About dropbrowse
dropbrowse is a read-only Dropbox MCP server and CLI for AI clients. It lists and searches files, reads supported text formats, and retrieves metadata without changing Dropbox.
Key features
- 01List Dropbox files and folders
- 02Search filenames by query and type
- 03Read UTF-8 text files
- 04Search text in selected files
- 05Inspect file metadata
Use cases
- 01Browse a Dropbox directory
- 02Find files by name or type
- 03Search text across chosen files
- 04Check metadata before handling a file
MCP support
Exposes tools to MCP clients for listing, filename and content search, reading files, and retrieving metadata. PDF, DOC, and DOCX content extraction is not implemented.
Configuration
Local server config is the same for every client. Copy it into your client’s MCP config file.
Tools
5Saved tool list · updated 1w ago
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| max_files | integer | No | Maximum items to return (default: 20) |
| folder_path | string | No | Path to folder (empty for root) |
Details
From the project READMEdropbrowse
Read-only access to a Dropbox account for AI clients: browse folders, find files by name, search inside files for text, read file content, and inspect file metadata. dropbrowse never writes to Dropbox.
Authentication is a Dropbox access token in the
DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable. Create one in the
Dropbox App Console: create an app with "Scoped access" and "Full
Dropbox", enable the files.metadata.read and
files.content.read permissions, then generate an access token.
Without the variable, every command fails with an error naming
it — before any request is made.
CLI
export DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN=…
npx @reneturcios/dropbrowse list /documents --max-files 50
npx @reneturcios/dropbrowse search invoice --types pdf --max-results 5
npx @reneturcios/dropbrowse read /documents/notes.txt --max-length 0
npx @reneturcios/dropbrowse info /documents/report.pdf
npx @reneturcios/dropbrowse grep "important keyword" /documents/file1.txt /documents/file2.md
npx @reneturcios/dropbrowse --version
Exit codes: 0 on success, 1 on a runtime error (including a
missing token or an upstream failure), 2 on a usage error.
MCP server
npx -y @reneturcios/dropbrowse mcp
MCP client config:
{
"mcpServers": {
"dropbrowse": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@reneturcios/dropbrowse", "mcp"],
"env": { "DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_access_token_here" }
}
}
}
Tools
list_files— List files and folders in a Dropbox directory.folder_path(optional; empty for root),max_files(optional, default 20).search_files— Search for files by name.query(required),file_types(optional:"all","pdf","docx","txt", or comma-separated),max_results(optional, default 10).read_file— Read the full content of a file.file_path(required),max_length(optional, default 5000; 0 for unlimited).get_file_info— Get detailed metadata about a file.file_path(required).search_file_content— Search for text within specific files.file_paths(required list),query(required),context_chars(optional, default 100).
Text extraction — honest limit
Plain-text family files (TXT, MD, PY, JS, HTML, CSS, JSON, CSV, and other UTF-8 text) are read and searched as text. Reading or content-searching a PDF, DOC, or DOCX file returns a named error: binary-format text extraction is not implemented in this build.
Docker
docker run -i -e DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN ghcr.io/cloudcorprecords/dropbrowse
docker run --rm -e DROPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN ghcr.io/cloudcorprecords/dropbrowse list /documents
Development
npm install
npm run build # tsc -> dist/
npm test # tsx --test test/*.test.ts (fake fetch only, no network)
npm run dev # run the CLI from source
License
MIT — Copyright (c) 2026 Rene Turcios
Comments
New to MCP?
From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.