How to Connect Google Docs to Claude with CorpusIQ MCP

The decisions live in documents. The pricing brief, the board notes, the onboarding checklist, the contract redline. Finding the sentence you half remember means opening Drive, guessing at the title, and scrolling until it looks familiar.

Connecting Google Docs through CorpusIQ MCP makes that text askable. You describe the document, Claude finds it and reads it, and the answer points back at the passage it came from.

Why Connect Google Docs to Claude?

• Recall instead of search. "Which document recorded the decision to move the launch date?"
• Summaries you can check. "Summarize the pricing brief we updated last week, and quote the paragraph that sets the discount."
• Instruction lookup. "What does the onboarding checklist say about connecting a data source?"
• Extraction. "Pull the open questions out of the board notes and group them by owner."
• Comparison. "What changed between the v2 and v3 versions of the implementation plan?"
• Read-only by scope. The connection lists and reads files. It cannot edit, rename, move, share, or comment.

How It Works

1. Connect Google Workspace to CorpusIQ once and approve the read scopes on Google's consent screen.
2. The documents you can open become reachable through the Drive file tools, which is the layer that reaches Google Docs content.
3. Connect CorpusIQ to Claude as an MCP server, using the config block from your account settings.
4. CorpusIQ finds and reads the file the question points at and returns the text.
5. Claude answers from that text, naming the document so the claim can be checked against the source.

CorpusIQ uses read-only access for direct MCP live retrieval. It does not retain raw customer files or full connector response payloads; operational logs retain query text, per-user tool-call metadata, and bounded outcome summaries for up to 30 days.

Setup Steps

In CorpusIQ

1. Log in and open Connectors.
2. Select Google Workspace. This one connection covers Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Search Console behind a single sign-in.
3. Sign in to Google and approve the read-only scopes.
4. Copy the MCP config block shown under Settings, Integrations, Claude Desktop.

In Claude Desktop

1. Open Settings, Developer, Edit Config. This opens claude_desktop_config.json.
2. Add the CorpusIQ entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "corpusiq": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y", "mcp-remote",
        "https://www.corpusiq.io/mcp/direct-connection"
      ]
    }
  }
}

1. Save the file and fully quit Claude Desktop. Not just the window: quit the application.
2. Reopen Claude, complete the device login when prompted, and the tools indicator appears next to the message box.
3. Verify with a question whose answer you can see yourself: "find the documents I edited this week". If the file names look right, Drive access is working.

If the tools indicator does not appear, work through Claude can't see CorpusIQ before changing anything else.

Example Claude Questions

Finding the document

• "Which document records the decision to move the launch date?"
• "Find every doc that mentions the Acme renewal."
• "What did I edit in Drive this week?"

Reading it

• "Summarize the pricing brief we updated last week in five bullets."
• "What does the onboarding checklist say about connecting a data source?"
• "Quote the section of the services agreement that covers notice periods."

Working across documents

• "Pull the open questions from the board notes and group them by owner."
• "Compare the v2 and v3 implementation plans and list what changed."
• "Which docs mention the Acme renewal, and what did we promise in each?"

Cross-source

• "Does the renewal date in the contract doc match the close date in the CRM?" (requires the CRM connector)
• "Which documents mention invoices that are still open in QuickBooks?" (requires the accounting connector)

Security

• Read scope only. The connection lists and reads files. There is no write path from Claude into a document.
• Comments and revisions stay out. The connection reads content, so ask what a document says rather than who changed it.
• Account-scoped. It reads what the signed-in Google account can open. A restricted share keeps its restriction.
• Revocable at any time. Google Account, Security, Third-party access. Revoking there ends the connection.
• Scoped direct-MCP retention. Direct MCP retrieval is read-only. Raw customer files and full connector payloads are not retained. Operational logs keep query text, per-user tool-call metadata, and bounded outcome summaries for up to 30 days.
• TLS in transit between Google, CorpusIQ, and Claude.

Comparison: Drive Search vs Documents Through Claude

Aspect	Drive search	CorpusIQ MCP with Claude
Input	A title you half remember	A question about the content
Output	A list of files	The passage, plus the file it came from
Across documents	One file at a time	Asked once across a set
Summarising	You read the whole document	Asked directly, with quotes
Spreadsheets next door	Separate tool	Same connection, read by range
Write access	Yes, by you	None, read-only scope

Search is the right tool when you know the file name. Claude is the right tool when you know the question.

FAQ: Common Questions

Is there a separate Google Docs connector?

No, and you do not need one. Google Docs is read through the Google Workspace connector, which covers Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Search Console in a single sign-in. Drive is the layer that reaches your documents.

Is this read-only?

Yes. The connector lists and searches files and reads file contents. It cannot create, edit, rename, move, share, or delete a document, and it never leaves a comment or accepts a suggestion.

What file types can it read?

Documents, PDFs, and plain text files through Drive content reading. Spreadsheets are read through the Sheets tools by range, which keeps a large workbook predictable instead of dumping the whole file into a conversation.

Can it read documents shared with me but owned by someone else?

It reads what the signed-in Google account can open. A document shared with your account is visible. A document you have no access to is not. The Google permission model stays the permission model.

Can it tell me who edited a document or what changed?

No. The connection reads document content. Comments, suggestions, and revision history are outside it, so ask what the document says rather than who changed it.

How current is the data?

Live. When you ask, the connector reads the document as it stands. An edit made a minute ago is visible to the next question.

Does connecting Docs expose my whole Drive?

The Workspace connection reaches the files the account can open, which in practice is the whole Drive for that account. If that is too broad, connect with an account scoped to the team whose documents you actually need. Revoke any permission later from Google Account settings.

Where is my document data stored?

CorpusIQ does not retain raw customer files or full connector response payloads. Retrieval happens on demand. Operational logs may persist for up to 30 days. See the [security documentation](../security/) for detail.

Why Claude for documents rather than a search box?

A search box returns files. Claude reads them, compares them, and answers the question the files were meant to answer. The saving is not the search, it is the reading that used to happen afterwards.

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Next steps: Connect Google Docs to Claude now

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