# Google Sheets API (slim)

> REST API from Google for reading and writing Google Sheets spreadsheets, covering cell values, ranges, formulas, formatting, tables and comments. Access is by OAuth 2.0, and a six-tool MCP server is in Developer Preview.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-sheets-api.md (~9,100 tokens) · this version ~1,580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-sheets-api.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-sheets-api
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

**BB · 76.3/100 · rank #33 of 629 · #1 in Spreadsheets & operational tables · agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Batch updates apply atomically and count as one request, and the drive.file scope limits an app to files the user picks. Quotas are 300 reads and 300 writes a minute per project, reads are by range with no row filter or paging, and a person must complete OAuth consent first.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Google · category: Spreadsheets & operational tables · legal entity: Google LLC · provenance 94/100
- Endpoint: `https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4` (HTTP, Streamable HTTP)
- Auth: OAuth · pricing: Free · x402: no · licence: Proprietary service under the Google APIs Terms of Service. The client libraries are Apache-2.0
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Price: No charge for standard use. Charges for exceeding quota are planned for later in 2026, unpriced, with 90 days' notice
- Quota: 300 reads and 300 writes a minute per project, 60 each a minute per user per project, no daily limit. 180-second request timeout, 2 MB recommended payload
- Interface: REST at https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4, 17 methods in discovery revision 20260930. Values methods for ranges and spreadsheets.batchUpdate with 74 request kinds for structure, formatting, tables, charts and comments
- Batching: batchGet, values.batchUpdate and spreadsheets.batchUpdate each count as one request. A batch applies atomically, in order
- Formulas: Written as cell values with valueInputOption=USER_ENTERED, read back as formulas with valueRenderOption=FORMULA
- Scopes: spreadsheets and spreadsheets.readonly (sensitive), drive.file (non-sensitive, per file), drive and drive.readonly (restricted). Per spreadsheet file, not per sheet
- MCP server: Official, hosted at https://sheetsmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1, Developer Preview, six tools, OAuth with your own client and Developer Preview Programme membership
- Change events: None in the Sheets API. Its 17 methods include no watch or subscription method
- Client libraries: Google API client libraries, Apache-2.0. @googleapis/sheets 18.1.1 (7 October 2026, Node 22 or later) and google-api-python-client 2.201.0 (30 September 2026)

- Scores: Reliability 90, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 83, Agent ergonomics 74, Security & auth 80, Payments & pricing 35, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 85, Transparency & trust 80 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Graded on the REST API, which is the generally available surface. · Schema & documentation, Google publishes a discovery document, not OpenAPI, which is a machine-readable contract all the same, at revision 20260930 with 17 methods… · Agent ergonomics, Responses size with A1 ranges, a fields mask and includeGridData off by default. · Security & auth, OAuth 2.0 with five scopes, short-lived revocable tokens and a per-file drive.file scope (30), less 10 because the discovery document lists… · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, @googleapis/sheets 18.1.1 on 7 October 2026 and release notes on 1 October 2026 (30). · Transparency & trust, Closed service under the Google APIs Terms of Service, last modified 9 November 2021, with Apache-2.0 client libraries (15 of 30).
- Sources: 30, open questions: 8, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.formulas, sheets.tables
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-sheets-api.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/google-sheets-api.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-sheets-api from a page on google.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/googleapis/google-api-nodejs-client, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Ask for drive.file where the user picks the files. spreadsheets and spreadsheets.readonly are sensitive scopes and need extra verification for a public app
2. Send valueInputOption=USER_ENTERED to write formulas. With RAW the string =1+2 is stored as text
3. Put related changes in one spreadsheets.batchUpdate. It counts as one write request and none of it applies if any request is invalid
4. Pass ranges and a fields mask on spreadsheets.get and leave includeGridData off for large files
5. Back off exponentially on 429 and 503, and keep to one request a second per spreadsheet. After a timeout on values.append, read the range before retrying

## Connect

```bash
npm install @googleapis/sheets
```

```bash
curl "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/$SPREADSHEET_ID/values/Sheet1!A1:D10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_ACCESS_TOKEN"
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/google-sheets-api

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| NocoDB | BB | 75.7 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nocodb.min.md |
| Airtable | BB | 70.9 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/airtable.min.md |
| Coda (Superhuman Docs) | B | 64.8 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/coda.min.md |
| Baserow | B | 63.6 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/baserow.min.md |
| Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) | C | 58.5 | sheets.read, sheets.write, sheets.tables, sheets.formulas | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-excel-graph.min.md |


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