Drive tool and 1x Custom Workflow tool. The Google Drive…

Event trigger★★★★☆ complexityAI-powered17 nodesExecute Workflow TriggerMcp TriggerGoogle DriveTool WorkflowGoogle Drive ToolOpenAI
AI & RAG Trigger: Event Nodes: 17 Complexity: ★★★★☆ AI nodes: yes Added:

This workflow corresponds to n8n.io template #3634 — we link there as the canonical source.

This workflow follows the Execute Workflow Trigger → Google Drive recipe pattern — see all workflows that pair these two integrations.

The workflow JSON

Copy or download the full n8n JSON below. Paste it into a new n8n workflow, add your credentials, activate. Full import guide →

Download .json
{
  "meta": {
    "templateCredsSetupCompleted": true
  },
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "fb5b682b-5e30-497e-b465-c3369bb3c2e3",
      "name": "Sticky Note",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
      "position": [
        -32,
        -20
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "color": 7,
        "width": 680,
        "height": 660,
        "content": "## 1. Set up an MCP Server Trigger\n[Read more about the MCP Server Trigger](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-langchain.mcptrigger)"
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "cfc2c7f1-a6ee-42a9-b955-e5bce012b6e1",
      "name": "Sticky Note3",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
      "position": [
        -40,
        -160
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "color": 5,
        "width": 380,
        "height": 100,
        "content": "### Always Authenticate Your Server!\nBefore going to production, it's always advised to enable authentication on your MCP server trigger."
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "79586d35-0582-4da8-91da-5bc8451c2089",
      "name": "When Executed by Another Workflow",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.executeWorkflowTrigger",
      "position": [
        800,
        360
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "workflowInputs": {
          "values": [
            {
              "name": "operation"
            },
            {
              "name": "folderId"
            },
            {
              "name": "fileId"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 1.1
    },
    {
      "id": "02aee033-58e8-4f33-a18d-b872840e81d8",
      "name": "Google Drive MCP Server",
      "type": "@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.mcpTrigger",
      "position": [
        160,
        160
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "path": "a289c719-fb71-4b08-97c6-79d12645dc7e"
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "e0e50653-d98a-4ad4-a2ed-e1b73332c380",
      "name": "Sticky Note1",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
      "position": [
        680,
        -20
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "color": 7,
        "width": 1340,
        "height": 860,
        "content": "## 2. Handle Multiple Binary Formats via Conversion and AI\n[Read more about the PostgreSQL Node](https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/app-nodes/n8n-nodes-base.postgres/)\n\nMCP clients (or rather, the AI agents) still expect and require text responses from our MCP server.\nN8N can provide the right conversion tools to parse most text formats such as PDF, CSV and XML.\nFor images, audio and video, consider using multimodal LLMs to describe or transcribe the file instead."
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "6be1ff49-5edc-42d2-87de-09d207ee7733",
      "name": "Download File1",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleDrive",
      "position": [
        1160,
        360
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "fileId": {
          "__rl": true,
          "mode": "id",
          "value": "={{ $json.fileId }}"
        },
        "options": {
          "googleFileConversion": {
            "conversion": {
              "docsToFormat": "text/plain",
              "slidesToFormat": "application/pdf"
            }
          }
        },
        "operation": "download"
      },
      "credentials": {
        "googleDriveOAuth2Api": {
          "name": "<your credential>"
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 3
    },
    {
      "id": "91b0a549-0494-48a1-bdf3-6c2b91409d01",
      "name": "FileType",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.switch",
      "position": [
        1340,
        320
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "rules": {
          "values": [
            {
              "outputKey": "pdf",
              "conditions": {
                "options": {
                  "version": 2,
                  "leftValue": "",
                  "caseSensitive": true,
                  "typeValidation": "strict"
                },
                "combinator": "and",
                "conditions": [
                  {
                    "id": "7b6958ce-d553-4379-a5d6-743f39b342d0",
                    "operator": {
                      "type": "string",
                      "operation": "equals"
                    },
                    "leftValue": "={{ $binary.data.mimeType }}",
                    "rightValue": "application/pdf"
                  }
                ]
              },
              "renameOutput": true
            },
            {
              "outputKey": "csv",
              "conditions": {
                "options": {
                  "version": 2,
                  "leftValue": "",
                  "caseSensitive": true,
                  "typeValidation": "strict"
                },
                "combinator": "and",
                "conditions": [
                  {
                    "id": "d0816a37-ac06-49e3-8d63-17fcd061e33f",
                    "operator": {
                      "name": "filter.operator.equals",
                      "type": "string",
                      "operation": "equals"
                    },
                    "leftValue": "={{ $binary.data.mimeType }}",
                    "rightValue": "text/csv"
                  }
                ]
              },
              "renameOutput": true
            },
            {
              "outputKey": "image",
              "conditions": {
                "options": {
                  "version": 2,
                  "leftValue": "",
                  "caseSensitive": true,
                  "typeValidation": "strict"
                },
                "combinator": "and",
                "conditions": [
