See it in action:

Overview

Workspace MCP is the single most complete MCP server that integrates all major Google Workspace services with AI assistants. It supports both single-user operation and multi-user authentication via OAuth 2.1, making it a powerful backend for custom applications. Built with FastMCP for optimal performance, featuring advanced authentication handling, service caching, and streamlined development patterns. The entire toolset is available for CLI usage supporting both local and remote instances.

Simplified Setup: Now uses Google Desktop OAuth clients - no redirect URIs or port configuration needed!

Features

12 services  —  Gmail · Drive · Calendar · Docs · Sheets · Slides · Forms · Chat · Apps Script · Tasks · Contacts · Search

Quick Start

Set credentials → pick a launch command → connect your client

# 1. Credentials
export GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID="..."
export GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET="..."

# 2. Launch — pick a tier
uvx workspace-mcp --tool-tier core       # essential tools
uvx workspace-mcp --tool-tier extended   # core + management ops
uvx workspace-mcp --tool-tier complete   # everything

# Or cherry-pick services
uv run main.py --tools gmail drive calendar

_{Credential setup → · All launch options → · Tier details →}

One-Click Claude Desktop Install

.dxt bundles server, deps & manifest — download → double-click → done. No terminal, no JSON editing.

1. Download the latest google_workspace_mcp.dxt from Releases
2. Install — double-click the file, Claude Desktop prompts to install
3. Configure — Settings → Extensions → Google Workspace MCP, paste your OAuth credentials
4. Use it — start a new Claude chat and call any Google Workspace tool

Prerequisites

Python 3.10+ · uv/uvx · Google Cloud Project with OAuth 2.0 credentials

Configuration

Google Custom Search Setup

programmablesearchengine.google.com
/controlpanel/create

→ Configure sites or entire web
→ Note your Engine ID (cx)

developers.google.com
/custom-search/v1/overview

→ Create/select project
→ Enable Custom Search API
→ Create credentials (API Key)

export GOOGLE_PSE_API_KEY=\
  "your-api-key"
export GOOGLE_PSE_ENGINE_ID=\
  "your-engine-id"

Start the Server

📌 Transport Mode Guidance: Use streamable HTTP mode (--transport streamable-http) for all modern MCP clients including Claude Code, VS Code MCP, and MCP Inspector. Stdio mode is only for clients with incomplete MCP specification support.

uv run main.py

uv run main.py \
  --transport streamable-http

uv run main.py \
  --single-user

# Load specific services only
uv run main.py --tools gmail drive calendar
uv run main.py --tools sheets docs

# Combine with other flags
uv run main.py --single-user --tools gmail

# Requests only read-only scopes & disables write tools
uv run main.py --read-only

# Combine with specific tools or tiers
uv run main.py --tools gmail drive --read-only
uv run main.py --tool-tier core --read-only

# Per-service permission levels
uv run main.py --permissions gmail:organize drive:readonly

# Combine permissions with tier filtering
uv run main.py --permissions gmail:send drive:full --tool-tier core

uv run main.py --tool-tier core      # ● Essential tools only
uv run main.py --tool-tier extended  # ◐ Core + additional
uv run main.py --tool-tier complete  # ○ All available tools

docker build -t workspace-mcp .
docker run -p 8000:8000 -v $(pwd):/app \
  workspace-mcp --transport streamable-http

# With tool selection via environment variables
docker run -e TOOL_TIER=core workspace-mcp
docker run -e TOOLS="gmail drive calendar" workspace-mcp

CLI

The workspace-cli command lists tools and calls them against a running server — with encrypted, disk-backed OAuth token caching so you only authenticate once. On first run it opens a browser for Google consent; subsequent runs reuse the cached tokens automatically.

Tokens are stored encrypted at ~/.workspace-mcp/cli-tokens/ using a Fernet key auto-generated at ~/.workspace-mcp/.cli-encryption-key.

uv run workspace-cli list
uv run workspace-cli --url https://custom.server/mcp list

# Or, if installed globally:
workspace-cli list
workspace-cli --url https://custom.server/mcp list

uv run workspace-cli call search_gmail_messages \
  query="is:unread" max_results=5

fastmcp inspect fastmcp_server.py                        # print tools, resources, prompts
fastmcp install claude-code fastmcp_server.py             # one-command client setup
fastmcp install cursor fastmcp_server.py
fastmcp discover                                          # find servers configured in editors

Tool Tiers

The server organizes tools into three progressive tiers for simplified deployment. Choose a tier that matches your usage needs and API quota requirements.

