Create a new project (or select existing)
Enable the Google Drive API
Set app name in OAuth branding
Add test users (all Gmail addresses you want to use)
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:

Ask if they have a Google Cloud project with Drive API enabled
If not, walk them through the Google Cloud Console steps above
Have them download the OAuth credentials JSON
Run: gdcli accounts credentials ~/path/to/credentials.json
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

gdcli

Google Drive CLI

Installation

Setup

Google Cloud Console (one-time)