                  {
                    "id": "589540e1-1439-41e3-ba89-b27f5e936190",
                    "operator": {
                      "type": "boolean",
                      "operation": "true",
                      "singleValue": true
                    },
                    "leftValue": "={{\n[\n  'image/jpeg',\n  'image/jpg',\n  'image/png',\n  'image/gif'\n].some(mimeType => $binary.data.mimeType === mimeType)\n}}",
                    "rightValue": ""
                  }
                ]
              },
              "renameOutput": true
            },
            {
              "outputKey": "audio",
              "conditions": {
                "options": {
                  "version": 2,
                  "leftValue": "",
                  "caseSensitive": true,
                  "typeValidation": "strict"
                },
                "combinator": "and",
                "conditions": [
                  {
                    "id": "b8fc61a1-6057-4db3-960e-b8ddcbdd0f31",
                    "operator": {
                      "type": "string",
                      "operation": "contains"
                    },
                    "leftValue": "={{ $binary.data.mimeType }}",
                    "rightValue": "audio"
                  }
                ]
              },
              "renameOutput": true
            },
            {
              "outputKey": "video",
              "conditions": {
                "options": {
                  "version": 2,
                  "leftValue": "",
                  "caseSensitive": true,
                  "typeValidation": "strict"
                },
                "combinator": "and",
                "conditions": [
                  {
                    "id": "959d65a6-372f-4978-b2d1-f28aa1e372c6",
                    "operator": {
                      "type": "string",
                      "operation": "contains"
                    },
                    "leftValue": "={{ $binary.data.mimeType }}",
                    "rightValue": "video"
                  }
                ]
              },
              "renameOutput": true
            }
          ]
        },
        "options": {}
      },
      "typeVersion": 3.2
    },
    {
      "id": "d88ed202-1121-41db-859d-b31d53d46292",
      "name": "Operation",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.switch",
      "position": [
        980,
        360
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "rules": {
          "values": [
            {
              "outputKey": "ReadFile",
              "conditions": {
                "options": {
                  "version": 2,
                  "leftValue": "",
                  "caseSensitive": true,
                  "typeValidation": "strict"
                },
                "combinator": "and",
                "conditions": [
                  {
                    "id": "b03bb746-dc4e-469c-b8e6-a34c0aa8d0a6",
                    "operator": {
                      "type": "string",
                      "operation": "equals"
                    },
                    "leftValue": "={{ $json.operation }}",
                    "rightValue": "readFile"
                  }
                ]
              },
              "renameOutput": true
            }
          ]
        },
        "options": {}
      },
      "typeVersion": 3.2
    },
    {
      "id": "7e8791e6-24c2-441a-8efb-7f4375f2519b",
      "name": "Extract from PDF",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.extractFromFile",
      "position": [
        1620,
        80
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {},
        "operation": "pdf"
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "2b33623c-cea4-4a83-80ef-f852b9a3d126",
      "name": "Extract from CSV",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.extractFromFile",
      "position": [
        1620,
        260
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "headerRow": false,
          "relaxQuotes": true,
          "includeEmptyCells": true
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    },
    {
      "id": "6ca2542d-225e-4a65-b5ce-3edafb11379c",
      "name": "Get PDF Response",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set",
      "position": [
        1780,
        80
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {},
        "assignments": {
          "assignments": [
            {
              "id": "a481cde3-b8ec-4d97-aa13-4668bd66c24d",
              "name": "response",
              "type": "string",
              "value": "={{ $json.text }}"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 3.4
    },
    {
      "id": "3d1c4aa6-cac1-4957-ab7e-3134368e4b53",
      "name": "Get CSV Response",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.set",
      "position": [
        1780,
        260
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {},
        "assignments": {
          "assignments": [
            {
              "id": "a481cde3-b8ec-4d97-aa13-4668bd66c24d",
              "name": "response",
              "type": "string",
              "value": "={{\n$input.all()\n  .map(item => item.json.row.map(cell => `\"${cell}\"`).join(','))\n  .join('\\n')\n}}"
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "executeOnce": true,
      "typeVersion": 3.4
    },
    {
      "id": "141444f9-e937-41f9-ab97-09624646ddba",
      "name": "Read File From GDrive",
      "type": "@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.toolWorkflow",
      "position": [
        400,
        380
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "name": "ReadFile",
        "workflowId": {
          "__rl": true,
          "mode": "id",
          "value": "={{ $workflow.id }}"
        },
        "description": "Call this tool to download and read the contents of a file within google drive.",
        "workflowInputs": {
          "value": {
            "fileId": "={{ /*n8n-auto-generated-fromAI-override*/ $fromAI('fileId', ``, 'string') }}",
            "folderId": "={{ /*n8n-auto-generated-fromAI-override*/ $fromAI('folderId', ``, 'string') }}",
            "operation": "readFile"
          },
          "schema": [
            {
              "id": "operation",
              "type": "string",
              "display": true,
              "removed": false,
              "required": false,
              "displayName": "operation",
              "defaultMatch": false,
              "canBeUsedToMatch": true
            },
            {
