Google Sheets source

Google Sheets sources let you expose spreadsheet data to AI agents without building an API. Ideal for lookup tables, configuration data, team directories, and lightweight datasets.

Connection fields

Field	Required	Description
Spreadsheet URL	Yes	The full URL of your Google Sheets spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz/edit

Datatape extracts the spreadsheet ID from the URL automatically.

The spreadsheet must be accessible to Datatape. You have two options:

Open the spreadsheet in Google Sheets
Click Share
Under General access, select Anyone with the link
Set the role to Viewer

Viewer access is sufficient. Datatape only reads data from sheets — it never writes or modifies cells.

Share the spreadsheet with the Datatape service account email address:

Open the spreadsheet in Google Sheets
Click Share
Add datatape@your-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com as a Viewer

This keeps the spreadsheet private while granting Datatape read access.

If you change the sharing settings after connecting the source, Datatape will lose access and tool executions will fail. Re-test the connection if you modify sharing.

Writing tools for Sheets data

When you create a tool backed by a Google Sheets source, you query the data using SQL-like syntax. Datatape maps sheets to tables and columns to fields.

-- Query the first sheet
SELECT * FROM Sheet1 WHERE region = '{{ region }}'

-- Query a named sheet
SELECT name, email FROM "Team Directory" WHERE department = '{{ dept }}'

Sheet names with spaces or special characters must be quoted with double quotes in your SQL templates.

Limitations

Limitation	Detail
Size	Best for spreadsheets under 10,000 rows. Larger sheets may cause slow tool responses.
Data types	All values are treated as strings. Use type casting in your SQL if needed.
Real-time sync	Data is read at query time. There is no caching — each tool call fetches fresh data.
Write access	Not supported. Datatape is read-only.
Multiple sheets	Each sheet in the spreadsheet is available as a separate table.
Formulas	Datatape reads computed values, not the underlying formulas.

Common connection issues

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
`Spreadsheet not found`	URL is incorrect or sheet was deleted	Verify the spreadsheet URL
`Permission denied`	Sharing settings do not include Datatape	Enable link sharing or share with the service account
`Sheet is empty`	The target sheet has no data	Add headers and at least one row of data
`Column not found`	Column name mismatch	Column names come from the first row (headers). Check for typos or extra spaces.

Testing the connection

Click Test connection before saving. Datatape verifies that it can read the spreadsheet metadata and list available sheets.

Source row showing a green 'Connected' badge after a successful test

Security notes

Spreadsheet URLs are encrypted at rest
Data is fetched over HTTPS via the Google Sheets API
Each source is scoped to your organization

Google Sheets

On this page