Gdcli

Google Drive CLI

Command-line interface for Google Drive operations.

Installation

In Canvas Notebook Docker, a container admin installs this once:

npm install -g @mariozechner/gdcli

Check if installed:

gdcli --help

Setup

Google Cloud Console (one-time)

1. Create a new project (or select existing)
2. Enable the Google Drive API
3. Set app name in OAuth branding
4. Add test users (all Gmail addresses you want to use)
5. Create OAuth client:
   • Click "Create Client"
   • Application type: "Desktop app"
   • Download the JSON file

Configure gdcli

First check if already configured:

gdcli accounts list

If no accounts, guide the user through setup:

1. Ask if they have a Google Cloud project with Drive API enabled
2. If not, walk them through the Google Cloud Console steps above
3. Have them download the OAuth credentials JSON
4. Run: gdcli accounts credentials ~/path/to/credentials.json
5. Run: gdcli accounts add <email> (use --manual for browserless OAuth)

Usage

Run gdcli --help for full command reference.

Common operations:

• gdcli <email> ls [folderId] - List files/folders
• gdcli <email> ls --query "<query>" - List with Drive query filter
• gdcli <email> search "<text>" - Full-text content search
• gdcli <email> download <fileId> [destPath] - Download a file
• gdcli <email> upload <localPath> [--folder <folderId>] - Upload a file
• gdcli <email> mkdir <name> - Create a folder
• gdcli <email> share <fileId> --anyone - Share publicly

Search

Two different commands:

• search "<text>" - Searches inside file contents (fullText)
• ls --query "<query>" - Filters by metadata (name, type, date, etc.)

Use ls --query for filename searches!

Query Syntax (for ls --query)

Format: field operator value. Combine with and/or, group with ().

Operators: =, !=, contains, <, >, <=, >=

Examples:

# By filename
ls --query "name = 'report.pdf'"           # exact match
ls --query "name contains 'IMG'"           # prefix match

# By type
ls --query "mimeType = 'application/pdf'"
ls --query "mimeType contains 'image/'"
ls --query "mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.folder'"  # folders

# By date
ls --query "modifiedTime > '2024-01-01'"

# By owner/sharing
ls --query "'me' in owners"
ls --query "sharedWithMe"

# Exclude trash
ls --query "trashed = false"

# Combined
ls --query "name contains 'report' and mimeType = 'application/pdf'"

Ref: https://developers.google.com/drive/api/guides/ref-search-terms

Data Storage

• ~/.gdcli/credentials.json - OAuth client credentials
• ~/.gdcli/accounts.json - Account tokens
• ~/.gdcli/downloads/ - Default download location