Better Workspace

Table of contents

• Install
• Remote (HTTP mode)
• Tools
• Quick start
• Multi-account
• Documentation
• Deployment
• Handover
• Contributing
• License

Install

The server runs in two modes: stdio (default, single-user, one Google OAuth client of your own) and HTTP (multi-user, per-user bearer tokens). For stdio, add it to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "workspace": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["--yes", "@n24q02m/workspace@latest"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID": "<your-client-id>.apps.googleusercontent.com",
        "GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET": "<your-client-secret>"
      }
    }
  }
}

The package is @n24q02m/workspace (formerly @n24q02m/better-workspace-mcp; old package receives one final release then freezes). The MCP Registry id stays io.github.n24q02m/better-workspace-mcp, and the legacy better-workspace-mcp command is kept as an alias of workspace.

Those two values come from an OAuth 2.0 client of type Desktop app, created in the Google Cloud Console under APIs & Services → Credentials. Desktop is the right type because the server receives the consent redirect on a loopback address, not on a public URL. Enable the Workspace APIs you plan to call on the same project, and add yourself as a test user while the consent screen is unpublished.

The first run opens the Google consent screen in your browser; the refresh token is stored encrypted on your machine under ~/.better-workspace/ (a legacy ~/.better-workspace-mcp/ is read as a fallback), so later runs start without asking again.

The same server can also serve several people over HTTP -- see Remote (HTTP mode).

Install with an AI agent -- paste this to your AI coding agent:

Install MCP server workspace following the steps at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/n24q02m/claude-plugins/main/plugins/better-workspace-mcp/setup-with-agent.md

Remote (HTTP mode)

Besides stdio, the server runs as a multi-user HTTP service. Each request carries a bearer token from a users file (WORKSPACE_USERS_FILE), and each user's Google credentials are kept in their own bucket, keyed by that user's namespace, so one deployment serves several people without them sharing an account. Google consent for an HTTP account runs on the host, with workspace auth --user <namespace>.

Point your MCP client at the host you deployed it on:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "workspace": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://<your-host>/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Modes

Two, and only two. There is no proxy or daemon mode: stdio speaks the MCP stdio transport directly, with no HTTP hop inside it.

Two OAuth clients, not one

Google binds redirect URIs to the type of the OAuth client, so the two modes cannot share one. stdio uses a Desktop client, which may redirect to any loopback port. HTTP uses a Web client. Keep the two credentials under separate names: pointing GOOGLE_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID/_SECRET at the Web client on a machine that also runs stdio breaks every stdio install. That is why docker-compose.http.yml reads the Web pair as GOOGLE_OAUTH_WEB_CLIENT_ID/_SECRET and renames it on the way into the container.

Environment

Credentials are stored on local disk under ~/.better-workspace/, which is the data volume in the container. A legacy ~/.better-workspace-mcp/ is read as a fallback.

docker-compose.http.yml in this repo is these variables written out as a runnable overlay.

Tools

One composite tool per Workspace domain, plus config and help:

Questions are added to a form with forms(action="batchUpdate"), not at create; responses are read-only, because the Forms API cannot write one. Listing or deleting forms goes through drive.

Quick start

Check that the credentials landed, with the config tool. Before the first consent this reports awaiting_setup; afterwards it names the account the server is acting as:

{ "action": "status" }

Then call a domain tool. On docs, create returns the new document's ID, which getText reads back:

{ "action": "create", "title": "Notes", "content": "First line." }
{ "action": "getText", "documentId": "<id-from-create>" }

time, config, and help need no Google account, so they answer even before consent -- time is the quickest check that the server is wired up at all:

{ "action": "getCurrentTime" }

To act as a second Google account, see Multi-account.

Multi-account

Every domain tool takes an account parameter -- the email of the Google account the call acts as. Omit it and the call runs against the primary account.

{ "action": "search", "query": "is:unread", "account": "[email protected]" }
{ "action": "search", "query": "is:unread" }

Those two gmail calls read two different mailboxes: the first [email protected], the second whichever account is primary.

Accounts are managed through the config tool:

The first account authorized becomes the primary. Removing the primary promotes one of the remaining accounts; removing the last one puts the server back to awaiting setup. Naming an account that is not configured is an error that names it -- the call is never rerouted to the primary, because a silent fallback would act on the wrong mailbox.

account_add chooses its flow by transport. In stdio it starts a temporary loopback consent server and returns the URL. Over HTTP it does not serve consent; it returns the workspace auth --user <namespace> command for the host.

value="primary" is stdio only; remote callers change the default with account_set_default.

Coming from an earlier single-account build

Credentials stored by a build from before multi-account support are one flat blob of tokens. The first run afterwards adopts that blob into the multi-account layout under the account's email. The email comes from the stored id_token when it is present -- no network needed, and that is the usual case. Otherwise the server asks Google's userinfo endpoint, which needs network access and a token that is still valid or refreshable.

If neither works, the server reports itself as awaiting setup and opens the browser OAuth flow even though the stored token may still be fine. Completing that consent works, and nothing is discarded: the account you just authorized is stored and becomes the primary, while the old tokens are carried across under the key (unidentified) rather than being overwritten. config(action="account_list") then shows two entries:

{ "accounts": ["(unidentified)", "[email protected]"], "primary": "[email protected]" }

Nothing routes to (unidentified): it is never promoted to primary while a real account remains, and no call reaches it unless you name it explicitly. It is there so a credential whose owner could not be determined is not silently thrown away. Remove it once the re-authorized account is working:

{ "action": "account_remove", "account": "(unidentified)" }

After a successful adoption -- the usual case -- config(action="account_list") shows exactly one account, and it is the primary.

Forms scopes and re-consent

The consent screen has requested the Google Forms scopes since before the forms tool existed, so it arrived without a second trip through consent.

Accounts authorized before those scopes were added are covered too, but by a different route: Google accepts https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive in place of the Forms scopes for every Forms method this server calls, and full drive has been on the consent screen since the first release. Google never widens a token it has already issued, so if a grant covers neither -- a user may withhold individual restricted scopes at the consent screen -- the first forms call returns a 403 (Request had insufficient authentication scopes). Re-authorize just that account with config(action="account_add"), signing in as the same account; the record is replaced in place, so nothing else changes.

Documentation

Full docs at mcp.n24q02m.com/servers/better-workspace-mcp/:

• Setup -- plugin install, Docker stdio, and Docker HTTP methods
• Modes overview -- stdio (default) and HTTP (multi-user, bearer tokens)
• Multi-user setup -- the per-namespace credential model behind Remote (HTTP mode)

Every tool also documents itself at runtime: call help for the full reference on any of them, including the exact parameters each action takes.

Deployment

No hosted endpoint is operated for this server. The supported paths are the stdio install above and a self-hosted HTTP deployment of your own.

To self-host HTTP mode, run the compose overlay from this repository:

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.http.yml up

It builds the http image locally and publishes it on host loopback only, at GOOGLE_OAUTH_WEB_CLIENT_ID, GOOGLE_OAUTH_WEB_CLIENT_SECRET, CREDENTIAL_SECRET, and WORKSPACE_USERS_FILE through your shell or an .env file (see Environment). The users file maps each bearer token to a user namespace; accounts are added on the host with workspace auth --user <namespace>. For use beyond the local machine, put your own TLS reverse proxy on the same host in front of it.

Each release also publishes multi-arch container images to Docker Hub and GHCR; their default stage is the http server.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Apache-2.0 © n24q02m