Google Docs MCP

"Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly." — David McCullough

TL;DR

Creates and edits Google Docs directly from Claude Code via the Google Workspace MCP server. Perform surgical text insertions/deletions, manage tables, embed images, and add comments — all programmatically. [EXPLICIT]

Prerequisites

• Google Workspace MCP server configured (see docs/google-workspace-mcp-setup.md)
• Google Docs API enabled in Google Cloud Console
• OAuth2 credentials authenticated

Procedure

Step 1: Create or Open

• Create new Google Docs with title and initial content
• Open existing docs via Drive path or document ID
• List recent documents

Step 2: Edit Content

• Insert text at specific positions
• Delete text ranges
• Replace content with find-and-replace
• Format text (bold, italic, headings, lists)

Step 3: Rich Content

• Create and populate tables
• Embed images from URLs or Drive
• Add comments for collaboration
• Insert page breaks and section dividers

Step 4: Export

• Read document content as text
• Generate document for sharing or download

Quality Criteria

• Text operations target correct document positions
• Tables properly formatted with headers
• Images sized appropriately for document layout
• Comments include actionable context
• Evidence tags on all claims

Anti-Patterns

• Overwriting entire documents when surgical edits suffice
• Inserting unformatted raw text into styled documents
• Creating documents without clear naming convention

Related Skills

• google-drive-mcp — file management for docs
• email-template-builder — HTML document templates
• google-workspace-apis — programmatic Docs API patterns

Usage

• /google-docs-mcp — interactive document management
• "create a Google Doc with the meeting notes"
• "add a table of action items to the project doc"
• "insert the summary at the beginning of the report"

Assumptions & Limits

• Requires authenticated Google Workspace MCP server [EXPLICIT]
• Complex formatting may require multiple operations [EXPLICIT]
• Document size limits apply per Google Docs quotas [EXPLICIT]