Dropbox

The Dropbox connector lets AI agents browse, read, upload, and manage files through the Dropbox API using OAuth 2.0. Your credentials are stored encrypted in MCPGate's vault and are never exposed to the AI client.

Delete is permanent

Unlike Google Drive, dropbox_delete_file permanently deletes the file or folder. There is no trash recovery step. Always apply guardrails to this tool.

Required scopes#

MCPGate requests the following OAuth scopes when you connect a Dropbox account.

Scope	Purpose
files.content.read	Read file contents and metadata
files.content.write	Upload files and create folders
files.metadata.read	List and search files
sharing.read	Get shareable links

Tool reference#

The Dropbox connector exposes 7 tools: 4 read, 2 write, and 1 delete.

Tool	Category	Description
dropbox_list_files	read	List files in a Dropbox folder
dropbox_search_files	read	Search files by name or content
dropbox_read_file	read	Download and read file content
dropbox_get_link	read	Get a shareable link for a file or folder
dropbox_upload_file	write	Upload a file to Dropbox
dropbox_create_folder	write	Create a new folder in Dropbox
dropbox_delete_file	delete	Delete a file or folder

Common guardrail recipes#

Read-only access#

Enable only the four read tools and deny dropbox_upload_file, dropbox_create_folder, and dropbox_delete_file. Safe for agents that retrieve or summarise file contents without modifying your storage.

Block deletion#

Deny dropbox_delete_file in every app that does not explicitly require cleanup operations. Because Dropbox deletions are permanent, this is the most important guardrail to apply.

Restrict to a specific path#

Apply the allow_prefix template to write tools and target the path field. Set the prefix to a folder path like /ai-uploads so the agent can only write into that subtree.

Troubleshooting#

Path format — Dropbox paths must start with a forward slash (e.g. /Documents/report.pdf). Relative paths are not supported.
File already exists on upload — dropbox_upload_file defaults to overwrite mode. Set the mode parameter to add if you want the upload to fail rather than overwrite an existing file.
Shareable link requires shared folder access — If dropbox_get_link returns an error, ensure the account has sharing permissions enabled in Dropbox Business admin settings.