dropbox-analytics-mcp-server

dropbox-analytics-mcp-server

MCP server for Dropbox, built for analytics workflows. Read public shared links with zero authentication, or connect a full Dropbox account via OAuth to browse, search, read, and export files. CSV and Excel files are automatically parsed into tabular rows ready for analysis.

Quick start (public links, no auth)

npx dropbox-analytics-mcp-server

With no credentials set, the server runs in public-link-only mode with a single tool:

Tool	Description
read_public_link	Download and parse any public Dropbox shared link (CSV/Excel → rows, JSON → object, text → raw)

Works with both old (/s/...) and new (/scl/fi/...?rlkey=...) link formats.

Full account access (OAuth)

With credentials set, eight more tools register:

Tool	Description
list_folder	List files/folders at a path (optionally recursive)
search_files	Search by name or content
get_file_metadata	Size, modified date, revision info
read_file	Download + parse a file from the account
list_shared_links	List existing shared links
create_shared_link	Create (or fetch existing) public link for a file
upload_file	Upload text-based content (e.g. export analytics results as CSV)
get_account_info	Verify the connection works

One-time setup: getting a refresh token

Dropbox no longer issues long-lived access tokens, so the server uses an auto-refreshing refresh token. You set this up once:

1. Create a Dropbox app at https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps

• Choose Scoped access → Full Dropbox (or App folder for sandboxing)
• Under Permissions, enable: files.metadata.read, files.content.read, files.content.write (only if using upload_file), sharing.read, sharing.write (only if using create_shared_link), account_info.read
• Note the App key and App secret from the Settings tab

2. Authorize and grab the code — open this URL in a browser (replace YOUR_APP_KEY):

https://www.dropbox.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=YOUR_APP_KEY&response_type=code&token_access_type=offline

Approve the app and copy the authorization code shown.

3. Exchange the code for a refresh token:

curl https://api.dropbox.com/oauth2/token \
  -d code=YOUR_AUTH_CODE \
  -d grant_type=authorization_code \
  -u YOUR_APP_KEY:YOUR_APP_SECRET

The JSON response contains refresh_token — save it. It does not expire unless revoked.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Purpose
DROPBOX_APP_KEY	for account access	App key from the Dropbox app console
DROPBOX_APP_SECRET	for account access	App secret
DROPBOX_REFRESH_TOKEN	for account access	From step 3 above; auto-exchanged for short-lived access tokens
DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN	alternative	Short-lived token for quick testing only (expires in ~4 hours)

MCP client configuration

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dropbox": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "dropbox-analytics-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "DROPBOX_APP_KEY": "your_app_key",
        "DROPBOX_APP_SECRET": "your_app_secret",
        "DROPBOX_REFRESH_TOKEN": "your_refresh_token"
      }
    }
  }
}

For public-link-only mode, omit the env block entirely.

Tool examples

read_public_link
  shared_link: "https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/abc/sales.xlsx?rlkey=xyz&dl=0"
  sheet_name:  "Q1"          (optional, Excel only)
  max_rows:    100           (optional, default 500)

read_file
  path: "/Reports/2026/sales.csv"

upload_file
  path:    "/Exports/summary.csv"
  content: "region,total\nWest,1200\nEast,950"

Tabular responses include columns, rows, totalRows, availableSheets, and a truncated flag so the client knows whether to request more.

Limits

• Downloads capped at 50 MB per file
• Tabular responses default to 500 rows (override with max_rows)
• Text files truncated at 100k characters
• upload_file is text-only (UTF-8); binary upload not supported

Development

npm install
npm run build
node dist/index.js

License

MIT