Google Drive Collaboration

Share scripts, tools, and workflows with your team using Google Drive for Desktop. This approach provides a simple “source of truth” that syncs automatically across all collaborators — no Git knowledge required.

Status: This feature is in early testing as of March 2026. We’re gathering feedback to understand how well this approach works for different team sizes and use cases. See Limitations for current constraints.

Overview

Google Drive for Desktop creates a local drive letter (typically G:\) that mirrors your cloud storage. Files you save there sync automatically to all other machines signed into the same Google account (or shared Google Drive folder).

Benefits for NORA users:

• Single source of truth — Scripts and workflows live in one location that everyone accesses
• Automatic sync — Changes propagate to team members without manual steps
• Identical paths everywhere — G:\My Drive\NORA\scripts\report.py is the exact same path on every machine. No path conversion, no variables, no “works on my machine” problems
• Shared outputs — Workflow outputs written to G:\ appear on all team members’ machines automatically
• No version control learning curve — Familiar folder/file experience
• Works with Tool Library Source Sync — NORA tracks the original G:\ path and detects changes across all machines

Prerequisites

Before setting up:

1. Google Account — Personal or Google Workspace account
2. Google Drive for Desktop installed — Download from Google
3. NORA installed on all collaborating machines
4. Same dependencies installed on each machine (Python, Node.js, etc. as needed by your scripts)

Setup

Step 1: Install Google Drive for Desktop

1. Download Google Drive for Desktop from Google Support
2. Install and sign in with your Google account
3. After installation, you’ll see a new drive letter (typically G:\) in File Explorer
4. Your Google Drive files appear under G:\My Drive\

Step 2: Create a Shared NORA Folder

Create a folder structure for your team’s scripts and workflows:

G:\My Drive\NORA\
├── scripts/           # Reusable scripts (Python, Node.js, PowerShell)
│   ├── data-cleanup.py
│   ├── email-sender.js
│   └── report-generator.ps1
├── workflows/         # Workflow config files
│   ├── daily-report.json
│   └── email-triage-workflow.js
├── configs/           # Shared configuration files
│   └── api-endpoints.json
├── outputs/           # Workflow outputs (reports, exports, logs)
│   ├── reports/
│   ├── exports/
│   └── logs/
└── README.txt         # Team documentation

Outputs folder: When workflows write results to G:\My Drive\NORA\outputs\, every team member sees those results automatically. No need to email reports or share files manually.

Tip: Use clear naming conventions your team agrees on. Include version numbers in filenames if needed (data-cleanup-v2.py).

Step 3: Share with Team Members

For personal Google accounts:
1. In Google Drive (web), right-click your NORA folder
2. Click Share → Add collaborators by email
3. Set permissions to Editor so everyone can modify files

For Google Workspace (corporate accounts):
1. Consider using a Shared Drive (Team Drive) for better team management
2. Files in Shared Drives are owned by the organization, not individuals
3. Team members automatically get access based on group membership

Step 4: Configure Other Machines

On each collaborating machine:

1. Install Google Drive for Desktop
2. Sign in with the account that has access to the shared folder
3. Wait for initial sync to complete (check the Drive icon in the system tray)
4. Verify the folder exists at the expected path (e.g., G:\My Drive\NORA\)

Using Shared Scripts in NORA

Reference Scripts by Drive Path

When creating workflow nodes, use the Google Drive path for your scripts:

{
  "command": "python \"G:\\My Drive\\NORA\\scripts\\data-cleanup.py\"",
  "workingDir": "G:\\My Drive\\NORA\\scripts"
}

All team members will reference the same path since Google Drive for Desktop uses consistent drive letter mounting.

