Google Sheets API

Use the Google Sheets API via direct curl calls to read, write, and manage spreadsheet data.

Official docs: https://developers.google.com/sheets/api

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When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Read data from Google Sheets
• Write or update cell values
• Append rows to existing sheets
• Create new spreadsheets
• Get spreadsheet metadata (sheet names, properties)
• Batch update multiple ranges at once

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Placeholders: Values in {curly-braces} like {spreadsheet-id} are placeholders. Replace them with actual values when executing.

Important: In range notation, the sheet-name separator ! must be URL encoded as %21 in the URL path. For example, Sheet1!A1:D10 becomes Sheet1%21A1:D10. All examples below use this encoding.

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How to Use

Base URL: https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets

Finding your Spreadsheet ID: The spreadsheet ID is in the URL: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/{SPREADSHEET_ID}/edit

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1. Get Spreadsheet Metadata

Get information about a spreadsheet (sheets, properties):

curl -s "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" | jq '{title: .properties.title, sheets: [.sheets[].properties | {sheetId, title}]}'

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2. Read Cell Values

Read a range of cells:

curl -s "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values/Sheet1%21A1:D10" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" | jq '.values'

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3. Read Entire Sheet

Read all data from a sheet:

curl -s "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values/Sheet1" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" | jq '.values'

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4. Write Cell Values

Update a range of cells.

Write to /tmp/gsheets_request.json:

{
  "values": [
    ["Name", "Email", "Status"]
  ]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X PUT "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values/Sheet1%21A1:C1?valueInputOption=USER_ENTERED" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/gsheets_request.json | jq '.updatedCells'

valueInputOption:

• RAW: Values are stored as-is
• USER_ENTERED: Values are parsed as if typed by user (formulas evaluated)

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5. Append Rows

Add new rows to the end of a sheet.

Write to /tmp/gsheets_request.json:

{
  "values": [
    ["John Doe", "[email protected]", "Active"]
  ]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values/Sheet1%21A:C:append?valueInputOption=USER_ENTERED&insertDataOption=INSERT_ROWS" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/gsheets_request.json | jq '.updates | {updatedRange, updatedRows}'

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6. Batch Read Multiple Ranges

Read multiple ranges in one request:

curl -s "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values:batchGet?ranges=Sheet1%21A1:B5&ranges=Sheet1%21D1:E5" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" | jq '.valueRanges'

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7. Batch Update Multiple Ranges

Update multiple ranges in one request.

Write to /tmp/gsheets_request.json:

{
  "valueInputOption": "USER_ENTERED",
  "data": [
    {
      "range": "Sheet1!A1",
      "values": [["Header 1"]]
    },
    {
      "range": "Sheet1!B1",
      "values": [["Header 2"]]
    }
  ]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values:batchUpdate" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/gsheets_request.json | jq '.totalUpdatedCells'

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8. Clear Cell Values

Clear a range of cells.

Write to /tmp/gsheets_request.json:

{}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values/Sheet1%21A2:C100:clear" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/gsheets_request.json | jq '.clearedRange'

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9. Create New Spreadsheet

Write to /tmp/gsheets_request.json:

{
  "properties": {
    "title": "My New Spreadsheet"
  },
  "sheets": [
    {
      "properties": {
        "title": "Data"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/gsheets_request.json | jq '{spreadsheetId, spreadsheetUrl}'

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10. Add New Sheet

Add a new sheet to an existing spreadsheet.

Write to /tmp/gsheets_request.json:

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "addSheet": {
        "properties": {
          "title": "New Sheet"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}:batchUpdate" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/gsheets_request.json | jq '.replies[0].addSheet.properties'

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11. Delete Sheet

Delete a sheet from a spreadsheet (use sheetId from metadata).

Write to /tmp/gsheets_request.json:

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "deleteSheet": {
        "sheetId": 123456789
      }
    }
  ]
}

Then run:

curl -s -X POST "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}:batchUpdate" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" --header "Content-Type: application/json" -d @/tmp/gsheets_request.json

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12. Search for Values

Find cells containing specific text (read all then filter):

curl -s "https://sheets.googleapis.com/v4/spreadsheets/{spreadsheet-id}/values/Sheet1" --header "Authorization: Bearer $GOOGLE_SHEETS_TOKEN" | jq '[.values[] | select(.[0] | ascii_downcase | contains("search_term"))]'

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A1 Notation Reference

Notation	Description
Sheet1!A1	Single cell A1 in Sheet1
Sheet1!A1:B2	Range from A1 to B2
Sheet1!A:A	Entire column A
Sheet1!1:1	Entire row 1
Sheet1!A1:C	From A1 to end of column C
'Sheet Name'!A1	Sheet names with spaces need quotes

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Guidelines

1. Rate limits: Default quota is 300 requests per minute per project
2. Use batch operations: Combine multiple reads/writes to reduce API calls
3. valueInputOption: Use USER_ENTERED for formulas, RAW for literal strings
4. URL encode ranges: The sheet-name separator in ranges must be encoded as %21 in URLs (e.g., Sheet1%21A1:D10)