DocSync

doc is a Python CLI that syncs one Google Doc's tabs to local XML files and back using incremental Google Docs API patches.

Current feature scope

• doc pull: materialize tabs as XML files and store sync metadata in .docsync_state.json.
• doc push: strict mode, aborts if remote revision changed since last pull.
• doc push -f: best-effort mode with a safe rebase policy; aborts on unsafe overlap.
• doc push -f --dry-run: preview operations and conflicts without writing.

Safety model

• Strict mode never writes when revision drift is detected.
• Force mode only applies minimal incremental edits (no full-document replacement).
• Force mode aborts with conflict reports for overlapping/unsafe edits.

Assumptions for v1

• Tabs are represented in editable XML (.xml) files.
• Simultaneous edits are uncommon; strict mode is default.
• Authentication uses Application Default Credentials (ADC).

Google authentication

The CLI uses the standard Google ADC flow from google-auth.

You have two common options:

1. User OAuth (great for local development):

   Important for now: to request Docs/Drive scopes, you need your own OAuth client ID file. The default gcloud auth application-default login client can be blocked for non-Cloud scopes. See Google's ADC troubleshooting guidance: https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/authentication/troubleshoot-adc#access_blocked_when_using_scopes

   Steps:

   • Create an OAuth client in Google Cloud Console (Desktop app client is fine for local dev).

   • Download the client JSON file.

   • Run:

     gcloud auth application-default login \
       --client-id-file=/absolute/path/to/client_secret.json \
       --scopes="https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly,openid,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email"
     

   This is a temporary setup requirement until the project is reviewed/published and can use a simpler default flow.

2. Service account key (great for automation/CI):

   • Create a service account and JSON key in Google Cloud.
   • Share the target Google Doc with that service account email.
   • Point ADC to the key file via GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS.

You can export that variable in your shell:

export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/absolute/path/to/service-account.json"

Or use a local .env file (loaded automatically by the CLI):

GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/absolute/path/to/service-account.json

Required scope used by this tool: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents.

Quickstart

1. Install:

   poetry install
   

2. Authenticate with Google APIs (Application Default Credentials).

3. Pull:

   poetry run doc pull <DOC_ID> --workspace . --verbose
   

   If you used an older Markdown-based workspace, run pull again to migrate files/state to XML.

4. Edit generated .xml files.

5. Push:

   poetry run doc push <DOC_ID> --workspace . --verbose
   

Force mode:

poetry run doc push <DOC_ID> --workspace . -f

For large documents, use incremental progress logs and tune batch size:

poetry run doc push <DOC_ID> --workspace . --verbose --batch-size 50

If you interrupt with Ctrl+C, DocSync now logs the current processing stage and stack context to .docsync.log by default. You can customize logging:

poetry run doc --log-file /tmp/docsync.log --log-level DEBUG push <DOC_ID> --verbose

PyPI and pipx

After publishing to PyPI, users can install globally with:

pipx install docsync

For maintainers, build and verify locally before upload:

poetry check
poetry build
poetry run python -m twine check dist/*

Publishing auth options:

• Preferred: PyPI Trusted Publishing (OIDC in CI; no local token needed).

• Alternative: PyPI API token (pypi-...) configured for Poetry:

  poetry config pypi-token.pypi <YOUR_PYPI_TOKEN>
  poetry publish
  

Do not upload credential files (.env, OAuth client secrets, service account keys).