drive-read

name	drive-read
description	Search, list, and retrieve Google Drive files using gws CLI. Use this skill when any Founder OS plugin needs to find, read, or export Drive files — replaces Google Drive MCP server read operations.

Overview

Drive read operations via gws CLI. Covers searching, listing, retrieving metadata, and exporting file content.

Prerequisites

• gws CLI installed (see gws-common skill)
• Drive scopes: drive.readonly (minimum), drive (for full access)

Commands

Search Files

# Search by name
gws drive files list --params '{
  "q": "name contains '\''report'\''",
  "pageSize": 20,
  "fields": "files(id,name,mimeType,modifiedTime,webViewLink)"
}' --format json

Query syntax (Drive search operators):

• name contains 'term' — filename contains word
• mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.document' — Google Docs only
• mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet' — Sheets only
• mimeType = 'application/pdf' — PDFs only
• 'FOLDER_ID' in parents — files in specific folder
• modifiedTime > '2026-03-01T00:00:00' — modified after date
• trashed = false — exclude trashed files
• Combine with and / or

Common MIME types:

• application/vnd.google-apps.document — Google Doc
• application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet — Google Sheet
• application/vnd.google-apps.presentation — Google Slides
• application/vnd.google-apps.folder — Folder
• application/pdf — PDF

Get File Metadata

gws drive files get --params '{
  "fileId": "FILE_ID",
  "fields": "id,name,mimeType,modifiedTime,size,webViewLink,parents"
}' --format json

Export Google Doc as Plain Text

gws drive files export --params '{"fileId":"FILE_ID","mimeType":"text/plain"}' --output /tmp/doc.txt

Export MIME types:

• text/plain — plain text
• application/pdf — PDF
• text/csv — CSV (for Sheets)
• application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document — DOCX
• application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet — XLSX

Download Binary File

gws drive files get --params '{"fileId":"FILE_ID","alt":"media"}' --output /tmp/downloaded-file.pdf

List Files in Folder

gws drive files list --params '{
  "q": "'\''FOLDER_ID'\'' in parents and trashed = false",
  "pageSize": 50,
  "fields": "files(id,name,mimeType,modifiedTime)"
}' --format json

Common Patterns

Search Recent Documents

gws drive files list --params '{
  "q": "mimeType = '\''application/vnd.google-apps.document'\'' and modifiedTime > '\''2026-03-01T00:00:00'\'' and trashed = false",
  "pageSize": 10,
  "orderBy": "modifiedTime desc",
  "fields": "files(id,name,modifiedTime,webViewLink)"
}' --format json

Get File Content for Analysis

# Step 1: Export to temp file
gws drive files export --params '{"fileId":"FILE_ID","mimeType":"text/plain"}' --output /tmp/doc-content.txt

# Step 2: Read content
cat /tmp/doc-content.txt

Error Handling

If Drive is unavailable, return:

{"source": "drive", "status": "unavailable", "reason": "gws CLI not found or auth expired"}