              "id": "folderId",
              "type": "string",
              "display": true,
              "removed": false,
              "required": false,
              "displayName": "folderId",
              "defaultMatch": false,
              "canBeUsedToMatch": true
            },
            {
              "id": "fileId",
              "type": "string",
              "display": true,
              "removed": false,
              "required": false,
              "displayName": "fileId",
              "defaultMatch": false,
              "canBeUsedToMatch": true
            }
          ],
          "mappingMode": "defineBelow",
          "matchingColumns": [],
          "attemptToConvertTypes": false,
          "convertFieldsToString": false
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 2.1
    },
    {
      "id": "b5851527-0b57-447b-ac8c-10408a684862",
      "name": "Search Files from Gdrive",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.googleDriveTool",
      "position": [
        240,
        380
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "limit": 10,
        "filter": {
          "driveId": {
            "mode": "list",
            "value": "My Drive"
          },
          "whatToSearch": "files"
        },
        "options": {},
        "resource": "fileFolder",
        "queryString": "={{ /*n8n-auto-generated-fromAI-override*/ $fromAI('Search_Query', ``, 'string') }}"
      },
      "credentials": {
        "googleDriveOAuth2Api": {
          "name": "<your credential>"
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 3
    },
    {
      "id": "98197c91-c7e9-4fbb-a2b1-c16c873fa0a1",
      "name": "Analyse Image",
      "type": "@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.openAi",
      "position": [
        1620,
        440
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "modelId": {
          "__rl": true,
          "mode": "list",
          "value": "gpt-4o-mini",
          "cachedResultName": "GPT-4O-MINI"
        },
        "options": {},
        "resource": "image",
        "inputType": "base64",
        "operation": "analyze"
      },
      "credentials": {
        "openAiApi": {
          "name": "<your credential>"
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 1.8
    },
    {
      "id": "b44a787a-c670-47e1-b87e-d880425ce610",
      "name": "Transcribe Audio",
      "type": "@n8n/n8n-nodes-langchain.openAi",
      "position": [
        1620,
        620
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "options": {},
        "resource": "audio",
        "operation": "transcribe"
      },
      "credentials": {
        "openAiApi": {
          "name": "<your credential>"
        }
      },
      "typeVersion": 1.8
    },
    {
      "id": "1e1a358d-769e-48c9-bf27-6a3cfaaacb14",
      "name": "Sticky Note2",
      "type": "n8n-nodes-base.stickyNote",
      "position": [
        -500,
        -420
      ],
      "parameters": {
        "width": 440,
        "height": 1060,
        "content": "## Try It Out!\n### This n8n demonstrates how to build a simple Google Drive MCP server to search and get contents of files from Google Drive.\n\nThis MCP example is based off an official MCP reference implementation which can be found here -https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers/tree/main/src/gdrive\n\n### How it works\n* A MCP server trigger is used and connected to 1x Google Drive tool and 1x Custom Workflow tool.\n* The Google Drive tool is set to perform a search on files within our Google Drive folder.\n* The Custom Workflow tool downloads target files found in our drive and converts the binaries to their text representation. Eg. PDFs have only their text contents extracted and returned to the MCP client.\n\n### How to use\n* This Google Drive MCP server allows any compatible MCP client to manage a person or shared Google Drive. Simple select a drive or for better control, specify a folder within the drive to scope the operations to.\n* Connect your MCP client by following the n8n guidelines here - https://docs.n8n.io/integrations/builtin/core-nodes/n8n-nodes-langchain.mcptrigger/#integrating-with-claude-desktop\n* Try the following queries in your MCP client:\n  * \"Please help me search for last month's expense reports.\"\n * \"What does the company policy document say about cancellations and refunds?\"\n\n### Requirements\n* Google Drive for documents.\n* OpenAI for image and audio understanding.\n* MCP Client or Agent for usage such as Claude Desktop - https://claude.ai/download\n\n### Customising this workflow\n* Add additional capabilities such as renaming, moving and/or deleting files.\n* Remember to set the MCP server to require credentials before going to production and sharing this MCP server with others!"
      },
      "typeVersion": 1
    }
  ],
  "connections": {
    "FileType": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Extract from PDF",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ],
        [
          {
            "node": "Extract from CSV",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ],
        [
          {
            "node": "Analyse Image",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ],
        [
          {
            "node": "Transcribe Audio",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ],
        []
      ]
    },
    "Operation": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Download File1",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Download File1": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "FileType",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Extract from CSV": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Get CSV Response",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Extract from PDF": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Get PDF Response",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Read File From GDrive": {
      "ai_tool": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Google Drive MCP Server",
            "type": "ai_tool",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "Search Files from Gdrive": {
      "ai_tool": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Google Drive MCP Server",
            "type": "ai_tool",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    },
    "When Executed by Another Workflow": {
      "main": [
        [
          {
            "node": "Operation",
            "type": "main",
            "index": 0
          }
        ]
      ]
    }
  }
}

