Google Drive Api

Google Drive API is the standard interface for programmatic Drive file management — commonly used for saving generated reports, reading uploaded documents, managing shared folder access, and syncing files between Drive and other systems. Service Account with domain-wide delegation is the recommended server-side pattern (impersonate Workspace users without OAuth flow). Resumable uploads handle large files reliably. MIME type handling for Google Docs/Sheets/Slides (export to PDF/XLSX). Part of the Google Workspace APIs umbrella — same auth setup enables Gmail, Calendar, and Sheets simultaneously. Confidence is docs-derived.

REST API at www.googleapis.com/drive/v3. Files: GET /files lists files ({q: "'folder_id' in parents and name contains 'report'"}, fields). POST /files creates a file or folder ({name, mimeType, parents}). GET /files/{fileId} retrieves file metadata. PATCH /files/{fileId} updates file metadata (rename, move folder). DELETE /files/{fileId} moves to trash. Media upload: POST /upload/drive/v3/files (multipart: metadata JSON + file body). Resumable: POST /upload/drive/v3/files?uploadType=resumable for files > 5MB. Export: GET /files/{fileId}/export?mimeType=application/pdf for Google Docs → PDF. Permissions: POST /files/{fileId}/permissions ({role: "reader"|"writer"|"commenter", type: "user"|"domain", emailAddress}). Search query language: full-text search + metadata filters via q parameter.

OAuth2: Service Account (recommended for agents) — service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file(key_path, scopes=["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive"], subject=user_email). Domain-wide delegation: requires Workspace admin to authorize service account. Personal OAuth2: authorization code flow with refresh token for individual user access. API key: only for public files (no write access). HTTPS enforced. Scopes: drive (full), drive.file (app-created files only), drive.readonly (read-only). Shared drives: additional permissions required (drives scope).

Standard HTTP status codes with JSON error bodies ({error: {code, message, errors}}). 403 for quota exceeded or insufficient permissions. 404 for missing file. Quota: 1B queries/day, 750GB uploads/day. Rate limiting: per-user 1000 req/100s (implement exponential backoff). Resumable upload: session URI is valid for 1 week — resume interrupted uploads. Trash vs. delete: DELETE moves to trash; permanent delete requires POST /files/{fileId}/trash then DELETE. Drive uptime at workspace.google.com/status. Shared drives: quota is separate from My Drive — important for enterprise deployments. File revision history: Drive maintains revision history for Google Docs natively.

developers.google.com/drive/api/reference/rest/v3 covers API reference, file upload guides, search query language, permissions guide, and Service Account setup. Getting started: GCP project, enable Drive API, create service account, grant domain-wide delegation — first file upload in under 15 minutes. google-api-python-client: pip install google-api-python-client google-auth. Community via Google Drive API issues on GitHub and Stack Overflow (google-drive-api tag). Mature API with extensive community resources.