Control Google Workspace With Claude

Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, all controlled by AI. Google Workspace CLI is a free, open source tool built by Google that gives Claude direct access to your entire Workspace. Here's how to set it up in about 5 minutes.

What You'll Learn

• Step-by-step install and authentication walkthrough
• 100+ agent skills, 10 personas, and 40+ ready-made recipes
• How to connect it to Claude Code, Gemini CLI, or any AI agent

What Is Google Workspace CLI?

Google Workspace CLI (gws) is a free, open-source command-line tool that gives AI agents direct access to your entire Google Workspace: Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Chat, Forms, Meet, Tasks, Slides, Contacts, and more. It reads Google's Discovery Service at runtime and builds its command surface dynamically. When Google adds a new API endpoint, gws picks it up automatically.

Why this changes everything: before this tool, AI could only talk ABOUT your Google data. Now it can actually go INTO your account and take actions: read emails, create documents, organize files, manage your calendar. It ships with 100+ agent skills, 10 personas, and 40+ recipes. And it's free, open source, and built by Google.

Install In 5 Minutes

You need Node.js 18+. Then:

1. Install the CLI

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli

Pre-built native binaries are bundled, so no Rust toolchain is required.

2. Set up authentication

gws auth setup

This creates a Google Cloud project, enables APIs, and configures OAuth. One-time only.

3. Sign in

gws auth login

A browser opens and you approve permissions. Credentials are encrypted with AES-256-GCM in your OS keyring. Tip: use -s drive,gmail,sheets,calendar to select specific services.

4. Test it

gws drive files list

If you see your files, everything works.

Connect To Claude Code

Run:

gws mcp -s drive,gmail,calendar

This starts an MCP server that Claude connects to automatically. Now Claude can read your emails, create spreadsheets, and manage your calendar, all from the same conversation.

For Gemini CLI:

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

Core Service Skills And Helpers

18 core skills give your AI agent direct access to every Google Workspace service. The most-used ones:

• Drive: manage files, folders, shared drives. Upload, download, share, search.
• Gmail: send, read, search, label, manage filters and drafts.
• Sheets: read/write spreadsheets. Create, append rows, format cells.
• Calendar: manage events. Create, update, check availability, invite.
• Docs/Slides: read/write documents and presentations.
• Chat/Tasks/Forms: messaging, task management, form creation.

15 helper shortcuts for common operations:

• Gmail Triage: unread inbox summary. Gmail Send: send with one command.
• Sheets Append/Read: add rows or read ranges instantly.
• Calendar Agenda/Insert: view upcoming events or create new ones.
• Standup Report: today's meetings plus open tasks as a summary.
• Meeting Prep: agenda, attendees, and linked docs for your next meeting.
• Email to Task: convert a Gmail message into a Tasks entry.
• Weekly Digest: this week's meetings plus unread count plus deadlines.

10 Personas And 40+ Recipes

Personas are role-based skill bundles. Install one and your AI agent handles an entire job function:

• Executive Assistant: triage inboxes, coordinate meetings, draft responses.
• Project Manager: track tasks, schedule standups, share status docs.
• Sales Ops: track deals, schedule calls, send follow-ups, manage pipeline.
• Content Creator: manage editorial calendars, collaborate on drafts.
• IT Admin: monitor audit logs, manage permissions. Plus 5 more.

40+ recipes chain multiple actions into complete workflows:

• Email: label and archive, draft from doc, save attachments to Drive, create filters.
• Drive: organize folders, share with team, bulk download, find large files.
• Sheets: expense tracker, log deals, generate reports, create events from rows.
• Calendar: block focus time, find free slots, reschedule with auto-notify.
• Cross-service: post-mortem setup, team announcements, feedback forms, doc sharing.

Real Use Cases And Advanced Features

Morning standup in 10 seconds. The standup-report skill pulls today's events, lists open tasks, and generates a formatted summary. What took 10 minutes of app-switching now takes one command.

Client invoice processing. Find invoice emails, save attachments to Drive, create a tracking spreadsheet. Three recipes chained, runs in under a minute.

Inbox Zero. Use gmail-triage plus label-and-archive plus create-filter plus email-to-task. All without opening Gmail.

Advanced features for power users (the exact flags for each live in the repo docs):

• Dry Run Mode: preview API requests before executing.
• Auto-Pagination: stream all results as NDJSON.
• Schema Introspection: see the full request/response schema with gws schema [method].
• Headless/CI Mode: export credentials for pipelines with gws auth export.
• Service Accounts: server-to-server automation, no user login needed.
• Model Armor: scan responses for prompt injection.

Quick Command Reference

The commands you'll use most:

gws auth setup                                       One-time Cloud project + OAuth setup
gws auth login -s drive,gmail,sheets,calendar        Sign in with specific services
gws mcp -s drive,gmail,calendar                      Start MCP server for Claude
gws drive files list                                 List Drive files
gws gmail users messages list                        List emails
gws schema drive.files.list                          Show full API schema for any method
npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli   Install all 100+ skills

Start here: 1) Run gws auth setup and gws auth login. 2) Try gws drive files list. 3) Connect to Claude with gws mcp -s drive,gmail,calendar. Once your AI agent reads your real emails, you'll see what's possible.

GitHub repository: https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli. Star the repo, read the full docs, and explore all 100+ agent skills, 10 personas, and 40+ recipes.

Go Deeper

• Printable PDF version of this guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VhMNvTFTP44_qIlM8FpvMKg5vE-BFVXj/view?usp=drivesdk

Want the whole system installed live, with Cooper on the call? Build Your Own AI, the two week sprint runs the first two weeks of August.

Or get a new working tool every Monday inside The AI Operator community on Whop.