Google: Downloads the content of a file For more information, see Download and export files (https: developers google com workspace drive api guides manage-downloads) Operations are valid for 24 hours from the time of creation

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Contract 2026-10-27 · Operation google.drive_files_download

Provider route: POST /drive/v3/files/{fileId}/download. Alter supplies the connection’s credentials and routing.

Call through Alter

Install @alter-ai/sdk @alter-ai/google with npm, or alter-sdk-google with pip. Supply your connected customer’s grant ID and the arguments described below.

import { App } from "@alter-ai/sdk";
import { GoogleIntegration } from "@alter-ai/google";

async function execute(input: Parameters<GoogleIntegration["driveFiles"]["driveFilesDownload"]>[0]) {
  const app = new App({ apiKey: process.env.ALTER_API_KEY! });
  try {
    const provider = new GoogleIntegration(app, { grantId: process.env.PROVIDER_GRANT_ID! });
    const call = await provider.driveFiles.driveFilesDownload(input);
    const result = await call.wait();
    return result.bodyJson();
  } finally {
    await app.close();
  }
}

import os
from alter_sdk import App
from alter_sdk_google import GoogleIntegration

async def execute(arguments):
    async with App(api_key=os.environ["ALTER_API_KEY"]) as app:
        provider = GoogleIntegration(app, {"grant_id": os.environ["PROVIDER_GRANT_ID"]})
        call = await provider.drive_files.drive_files_download(arguments)
        result = await call.wait()
        return result.body_json()

Input

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
$	object	Root	Additional keys: not allowed
path	object	Required within parent	Additional keys: not allowed
path.fileId	string	Required within parent	Required. The ID of the file to download.
query	object	Optional	Additional keys: not allowed
query.fields	string	Optional	Selector specifying which fields to include in a partial response.
query.prettyPrint	boolean	Optional	Returns response with indentations and line breaks. Default: true
query.quotaUser	string	Optional	Available to use for quota purposes for server-side applications. Can be any arbitrary string assigned to a user, but should not exceed 40 characters.
query.mimeType	string	Optional	Optional. The MIME type the file should be downloaded as. This field can only be set when downloading Google Workspace documents. For a list of supported MIME types, see [Export MIME types for Google Workspace documents](/workspace/drive/api/guides/ref-export-formats). If not set, a Google Workspace document is downloaded with a default MIME type. The default MIME type might change in the future.
query.revisionId	string	Optional	Optional. The revision ID of the file to download. This field can only be set when downloading blob files, Google Docs, and Google Sheets. Returns `INVALID_ARGUMENT` if downloading a specific revision on the file is unsupported.

Response

Response media type: application/json. The table describes the pinned successful response. Referenced models link to their complete fields.

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
$	Model	Root	Expand Gets the latest state of a long-running operation Clients can use this method to poll the operation result at intervals as recommended by the API service — response body

Referenced models: Gets the latest state of a long-running operation Clients can use this method to poll the operation result at intervals as recommended by the API service — response body

Policy, approvals and errors

SDK function policy ID: google.drive_files_download. Catalog operation: drive.files.download. Rules can name either ID; function rules distinguish managed calls and conservatively cover raw calls sharing the route. Existing grant permissions and policy rules apply. wait() returns an immediate result or waits for a required approval; it never approves the request itself. Persist the approval ID to resume after a restart.

Provider errors retain their response; JSON decoding raises ProviderAPIError for provider failures. ManagedOperationError identifies contract/input/retention errors. See error handling and provider-specific behavior. Sensitive input may be refused before approval storage. A decoding error never resubmits a write.

Required provider scopes: ["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file", "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly"]

Official provider source