gmail-agent

gmail-agent

Gmail for AI agents and the people who run them: search, read, download attachments, send, reply, forward, drafts, labels and trash.

gmail-agent is one small Python package with two faces:

• a CLI for agents that have a shell (Claude Code, Codex, Aider, your own scripts), with --json output
• an MCP server over stdio for clients like Claude Desktop and Claude Code

It talks directly to the Gmail API from your machine using your own Google Cloud OAuth client, so there is no third-party server in between. You choose how much access it gets when you log in, from read-only up to full.

Why another one? A lot of real agent work with mail is about attachments: find last quarter's invoices, save them, read the PDFs. The hosted Gmail connectors can't save files to disk, and the most used open-source Gmail MCP server is archived. gmail-agent handles attachments well, shows you any write before it happens, and only offers the tools your login allows. See How it compares.

What it does

Read

• Search with Gmail syntax (from:, has:attachment, filename:pdf, newer_than:30d, ...), paginated
• Read a message or a whole thread as plain text (HTML mail is converted)
• List labels and drafts

Attachments

• List a message's attachments with name, type, size and part id
• Download from one message, or every attachment from every message matching a query
• Extract text from PDF and text attachments without saving them

Downloads never overwrite anything. If invoice.pdf exists, the next one becomes invoice_1.pdf, and you get the real paths back. Names are sanitized, so a file called ../../.ssh/config lands as config inside the folder you picked.

Write

• Send new mail with attachments, Cc/Bcc, plain text or HTML
• Reply and reply-all in the same thread (In-Reply-To, References and thread id are set, the original is quoted)
• Forward, including the original attachments
• Drafts: create, list, show, update, send, delete
• Labels: create, rename, delete, add to and remove from messages or threads
• Mark read or unread, star, archive
• Trash and untrash; permanent delete behind an explicit flag

Every write command takes --dry-run, which prints the exact API request and, for mail, the MIME message without changing anything. With --json, results include the ids of whatever was sent or created.

Quick start

You need uv (or pipx) and Python 3.11+.

uv tool install gmail-agent      # or: pipx install gmail-agent

For the latest unreleased changes: uv tool install git+https://github.com/dremok/gmail-agent.

Then set it up once (about 5 minutes, guided):

gmail-agent setup       # Google Cloud project, OAuth client and login; default access level is "modify"

gmail-agent status # shows the logged-in account and access level gmail-agent search "has:attachment newer_than:7d"

Then connect your agent. In Claude Code: /plugin install gmail-agent --marketplace dremok/gmail-agent. For Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Cursor and Claude Desktop, see MCP server.

How it compares

Checked against each project's source and docs in October 2026. Corrections are welcome as issues.

Use something else if:

• You want no setup, or use Claude on the web or your phone. The built-in connector is one click away.
• You need Drive, Calendar and Docs in the same server, or one server for a team over HTTP. google_workspace_mcp covers all of Workspace.
• You need Gmail filters, sending from an alias, your Gmail signature or inline images in outgoing mail. gmail-agent does none of these yet.
• You want a plain CLI for all of Google Workspace. googleworkspace/cli (gws) is a good one. It dropped its MCP server in version 0.8.0.

Coming from GongRzhe/Gmail-MCP-Server?

That server is archived. Moving takes a few minutes, and you can keep your Google Cloud project.

1. Install: uv tool install gmail-agent
2. Reuse your OAuth client, not your token. Setup checks the client, installs it and logs you in:

   gmail-agent setup --client-file ~/.gmail-mcp/gcp-oauth.keys.json

Do not copy GongRzhe's credentials.json by hand. Despite the name it is your login token, while gmail-agent's credentials.json is the OAuth client, and the token formats differ anyway. gmail-agent needs a Desktop app client. If yours is a Web application client, setup says so; create a Desktop client in the same project and pass that file instead.

1. Point your MCP client at gmail-agent. Replace npx @gongrzhe/server-gmail-autoauth-mcp with gmail-agent mcp, for example claude mcp add gmail --scope user -- gmail-agent mcp. For Claude Desktop, see MCP server.
2. Optional cleanup: revoke the old grant at myaccount.google.com/permissions and remove ~/.gmail-mcp.

Two behaviours differ on purpose: delete means trash unless you opt in, and the tool list shrinks to what your login allows. If tools seem to be missing, check the level with gmail-agent status.

Google Cloud setup

Gmail has no API keys for personal mail, so you create your own OAuth client in Google Cloud. It is free and you do it once. gmail-agent setup walks you through it and does what Google lets it do for you:

1. Project and Gmail API. If gcloud is installed and logged in, setup creates a project called gmail-agent- plus six random characters (it asks first) and enables the Gmail API. Without gcloud it opens the two console pages and asks for the project ID. --project ID uses a project you already have.
2. Consent screen and publishing. Google has no API for these, so setup opens the pages and tells you what to click: app name gmail-agent, audience External, then Publish app so the status is In production. Publishing avoids the 7-day login expiry of Testing mode, and you do not have to add yourself as a test user. Google calls the app unverified, which is expected for your own app and fine for personal use (it is capped at 100 users).
3. Desktop client. Setup opens the Clients page. Create a client of type Desktop app and click Download JSON (Google shows the secret only then). Setup spots the file in ~/Downloads, checks that it is a Desktop client from the right project, and installs it as ~/.config/gmail-agent/credentials.json, readable only by you. You can also pass --client-file PATH, or press Ctrl-C and paste the client ID and secret.
4. Login. A browser opens; pick your account. Google says "Google hasn't verified this app": click Continue and keep all boxes ticked. Setup checks the account and prints Set up: logged in as you@example.com with modify access.

Run it again whenever you like; it skips what is already done. Options: --scope LEVEL (see Access levels), --no-gcloud, and --no-browser, which prints the links instead of opening them (the login redirect goes to localhost, so the browser must run on the same machine).

Setting up by hand

The same steps without the wizard:

1. Create a project at console.cloud.google.com/projectcreate and make sure it is selected in the top bar.
2. Enable the Gmail API on the Gmail API page.
3. Configure the consent screen in Google Auth Platform: Get started, app name gmail-agent, your address as support and contact email, audience External, agree, Create.
4. Publish the app under Audience (Publish app, status In production). If you would rather stay in Testing mode, add your address under Test users instead, and expect to log in again every 7 days.
5. Create a Desktop client under Clients: Create client, application type Desktop app, Create, and download the JSON from the dialog. If you miss the download, create a new client.
6. Install it, either with gmail-agent setup --client-file ~/Downloads/client_secret_*.json, which also logs in, or by hand:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/gmail-agent

mv ~/Downloads/client_secret_*.json ~/.config/gmail-agent/credentials.json chmod 600 ~/.config/gmail-agent/credentials.json gmail-agent login # or: gmail-agent login --scope readonly

If something is missing later, the error names the fix: a deleted or expired client points back to gmail-agent setup, a