MCP fork of Google Workspace CLI

gws

One CLI for all of Google Workspace — built for humans and AI agents.

Drive, Gmail, Calendar, and every Workspace API. Zero boilerplate. Structured JSON output. 40+ agent skills included.

[!NOTE]

This is not an officially supported Google product.

⬇️ [Download the latest release for your OS](https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/releases)

gws doesn't ship a static list of commands. It reads Google's own Discovery Service at runtime and builds its entire command surface dynamically. When Google Workspace adds an API endpoint or method, gws picks it up automatically.

[!IMPORTANT]

This project is under active development. Expect breaking changes as we march toward v1.0.

Contents

• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Why gws?
• Authentication
• AI Agent Skills
• Advanced Usage
• Environment Variables
• Exit Codes
• Architecture
• Troubleshooting
• Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ — for npm install (or download a pre-built binary from GitHub Releases)
• A Google Cloud project — required for OAuth credentials. You can create one via the Google Cloud Console or with the gcloud CLI or with the gws auth setup command.
• A Google account with access to Google Workspace

Installation

The recommended way to install gws is to download the pre-built binary for your OS and architecture from the [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/releases) page. Extract the archive and place the gws binary in your $PATH.

For convenience, you can also use npm to automate downloading the appropriate binary from GitHub Releases:

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli

Or build from source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli --locked

A Nix flake is also available at github:googleworkspace/cli

nix run github:googleworkspace/cli

On macOS and Linux, you can also install via Homebrew:

brew install googleworkspace-cli

Quick Start

gws auth setup     # walks you through Google Cloud project config

gws auth login # subsequent OAuth login gws drive files list --params '{"pageSize": 5}'

Why gws?

For humans — stop writing curl calls against REST docs. gws gives you --help on every resource, --dry-run to preview requests, and auto‑pagination.

For AI agents — every response is structured JSON. Pair it with the included agent skills and your LLM can manage Workspace without custom tooling.

# List the 10 most recent files

gws drive files list --params '{"pageSize": 10}'

Create a spreadsheet

gws sheets spreadsheets create --json '{"properties": {"title": "Q1 Budget"}}'

Send a Chat message

gws chat spaces messages create \ --params '{"parent": "spaces/xyz"}' \ --json '{"text": "Deploy complete."}' \ --dry-run

Introspect any method's request/response schema

gws schema drive.files.list

Stream paginated results as NDJSON

gws drive files list --params '{"pageSize": 100}' --page-all | jq -r '.files[].name'

Authentication

The CLI supports multiple auth workflows so it works on your laptop, in CI, and on a server.

Which setup should I use?

Interactive (local desktop)

Credentials are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) with the key stored in your OS keyring (or ~/.config/gws/.encryption_key when GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_KEYRING_BACKEND=file).

gws auth setup       # one-time: creates a Cloud project, enables APIs, logs you in

gws auth login # subsequent scope selection and login

gws auth setup requires the gcloud CLI. If you don't have gcloud, use the manual setup below instead.

[!WARNING]

Scope limits in testing mode: If your OAuth app is unverified (testing mode),

Google limits consent to ~25 scopes. The recommended scope preset includes 85+

scopes and will fail for unverified apps (especially for @gmail.com accounts).

Choose individual services instead to filter the scope picker:

`bash

gws auth login -s drive,gmail,sheets

`

Manual OAuth setup (Google Cloud Console)

Use this when gws auth setup cannot automate project/client creation, or when you want explicit control.

1. Open Google Cloud Console in the target project:

• OAuth consent screen: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials/consent?project=
• Credentials: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials?project=

1. Configure OAuth branding/audience if prompted:

• App type: External (testing mode is fine)

1. Add your account under Test users
2. Create an OAuth client:

• Type: Desktop app

1. Download the client JSON and save it to:

• ~/.config/gws/client_secret.json

[!IMPORTANT]

You must add yourself as a test user. In the OAuth consent screen, click

Test users → Add users and enter your Google account email. Without this,

login will fail with a generic "Access blocked" error.

Then run:

gws auth login

Browser-assisted auth (human or agent)

You can complete OAuth either manually or with browser automation.

• Human flow: run gws auth login, open the printed URL, approve scopes.
• Agent-assisted flow: the agent opens the URL, selects account, handles consent prompts, and returns control once the localhost callback succeeds.

If consent shows "Google hasn't verified this app" (testing mode), click Continue. If scope checkboxes appear, select required scopes (or Select all) before continuing.

Headless / CI (export flow)

1. Complete interactive auth on a machine with a browser.
2. Export credentials:

   gws auth export --unmasked > credentials.json

1. On the headless machine:

   export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE=/path/to/credentials.json

gws drive files list # just works

Service Account (server-to-server)

Point to your key file; no login needed.

export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE=/path/to/service-account.json

gws drive files list

Pre-obtained Access Token

Useful when another tool (e.g. gcloud) already mints tokens for your environment.

export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_TOKEN=$(gcloud auth print-access-token)

Precedence

Environment variables can also live in a .env file.

AI Agent Skills

The repo ships 100+ Agent Skills (SKILL.md files) — one for every supported API, plus higher-level helpers for common workflows and 50 curated recipes for Gmail, Drive, Docs, Calendar, and Sheets. See the full Skills Index for the complete list.

# Install all skills at once

npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli

Or pick only what you need

npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/tree/main/skills/gws-drive npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/tree/main/skills/gws-gmail

OpenClaw setup

# Symlink all skills (stays in sync with repo)

ln -s $(pwd)/skills/gws-* ~/.openclaw/skills/

Or copy specific skills

cp -r skills/gws-drive skills/gws-gmail ~/.openclaw/skills/

The gws-shared skill includes an install block so OpenClaw auto-installs the CLI via npm if gws isn't on PATH.

Gemini CLI Extension

1. Authenticate the CLI first:

   gws auth setup

1. Install the extension into the Gemini CLI:

   gemini extensions install https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli

Installing this extension gives your Gemini CLI agent direct access to all gws commands and Google Workspace agent skills. Because gws handles its own authentication securely, you simply need to authenticate your terminal once prior to using the agent, and the extension will automatically inherit your credentials.

Advanced Usage

Multipart Uploads

gws drive files create --json '{"name": "report.pdf"}' --upload ./report.pdf

Pagination

Google Sheets — Shell Escaping

Sheets ranges use ! which bash interprets as history expansion. Always wrap values in single quotes:

# Read cells A1:C10 from "Sheet1"

gws sheets spreadsheets values get \ --params '{"spreadsheetId": "SPREADSHEET_ID", "range": "Sheet1!A1:C10"}'

Append rows

gws sheets spreadsheets values append \ --params '{"spreadsheetId": "ID", "range": "Sheet1!A1", "valueInputOption": "USER_ENTERED"}' \ --json '{"values": [["Name", "Score"], ["Alice", 95]]}'

Helper Commands

Some services ship hand-crafted helper commands alongside the auto-generated Discovery surface. Helper commands are prefixed with + so they are visually distinct and never collide with Discovery-generated method names.

Time-aware helpers (+agenda, +standup-report, +weekly-digest, +meeting-prep) automatically use your Google account timezone (fetched from Calendar Settings API and cached for 24 hours). Override with --timezone/--tz on +agenda, or set the --timezone flag for explicit control.

Run gws --help to see both Discovery methods and helper commands together.

gws gmail --help      # shows +send, +reply, +reply-all, +forward, +triage, +watch …

gws calendar --help # shows +insert, +agenda … gws drive --help # shows +upload …

Full helper reference:

| gmail | +send | Send a