Gmail MCP

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A1 Gmail MCP lets an AI app work with your Gmail mailbox in plain language. Search and read mail, prepare replies as drafts, send them when you are ready, keep labels tidy and use the trash instead of permanent deletion.

It uses the Gmail API with your Google account. It distinguishes a draft you can still edit from a sent email that cannot be recalled, and makes the limits of the Gmail API explicit instead of implying that every mail task is reversible.

• 18 tools. Search and read messages and threads, send email directly or through drafts, manage the draft lifecycle, labels and the trash.
• Send deliberately. The draft → review → send path is first-class; sending is marked destructive, and the server never re-sends after an ambiguous failure — an email cannot be unsent.
• The trash is the safety net. Removing mail goes through the reversible trash (about 30 days); there is deliberately no permanent message delete tool.
• Bounded reading. Decoded bodies are truncated at an explicit limit and attachments come back as metadata, so a long newsletter cannot silently flood the conversation.
• Minimal Google scope. It uses gmail.modify only — no permanent deletion and no access to Gmail settings.

Start with a read-only question:

Show my unread emails from the last week and tell me which ones need a reply.

Connect the server · Explore use cases · Open technical documentation

See it work in a minute

You: What is unread in my inbox from this week about the Acme contract?

Assistant: Searches with Gmail query syntax and shows senders, subjects, dates and snippets. Nothing changes.

You: Draft a reply to the latest one: we send the signed copy on Friday.

Assistant: Creates a draft in the same thread and shows it for review. Nothing is sent.

You: Send it.

Assistant: Sends the draft. Sending is a separate, explicitly destructive step, so your AI app can ask for confirmation first.

Contents

• Quick start
• What you can ask it to do
• How mail changes
• What can change
• Getting access
• Configuration
• Data, limits and background work
• Technical documentation
• Support

Quick start

You need Node.js 20+, a Google account and OAuth credentials from a Google Cloud project with the Gmail API enabled.

1. Prepare Google OAuth access.
2. Add the server to your AI app.
3. Ask the read-only question above.

codex mcp add google-gmail \
  --env GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id \
  --env GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret \
  --env GOOGLE_GMAIL_REFRESH_TOKEN=your_refresh_token \
  -- npx -y mcp-google-gmail@latest

codex mcp list

claude mcp add \
  --env GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id \
  --env GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret \
  --env GOOGLE_GMAIL_REFRESH_TOKEN=your_refresh_token \
  --transport stdio --scope user google-gmail \
  -- npx -y mcp-google-gmail@latest

claude mcp list

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-google-gmail@latest"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret",
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_REFRESH_TOKEN": "your_refresh_token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-gmail": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-google-gmail@latest"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret",
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_REFRESH_TOKEN": "your_refresh_token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "google-gmail": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-google-gmail@latest"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_ID": "${input:gmail_client_id}",
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET": "${input:gmail_client_secret}",
        "GOOGLE_GMAIL_REFRESH_TOKEN": "${input:gmail_refresh_token}"
      }
    }
  },
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "gmail_client_id", "description": "Google OAuth client ID" },
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "gmail_client_secret", "description": "Google OAuth client secret", "password": true },
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "gmail_refresh_token", "description": "Google OAuth refresh token", "password": true }
  ]
}

What you can ask it to do

Triage the inbox

• Show unread messages from the last seven days and group them by sender.
• Find the conversation with Acme about the contract and summarize it, oldest to newest.
• Which messages have attachments waiting for me? Show subjects and file names.

Write and send email

• Draft a reply in this thread saying the signed copy goes out on Friday.
• Show me the draft, tighten the wording, then send it.
• Send a short status email to the team, with the manager in CC.

Keep the mailbox organized

• Create a label Receipts/2026 and apply it to the matching messages.
• Mark this week's newsletters as read and archive them.
• Move that thread to the trash — and restore it if I change my mind.

How mail changes

1. The safe path to sending is a draft: create_draft prepares the email, get_draft shows it for review, send_draft sends it. send_message skips the draft and sends immediately.
2. A sent email is externally irreversible. After a timeout or a 5xx error the server does not re-send; search in:sent before trying again, because a replayed send would be a double-sent email.
3. Removing a message or thread means trashing it. manage_trash is reversible for about 30 days; there is deliberately no permanent-delete tool.
4. Drafts are the exception: update_draft replaces the whole draft (the API has no partial edit) and delete_draft is permanent, because drafts skip the trash.

Every call works on one mailbox — the account that granted the token. Decoded bodies are truncated at a configurable limit with explicit flags, and attachments come back as metadata only; attachment content is fetched through raw_request deliberately.

What can change

The AI client controls confirmation prompts. The server marks reads, writes and destructive tools so the client can distinguish an inspection from a live change.