Usage Examples

# Basic tier selection
uv run main.py --tool-tier core                            # Start with essential tools only
uv run main.py --tool-tier extended                        # Expand to include management features
uv run main.py --tool-tier complete                        # Enable all available functionality

# Selective service loading with tiers
uv run main.py --tools gmail drive --tool-tier core        # Core tools for specific services
uv run main.py --tools gmail --tool-tier extended          # Extended Gmail functionality only
uv run main.py --tools docs sheets --tool-tier complete    # Full access to Docs and Sheets

# Combine tier selection with granular permission levels
uv run main.py --permissions gmail:organize drive:full --tool-tier core

📋 Credential Configuration

export GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID=\
  "your-client-id"
export GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET=\
  "your-secret"

# Download & place in project root
client_secret.json

# Or specify custom path
export GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET_PATH=\
  /path/to/secret.json

cp .env.oauth21 .env
# Edit .env with credentials

🧰 Available Tools

Note: All tools support automatic authentication via @require_google_service() decorators with 30-minute service caching.

📅 Google Calendar _{calendar_tools.py}

📁 Google Drive _{drive_tools.py}

📧 Gmail _{gmail_tools.py}

attachments=[{"path": "/path/to/report.pdf"}]

attachments=[{
    "filename": "report.pdf",
    "content": "JVBERi0xLjQK...",  # base64-encoded
    "mime_type": "application/pdf"   # optional
}]

export WORKSPACE_ATTACHMENT_DIR="/path/to/custom/dir"

📝 Google Docs _{docs_tools.py}

📊 Google Sheets _{sheets_tools.py}

🖼️ Google Slides _{slides_tools.py}

📋 Google Forms _{forms_tools.py}

✓ Google Tasks _{tasks_tools.py}

👤 Google Contacts _{contacts_tools.py}

💬 Google Chat _{chat_tools.py}

🔍 Google Custom Search _{search_tools.py}

⚡ Google Apps Script _{apps_script_tools.py}

Connect to Claude Desktop

The server supports two transport modes:

Stdio Mode (Legacy - For Clients with Incomplete MCP Support)

⚠️ Important: Stdio mode is a legacy fallback for clients that don't properly implement the MCP specification with OAuth 2.1 and streamable HTTP support. Claude Code and other modern MCP clients should use streamable HTTP mode (--transport streamable-http) for proper OAuth flow and multi-user support.

In general, you should use the one-click DXT installer package for Claude Desktop. If you are unable to for some reason, you can configure it manually via claude_desktop_config.json

Manual Claude Configuration (Alternative)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google_workspace": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["workspace-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-secret",
        "OAUTHLIB_INSECURE_TRANSPORT": "1"
      }
    }
  }
}

Connect to LM Studio

Add a new MCP server in LM Studio (Settings → MCP Servers) using the same JSON format:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google_workspace": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["workspace-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-secret",
        "OAUTHLIB_INSECURE_TRANSPORT": "1",
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Advanced / Cross-Platform Installation

If you’re developing, deploying to servers, or using another MCP-capable client, keep reading.

Instant CLI (uvx)

# Requires Python 3.10+ and uvx
# First, set credentials (see Credential Configuration above)
uvx workspace-mcp --tool-tier core  # or --tools gmail drive calendar

Local Development Setup

# Install everything needed for linting, tests, and release tooling
uv sync --group dev

# Run the same linter that git hooks invoke automatically
uv run ruff check .

# Execute the full test suite (async fixtures require pytest-asyncio)
uv run pytest

OAuth 2.1 Support (Multi-User Bearer Token Authentication)

The server includes OAuth 2.1 support for bearer token authentication, enabling multi-user session management. OAuth 2.1 automatically reuses your existing GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET credentials - no additional configuration needed!

When to use OAuth 2.1:

• Multiple users accessing the same MCP server instance
• Need for bearer token authentication instead of passing user emails
• Building web applications or APIs on top of the MCP server
• Production environments requiring secure session management
• Browser-based clients requiring CORS support

⚠️ Important: OAuth 2.1 and Single-User Mode are mutually exclusive

OAuth 2.1 mode (MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21=true) cannot be used together with the --single-user flag:

• Single-user mode: For legacy clients that pass user emails in tool calls
• OAuth 2.1 mode: For modern multi-user scenarios with bearer token authentication

Choose one authentication method - using both will result in a startup error.

Enabling OAuth 2.1: To enable OAuth 2.1, set the MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21 environment variable to true.