Credentials you'll need

Each integration node will prompt for credentials when you import. We strip credential IDs before publishing — you'll add your own.

Pro

For the full experience including quality scoring and batch install features for each workflow upgrade to Pro

About this workflow

This MCP example is based off an official MCP reference implementation which can be found here -https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers/tree/main/src/gdrive A MCP server trigger is used and connected to 1x Google Drive tool and 1x Custom Workflow tool. The Google Drive…

Source: https://n8n.io/workflows/3634/ — original creator credit. Request a take-down →

More AI & RAG workflows → · Browse all categories →

Related workflows

Workflows that share integrations, category, or trigger type with this one. All free to copy and import.

AI & RAG

3634. Uses executeWorkflowTrigger, mcpTrigger, googleDrive, toolWorkflow. Event-driven trigger; 17 nodes.

Execute Workflow Trigger, Mcp Trigger, Google Drive +3
AI & RAG

Your AI workforce is ready. Are you?

Google Sheets Tool, Mcp Trigger, Google Drive +29
AI & RAG

The best content automation template in the market is now even better—with “deep research” on time-sensitive topics\! Unlike most n8n content automation templates that are mainly for “demo purposes,”

OpenAI, HTTP Request, XML +11
AI & RAG

Categories: AI Agents, Freelance Automation, Proposal Generation

Execute Workflow Trigger, OpenAI, Google Drive +6
AI & RAG

The AI-Powered Shopify SEO Content Automation is an enterprise-grade workflow that transforms product content creation for e-commerce stores. This sophisticated multi-agent system integrates GPT-4o, C

Perplexity Tool, Memory Buffer Window, Agent +15