Summary

Google Sheets has a core UX feature: the fill handle (the small blue square at the bottom-right of a selection). Dragging it copies formulas, formatting, and auto-increments sequences (dates, numbers) into adjacent cells. There is currently no MCP equivalent of this operation.

The Google Sheets API exposes this as AutoFillRequest in spreadsheets.batchUpdate, but it is not available through the MCP.

Use Case

When appending a new row to a structured spreadsheet (e.g., a daily tracker), the typical workflow is:

1. Select the last populated row
2. Drag the fill handle down to create a new row with all formulas adjusted to the new row
3. Edit only the manual input cells

This is the most natural way to extend a spreadsheet that mixes manual inputs and formulas. Without AutoFillRequest, users must either:

• Manually perform step 1-2 in the Google Sheets UI before using the MCP for step 3
• Reverse-engineer every formula from computed values (the MCP can only read values, not formulas) and rewrite them — error-prone and fragile

Proposed Solution

Expose AutoFillRequest through the existing spreadsheets.batchUpdate endpoint (or as a dedicated autofill_sheet_range tool). The API call is straightforward:

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "autoFill": {
        "useAlternateSeries": false,
        "range": {
          "sheetId": 0,
          "startRowIndex": 28,
          "endRowIndex": 30,
          "startColumnIndex": 0,
          "endColumnIndex": 41
        },
        "sourceAndDestination": {
          "source": {
            "sheetId": 0,
            "startRowIndex": 28,
            "endRowIndex": 29,
            "startColumnIndex": 0,
            "endColumnIndex": 41
          },
          "dimension": "ROWS",
          "fillLength": 1
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Reference

• Google Sheets API — AutoFillRequest

Related

• Issue Feature Request: Add CopyPasteRequest support for Google Sheets (batch_update_spreadsheet) #496 requests CopyPasteRequest support — AutoFillRequest is complementary: CopyPaste duplicates exactly, AutoFill extends sequences intelligently
• Both would be naturally exposed through a generic batch_update_spreadsheet tool