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Dropbox

Connecting Dropbox's MCP server lets your agents work with the files in your Dropbox: browse, read and search them, create and organise files and folders, share them, and work with file requests and earlier versions. The server offers 27 tools. Dropbox's MCP server is in public beta.

Read How MCP Servers Work in Outermind first if you have not connected an MCP server before.

Before you start​

  • A Dropbox account. The connection acts as the Dropbox user who signs in, so agents reach the files and folders that user can reach.
  • A tenant admin in Outermind to run the wizard and grant the tools.

Prepare Dropbox​

Nothing to register. Outermind signs in with its own Dropbox app, so you do not create an app or change any settings at Dropbox. When you sign in, Dropbox asks you to allow Outermind to:

  • read your files' metadata and content, and write file content;
  • read and change sharing;
  • read your account information;
  • read and create file requests.

Connect in Outermind​

  1. Open the Capabilities hub, click MCP Servers under Tool Management, and click Add MCP server.
  2. Under Known server, pick Dropbox (mcp.dropbox.com). The endpoint https://mcp.dropbox.com/mcp is filled in, the wizard shows "Sign in and approve." and the expected sign-in is OAuth sign-in. Optionally edit Purpose, the one-line description agents see beside this server. Click Next.
  3. On Credential, the wizard says "Outermind signs in with its own application registered with this provider." Click Connect, sign in to Dropbox as the user the connection should act as, and approve.
  4. On Summary, Outermind discovers Dropbox's tools and makes them active. Under Grant tools to agents, pick an agent to choose an access level for each one; to leave a tool out, use the connection page afterwards.

What your agents can do​

Agents can:

  • list folders, read file metadata and search (list_folder, get_file_metadata, search);
  • read the text of a file of up to 5 MB, including PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Dropbox Paper documents (get_file_content);
  • create folders (create_folder) and create text files, UTF-8 text only (create_file);
  • copy, move and delete files and folders (copy, move, delete);
  • create view-only shared links and download links;
  • work with file requests;
  • list a file's earlier versions and restore one;
  • check who is signed in and how much storage is used (who_am_i, get_usage_and_quota);
  • reach further Dropbox operations through the server's own catalog (list_dropbox_operations, get_dropbox_operation, and a read and a write runner).

Files stay in Dropbox: Outermind does not copy them into its own storage. See Files stay at the vendor.

Read actions start at tier low, and every other action starts at high; see Risk tiers.

warning

Keep delete and move at tier high: a delete or a move inside a shared folder changes what everyone who shares that folder sees. A shared link can also make a file reachable by people outside your organisation, so keep the sharing tools at high too.

What is not available​

This server covers less than Outermind's earlier built-in Dropbox integration did. Agents cannot use:

  • Edit a file in place. Agents can create a new text file, but cannot change the content of an existing file.
  • Author binary Office files. Agents can create UTF-8 text files only, where the earlier integration could build real Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
  • Paged reads of large files. Agents can read a file of up to 5 MB in one call, but cannot read a larger document's text in successive parts.
  • Conflict-mode control when creating a file. If an agent creates a file or folder with the same name as an existing one, the create fails; agents cannot choose to overwrite the existing file or have the new one renamed automatically. Copy and move can rename the new item automatically on a conflict.

Billing notes​

Outermind knows of no separate Dropbox charge for using the MCP server, and calls are not charged per call the way Zapier counts tasks. Files that agents create count against your Dropbox storage like any other file.