Google Drive Download used as a Tool in Ai Agent doesn’t provide binary data

Questions
,
1

Describe the problem/error/question

Adding Google Drive to download a file as a Tool to AI Agent doesn’t provide any binary data. The only thing returned back is a json with fileId that was used for download, but no binary payload is present.

This issue was already reported here : Google Drive Download used as a Tool in Ai Agent doesn't provide binary data

And even though an answer was given, I did not really get it.
Is this normal behaviour ?

What is the error message (if any)?

No real error message, binary data is simply not returned.

Please share your workflow

Share the output returned by the last node

[{
“prompt”: “My prompt”,
“File”: “1GBxPBFzW3Jf3DQJIXGHrTC-USPFuh0l_”,
“File_Name”: “My_filename.pdf”,
“toolCallId”: “1bbc0e12-82d0-4412-b8c7-d54da6cb2ea3”
}]

Information on your n8n setup

  • n8n version: 1.120.3
  • Database (default: SQLite): SQlite
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main): own, main
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app): Docker image running in Kubernetes
  • Operating system: Ubuntu
2

This is currently expected behavior when using Google Drive Download as a tool in AI Agents. The tool returns only metadata (like fileId) rather than the actual binary data because AI agents are designed to work with text-based information, not binary files.

If you need to process the actual file content, you’ll need to use a regular Google Drive node outside the AI Agent context, or consider alternative approaches like:

• Use the AI Agent to get the file ID, then pass it to a separate Google Drive Download node

• Convert files to text format first (for documents) so the AI can work with the content

• Use HTTP Request tool to download files if you have direct download URLs

This limitation exists because binary data isn’t suitable for AI processing within the agent workflow.