Tool Library Integration

When you create a tool from a script stored on Google Drive:

1. The Source Sync feature tracks the original path (G:\My Drive\NORA\scripts\my-script.py)
2. When you edit the script, NORA shows “Out of Sync” on the tool
3. Click Sync to update the bundled tool with the latest changes
4. All team members see the updated source path and can sync their local tool copies

Why G:\ makes Source Sync powerful: Because every machine has the same G:\ drive letter and the same folder structure, the originalSourcePath stored in each tool is valid on every machine. Sam creates a tool pointing to G:\My Drive\NORA\scripts\data-cleanup.py — Maria’s NORA can check for changes at the exact same path without any configuration.

Important: Each team member should create their own tool instance initially, pointing to the shared script. The Tool Library itself (stored in ~/.nora/tools/) remains local to each machine.

Workflow Configs

You can also store workflow configuration files on Google Drive:

1. Save your workflow .json file to G:\My Drive\NORA\workflows\
2. Add this folder to NORA’s Workflow Folders in Settings
3. Team members add the same folder path to their NORA settings
4. Everyone sees the same workflows in their config file selector

Example: Shared Email Triage Workflow

Here’s a practical example based on our testing:

Folder structure:

G:\My Drive\NORA\
├── ai-chat-cli.js           # CLI script for AI interactions
└── email-triage-workflow.js  # Node.js workflow script

Team setup:

What happens:

1. Sam edits ai-chat-cli.js on the office desktop
2. Google Drive syncs the change to the cloud (seconds to minutes)
3. Maria on her laptop sees the file update automatically
4. Maria runs the workflow — it uses the updated script
5. Both machines have consistent behavior because they reference the same source

Dependency Management

Shared scripts work across machines only if dependencies are installed on each machine.

Check Script Requirements

Before sharing a script, document its requirements:

# data-cleanup.py
# Requirements: pip install pandas openpyxl

// email-sender.js
// Requirements: npm install nodemailer

Team Onboarding Checklist

Create a README in your shared folder:

# NORA Team Setup

## Required Software
- Python 3.10+ (https://python.org)
- Node.js 18+ (https://nodejs.org)
- Google Drive for Desktop

## Python Dependencies
pip install pandas openpyxl requests

## Node.js Dependencies
cd "G:\My Drive\NORA\scripts"
npm install nodemailer axios

## NORA Configuration
1. Add "G:\My Drive\NORA\workflows" to Workflow Folders in Settings
2. Configure your AI API keys (each person uses their own keys)

Conflict Handling

Google Drive handles file conflicts differently than Git:

Low-Risk Files (Scripts)

For scripts that one person primarily maintains:
– Google Drive typically syncs the latest version
– If two people edit simultaneously, Google creates a conflict copy (filename (conflict).py)
– Check for conflict copies periodically and resolve manually

Higher-Risk: Workflow Configs

Workflow JSON files can have more complex merge scenarios:
– Avoid editing the same workflow simultaneously
– Use a naming convention for work-in-progress files (daily-report-WIP-sam.json)
– Consolidate changes into the main file when ready

Best Practices

1. Communicate — Let team members know when you’re editing shared files
2. Work on separate files when possible — Create your own workflow variants
3. Check sync status — Look at the Google Drive system tray icon before editing
4. Review conflict copies — Google creates filename (conflict).ext files; resolve them promptly

Limitations

Current constraints with this approach:

Coordination for Scheduled Workflows

Schedule configuration is stored locally on each machine (~/.nora/config/schedules.json) and is not synced via Google Drive. This means:

• No duplicate runs: Only the person who created the schedule will run it
• Coverage risk: If that person is absent (vacation, machine off, etc.), the workflow simply won’t run

The coordination challenge is ensuring coverage, not preventing duplicates.

Simple Approach: Communicate Schedule Ownership

1. Choose one machine as the “schedule runner”
2. Only enable scheduled workflows on that machine
3. Other machines run workflows manually or on-demand
4. Document which machine owns which schedules

Example Setup

Office Desktop (Sam)     → Runs daily reports (9 AM schedule)
Home Laptop (Sam)        → On-demand only
Remote Server            → Runs nightly backups (2 AM schedule)

Future Enhancement: We’re exploring more sophisticated coordination options for teams, including automatic failover when schedule owners are absent. Stay tuned for updates.

