Setting Up the Integration

Step 1: Create a Google Cloud Project

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console
2. Click the project dropdown and select New Project
3. Name it (e.g., “NodeKAT”) and click Create
4. Select the new project from the project dropdown

Step 2: Enable the Drive API

1. In your project, go to APIs & Services → Library
2. Search for Google Drive API
3. Click on it and press Enable

Step 3: Configure the OAuth Consent Screen

1. Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen
2. Choose External (or Internal if you have a Google Workspace) and click Create
3. Fill in the app name (e.g., “NodeKAT”) and your support email
4. Click Save and Continue through the remaining screens
5. Under Scopes, add the Drive scope:
   • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly

This is the only scope NodeKAT uses — read-only access to Drive files.

Test user note: If your consent screen is set to External and you haven’t published the app, add the Google account that will authorize the integration as a Test user under Audience so the authorization flow works.

Step 4: Create an OAuth Client

1. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials
2. Click Create Credentials → OAuth client ID
3. Choose Desktop app as the application type
4. Name it (e.g., “NodeKAT Desktop”) and click Create
5. Download the credentials.json file

Step 5: Authorize NodeKAT and Generate the Token File

The credentials.json file must be exchanged for an authorized user token file (token.json). This requires a one-time authorization with the Google account that owns (or can access) the files you want to extract:

1. Run the Google OAuth authorization flow using the downloaded credentials.json
2. Sign in with the Google account that has access to the target files
3. Accept the read-only Drive permissions prompt
4. Save the resulting authorized token file as token.json

The token file grants NodeKAT read access to the files that account can see. Treat it as sensitive — it is the equivalent of a password for your Drive content.

Step 6: Optional — Limit Extraction Scope

By default, NodeKAT extracts all files accessible to the authorized account. To limit extraction, provide the relevant IDs to your NodeKAT administrator:

Scope	Description
Parent folder IDs	Extract only from specific folders (including all nested subfolders)
Shared drive ID	Extract only from a specific shared drive

If neither is provided, NodeKAT syncs all accessible files.

Next Steps

Provide the following credentials to your NodeKAT administrator:

• Authorized token file (GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS_FILE, e.g., token.json) — required
• Parent folder IDs or shared drive ID — optional, to limit extraction scope

Your administrator will configure NodeKAT to use these credentials.

Authentication Architecture

NodeKAT authenticates to the Google Drive API using the authorized user token:

Required	Yes
Used For	File listing and download (Docs, Sheets, Slides, PDFs)
Access Scope	drive.readonly — read-only, cannot create, edit, or delete files
Inbound Access	None — NodeKAT only makes outbound API calls to Google
Supported Files	Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and PDFs