| name | dropbox |
| description | Agent-callable Dropbox tools — upload, organize, find, and share files and folders. Use when the user wants to manage Dropbox content (save, move, search, share, list, or read files), including requests that don't name Dropbox explicitly, e.g. "save this report to my cloud storage" or "share that folder with Sam". |
| license | Elastic-2.0 |
| compatibility | Run `npm install --omit=dev` in this directory, then `node cli.js`. The TypeScript source needs Node.js 22.18+; on older Node, run `cli.js` for build-it-yourself / prebuilt / alternative-runtime options. |
| metadata | {"title":"Dropbox","source":"https://github.com/zapier/connectors/blob/main/apps/dropbox/SKILL.md","zapier-app-key":"DropBoxCLIAPI","api-docs":"https://www.dropbox.com/developers/documentation/http/documentation"} |
Dropbox
Tools for working with files and folders in Dropbox — upload and write files, organize (move/copy/delete/create folders), navigate and search, read file contents, create and modify shared links, manage shared-folder membership, and create file requests. Wraps the Dropbox API v2 (https://api.dropboxapi.com/2/<namespace>/<method>, with uploads/downloads on https://content.dropboxapi.com). Read-only tools are clearly marked; write tools return clean file/folder metadata rather than silently attaching links or contents.
Independent, unofficial connector for Dropbox. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Dropbox. "Dropbox" is a trademark of its owner, used only to identify the service this connector works with.
When to use this
- An agent needs to save, move, copy, rename, or delete files and folders in Dropbox.
- An agent needs to find a file or folder (by name or content) or list a folder's contents before acting on it.
- An agent needs to read a text file's contents inline, or hand off a file's bytes via a temporary or durable link.
- An agent needs to share a file/folder, change link settings, or manage who can access a shared folder.
Setup
This is an agentskills.io skill.
If the connector has not been installed as a skill yet, install it first with npx skills add zapier/connectors --skill dropbox (or your harness's own skill-install mechanism), then continue here. Installing the skill copies these files, not dependencies. Before running the CLI, a local MCP server, or zapier-sdk auth commands, run npm install --omit=dev here once. Importing the published package as a dependency in your own project instead? That npm install already resolves everything — see references/use-as-sdk.md.
Want the actual repo source instead — to browse references/, run this connector's tests, or hack on it? See README.md for a scoped git clone.
The connector runs on Node.js 22.18+. Pick the reference that matches how you're running it, and load it before doing anything else:
| You have... | Load |
|---|
An MCP-aware client — tools may already be loaded (e.g. mcp__dropbox__<tool>), or you can register a local server yourself (or guide the user to) | references/use-as-mcp.md |
Terminal / subprocess access (you can run node) | references/use-as-cli.md |
| Only your own code, importing this package as a dependency | references/use-as-sdk.md |
| No tool access, no terminal, no ability to import this package — you write your own code that calls the Dropbox API directly (e.g. a code-execution sandbox) | references/use-as-recipe.md |
Scripts
All 21 scripts use the single dropbox connection. Each script's inputSchema / outputSchema (Zod) inside the script file is the source of truth for its contract.
Several scripts take an id or url best resolved from another script — those resolution hints are in the field descriptions (e.g. addFolderMember.shared_folder_id ← listSharedFolders; modifySharedLinkSettings.url ← listSharedLinks).
Disambiguation & refusals
Disambiguating items by name. Dropbox addresses items by path or id, and paths are case-insensitive — two items can look like the same name. Before writing to (move/copy/delete/share) an item the user named in words rather than by exact path, resolve it first with searchFiles or listFolder:
- Exactly one match → act on it; don't over-confirm.
- Two or more matches that tie (e.g.
report.pdf in two different folders, or a shared-folder name that collides) → stop, list the candidates with a distinguishing field (full path_display, or shared_folder_id for folders), and ask which one. Never silently pick.
The entity types most likely to collide here are files/folders by name (resolve via searchFiles/listFolder, disambiguate on path_display) and shared folders by name (resolve via listSharedFolders, disambiguate on shared_folder_id).
Operations this connector does NOT perform — say so, don't fake it. If the user asks for one of these, tell them it's unsupported rather than substituting a different tool and reporting success:
- Bulk/batch moves, copies, or deletes in one call. There is no batch tool — loop the single-item tools (
moveFile/copyFile/deletePath) yourself, or tell the user it'll be one call per item.
- Reading binary documents (PDF/image/Office) as text, OCR, or document parsing.
getFileContents returns UTF-8 text only; for other files it returns is_text:false and you must hand off the bytes via getTemporaryLink. Don't claim to have read a PDF's contents.
- Fetching or editing an individual file request, or sharing a whole folder as a managed share. Only
createFileRequest + listFileRequests are available; there is no get/update file-request or shareFolder tool.
Auth
Every shape passes auth as one connection selector, not the secret — a [<resolver>:]<value> string. Every connector accepts zapier:<connection-id> (Zapier-managed auth — routes through Zapier's auth, retries, and governance layer); some also accept one or more direct-token resolvers (naming and count vary per connector) — check this connector's own resolvers rather than assuming. The <resolver>: prefix is optional; a bare value goes to the first resolver that claims it — a UUID-shaped bare value always claims zapier:. Each script declares the connections it needs and the resolvers each accepts. The exact syntax for passing a connection (and how to see this connector's resolver list) differs by shape — see the reference you loaded above.
Checking what's already configured first? Don't dump environment values to do it — env or env | grep <name> prints the value along with the name, leaking a live credential into the transcript if one is set. Check names only (env | cut -d= -f1 | grep -i <name>) or test a known name directly ([ -n "$VAR_NAME" ]).
No connection yet? Pick one — and follow the reference's own flow to obtain it; never just ask the user for a connection id or token as if they already have one memorized:
Output format
Every script returns a { data, meta } envelope:
data — the script's result (the shape its outputSchema declares; see the reference you loaded above for how to inspect a script's exact schema in your shape).meta.outputDataValidation — what validating data did:
{ skipped: false, droppedPaths: null } — validated, nothing removed.{ skipped: false, droppedPaths: [...], instruction } — validated, but those paths were stripped from data: fields the script returned from the API that the outputSchema doesn't declare. If you need them, re-run with output validation skipped.{ skipped: true } — validation was bypassed; data is the raw, unchecked script output.
Reading dropped fields / skipOutputDataValidation. To receive the raw, unvalidated result, opt out of output validation (the exact syntax differs by shape — see the reference you loaded above). Input validation is never skipped.
Trimming the result / filterOutputData. To shrink a large result down to the fields you need, pass a jq expression that post-processes data (again, exact syntax per shape). The jq runs against data only, NOT the { data, meta } envelope, so write it rooted at data (run the script's --help — or your shape's equivalent — to see its output schema). The transformed value replaces data, meta is preserved, and the result is NOT re-validated against the output schema.
References
Load the matching reference file before working in that area:
| Reference | Covers | Load it when |
|---|
references/dropbox-api-gotchas.md | Stone .tag union shape, error_summary error model, read-vs-write not-found asymmetry, path rules (root is "" not "/"), cursor pagination via sibling /continue endpoints, rate limits + namespace write-locking, upload-session flow, shared-link recovery, team-space targeting via namespace_id | Before making any direct Dropbox API calls or debugging unexpected API errors |