Folder Structure Recommendations

Small Team (2-3 people)

G:\My Drive\NORA\
├── scripts/
├── workflows/
└── README.txt

Medium Team (4-10 people)

G:\My Drive\NORA\
├── scripts/
│   ├── data-processing/
│   ├── email/
│   └── reporting/
├── workflows/
│   ├── production/      # Stable, tested workflows
│   ├── staging/         # Testing new workflows
│   └── personal/        # Individual experiments
│       ├── sam/
│       └── maria/
├── configs/
└── docs/
    └── team-setup.md

Google Workspace: Use Shared Drives

For corporate teams using Google Workspace:

Team Drive: Automation Team
├── NORA/
│   ├── scripts/
│   ├── workflows/
│   └── configs/

Benefits of Shared Drives:
– Files owned by organization, not individuals
– Automatic access management via Google Admin
– Better handling of employee transitions

Troubleshooting

Script Not Found

Problem: NORA can’t find a script at G:\My Drive\...

Solutions:
1. Check Google Drive sync status (system tray icon)
2. Verify the file exists on Google Drive web
3. Confirm the exact path (case-sensitive on some systems)
4. Check if the file is in “Cloud only” mode — right-click → “Available offline”

Sync Appears Stuck

Problem: Changes aren’t appearing on other machines

Solutions:
1. Check internet connection on both machines
2. Look at Google Drive system tray → Click to see sync status
3. Sign out and back into Google Drive for Desktop
4. Check for Google Drive service outages

Permission Denied

Problem: Can’t save to proposed file to Google Drive path

Solutions:
1. Verify you have Editor access to the shared folder
2. Check if another application has the file open
3. Close and reopen NORA
4. Right-click the folder in File Explorer → Properties → Security tab

Drive Letter Different

Problem: One machine uses G:\ but another uses H:\

Solutions:
1. Google Drive for Desktop settings → Choose drive letter (consistent across machines)
2. For IT/admins: Enforce a consistent drive letter organization-wide via the Windows registry:
HKLM\Software\Google\DriveFS
DefaultMountPoint = "G:"
This is a Google-supported configuration — see Google’s admin documentation for details.

Comparison with Other Approaches

Choose Google Drive when:
– Team has limited Git experience
– Simple file sharing is sufficient
– You’re already using Google Workspace
– Quick setup is more important than advanced versioning

Consider Git instead when:
– You need branching and merge conflict resolution
– Audit trail of all changes is critical
– Team is comfortable with command line or Git clients
– Complex multi-version workflows

FAQ

Can I use a different drive letter?

Yes. In Google Drive for Desktop settings:
1. Click the gear icon → Preferences
2. Under “Google Drive streaming location”, change the drive letter
3. Ensure all team members use the same letter for consistency

For organizations: You can enforce a consistent drive letter across all machines using the Windows registry key HKLM\Software\Google\DriveFS\DefaultMountPoint. This ensures every machine maps Google Drive to the same letter (e.g., G:), which is critical for NORA path consistency.

What about Windows vs Mac?

Mac users will have a different mount path (/Volumes/GoogleDrive/ or ~/Google Drive/). Scripts referenced by absolute paths will need adjustment or use relative paths within the NORA working directory.

Can I mix Google Drive and Git?

Yes. You could:
– Store scripts in a Git repo for version control
– Clone the repo into your Google Drive folder
– Team members each clone to their own Google Drive

This adds complexity but gives you both easy sync and proper versioning.

How much Google Drive storage do I need?

Scripts and workflow configs are tiny (kilobytes). Even a free 15GB Google account can store thousands of scripts. Storage concerns only arise with large data files.

Next Steps

• Tool Library — Learn how Source Sync works with shared scripts
• Settings & Configuration — Add Google Drive folders to Workflow Folders