Google Docs: List document tabs — MCP tool
Google Docs MCP tool: Returns the document's tab tree — ids, titles and nesting — without content.
Technical name: list_tabs
What task it solves
I want to see which tabs a document has.
Returns the document's tab tree — ids, titles and nesting — without content.
When to use it
Use it when a document has multiple tabs and you need their ids to scope reading or editing (tab_id parameters). Documents created through the API have a single tab; tabs are added by users in the Docs UI.
What to provide
document_id— required.
What it returns
The tab tree: tabId, title, position index, nestingLevel and nested childTabs.
What changes in Google Docs
Nothing — the tool reads Google Docs data and does not change it.
Example request
List the tabs of this planning document so we can edit only the Budget tab.
Errors and limitations
The Docs API cannot create, rename, delete or reorder tabs — that is UI-only. This tool only discovers what exists.
Access also depends on token permissions, quotas, and upstream API limits.
Related MCP tools
- Read document as text —
read_document_text - Get document structure —
get_document
Technical details
- Impact: read-only
- Group: Documents and Markdown
- Description source:
list_tabsregistration insrc/tools/documents.ts - Full technical reference
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