Box API + MCP vs DigitalOcean Spaces

Box API + MCP

Public OpenAPI 3.0 spec with 297 operations, year-based API versions and an llms.txt of Markdown pages. 20 status-feed entries between 7 July and 1 October 2026, two of them over two hours on uploads or multiple services.

DigitalOcean Spaces

Per-bucket access keys with read or read-write-delete grants, an 800 operations a second limit per bucket and a 99.9 per cent SLA are all published. The MCP server manages keys and CDN endpoints only, not objects, and the S3 reference documents no error codes. A payment method is required before any bucket is created.

Box API + MCP

1. Call who_am_i first; the tool list depends on the plan, the admin's toggles and the scopes granted
2. Expect download and upload URL, move and shared-link tools to be missing unless an admin has enabled them
3. Pass fields= to trim responses and page folder listings with limit and marker
4. Send a box-version header to pin an API version, and watch responses for a Deprecation header
5. For a link that expires, set shared_link.unshared_at on a paid account; the free plan can't

DigitalOcean Spaces

1. Set the endpoint to https://<region>.digitaloceanspaces.com and, in AWS SDKs other than Python's, set region to us-east-1 when creating a bucket
2. Ask for a limited access key with a Read or Read/Write/Delete grant on one bucket. A full access key can create, configure and delete every bucket
3. Do the object work through the S3 API. The MCP server and doctl cannot upload, list, move or delete files
4. Retry with exponential backoff on 503 Slow Down, and keep below 800 operations a second per bucket
5. Fetch presigned links from the origin host, not the CDN. The docs say presigned requests through the CDN are not cached and can double the bandwidth charge
6. Avoid many tiny objects. Each bills as at least 4 KiB on Standard and 128 KiB on Cold Storage, which also has a 30-day minimum