Google Docs: Create a document — MCP tool
Google Docs MCP tool: Creates a new Google Doc — empty, or converted from Markdown in one call.
Technical name: create_document
What task it solves
I want to create a new Google Doc, optionally with initial content.
Creates a new Google Doc — empty, or converted from Markdown in one call.
When to use it
Use this capability when a workflow needs a fresh document: meeting notes, a report scaffold, or a document generated from Markdown produced by an AI assistant. Without markdown the API creates an empty document; with markdown the content is converted to native Docs formatting at creation.
What to provide
title— required. The document title (also the Drive file name).markdown— optional. Initial content as Markdown; headings, bold/italic, links, lists, tables and code blocks become native Docs formatting.
What it returns
The new document's identifiers: documentId (plus title and revision data from documents.create, or the Drive file resource id/name/mimeType for the Markdown path). Keep the id — every other tool needs it.
What changes in Google Docs
A new document appears in the authorized user's My Drive root. Nothing existing is modified. Moving or sharing the file afterwards is not covered by this server.
Example request
Create a document called "Q3 Launch Plan" from this Markdown outline.
Errors and limitations
The plain path accepts ONLY a title — content, styles and settings come afterwards through the editing tools. The Markdown path is a Drive conversion: unsupported Markdown constructs degrade to plain text, and very large Markdown may hit upload limits. Creation is not idempotent: retrying a successful call creates a second document.
Access also depends on token permissions, quotas, and upstream API limits.
Related MCP tools
- Replace document with Markdown —
import_markdown - Insert text —
insert_text - Get document structure —
get_document
Technical details
- Impact: changes data
- Group: Documents and Markdown
- Description source:
create_documentregistration insrc/tools/documents.ts - Full technical reference
- All MCP capabilities