# OAuth 2.1 requires HTTP transport mode
export MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21=true
uv run main.py --transport streamable-http

If MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21 is not set to true, the server will use legacy authentication, which is suitable for clients that do not support OAuth 2.1.

Stateless Mode (Container-Friendly)

The server supports a stateless mode designed for containerized environments where file system writes should be avoided:

Enabling Stateless Mode:

# Stateless mode requires OAuth 2.1 to be enabled
export MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21=true
export WORKSPACE_MCP_STATELESS_MODE=true
uv run main.py --transport streamable-http

Key Features:

• No file system writes: Credentials are never written to disk
• No debug logs: File-based logging is completely disabled
• Memory-only sessions: All tokens stored in memory via OAuth 2.1 session store
• Container-ready: Perfect for Docker, Kubernetes, and serverless deployments
• Token per request: Each request must include a valid Bearer token

Requirements:

• Must be used with MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21=true
• Incompatible with single-user mode
• Clients must handle OAuth flow and send valid tokens with each request

This mode is ideal for:

• Cloud deployments where persistent storage is unavailable
• Multi-tenant environments requiring strict isolation
• Containerized applications with read-only filesystems
• Serverless functions and ephemeral compute environments

MCP Inspector: No additional configuration needed with desktop OAuth client.

Claude Code: No additional configuration needed with desktop OAuth client.

OAuth Proxy Storage Backends

The server supports pluggable storage backends for OAuth proxy state management via FastMCP 2.13.0+. Choose a backend based on your deployment needs.

Available Backends:

Configuration:

# Memory storage (fast, no persistence)
export WORKSPACE_MCP_OAUTH_PROXY_STORAGE_BACKEND=memory

# Disk storage (persists across restarts)
export WORKSPACE_MCP_OAUTH_PROXY_STORAGE_BACKEND=disk
export WORKSPACE_MCP_OAUTH_PROXY_DISK_DIRECTORY=~/.fastmcp/oauth-proxy

# Valkey/Redis storage (distributed, multi-server)
export WORKSPACE_MCP_OAUTH_PROXY_STORAGE_BACKEND=valkey
export WORKSPACE_MCP_OAUTH_PROXY_VALKEY_HOST=redis.example.com
export WORKSPACE_MCP_OAUTH_PROXY_VALKEY_PORT=6379

Disk support requires workspace-mcp[disk] (or py-key-value-aio[disk]) when installing from source. The official Docker image includes the disk extra by default. Valkey support is optional. Install workspace-mcp[valkey] (or py-key-value-aio[valkey]) only if you enable the Valkey backend. Windows: building valkey-glide from source requires MSVC C++ build tools with C11 support. If you see aws-lc-sys C11 errors, set CFLAGS=/std:c11.

External OAuth 2.1 Provider Mode

The server supports an external OAuth 2.1 provider mode for scenarios where authentication is handled by an external system. In this mode, the MCP server does not manage the OAuth flow itself but expects valid bearer tokens in the Authorization header of tool calls.

Enabling External OAuth 2.1 Provider Mode:

# External OAuth provider mode requires OAuth 2.1 to be enabled
export MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21=true
export EXTERNAL_OAUTH21_PROVIDER=true
uv run main.py --transport streamable-http

How It Works:

• Protocol-level auth enabled: All MCP requests (including initialize and tools/list) require a valid Bearer token, following the standard OAuth 2.1 flow. Unauthenticated requests receive a 401 with resource metadata pointing to Google's authorization server.
• External OAuth flow: Your external system handles the OAuth flow and obtains Google access tokens (ya29.*)
• Token validation: Server validates bearer tokens by calling Google's userinfo API
• Multi-user support: Each request is authenticated independently based on its bearer token
• Resource metadata discovery: The server serves /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource (RFC 9728) advertising Google as the authorization server and the required scopes

Key Features:

• No local OAuth flow: Server does not provide /authorize, /token, or /register endpoints — only resource metadata
• Bearer token only: All authentication via Authorization: Bearer <token> headers
• Stateless by design: Works seamlessly with WORKSPACE_MCP_STATELESS_MODE=true
• External identity providers: Integrate with your existing authentication infrastructure

Requirements:

• Must be used with MCP_ENABLE_OAUTH21=true
• OAuth credentials still required for token validation (GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET)
• External system must obtain valid Google OAuth access tokens (ya29.*)
• Each tool call request must include valid bearer token

Use Cases:

• Integrating with existing authentication systems
• Custom OAuth flows managed by your application
• API gateways that handle authentication upstream
• Multi-tenant SaaS applications with centralized auth
• Mobile or web apps with thei