Gmail Skill - Email & Contacts Access

Read, search, and send Gmail emails. Access Google contacts.

CRITICAL: Email Sending Confirmation Required

Before sending ANY email, you MUST get explicit user confirmation.

When the user asks to send an email:

1. First, show them the complete email details:
   • From (which account)
   • To
   • CC/BCC (if any)
   • Subject
   • Full body text
2. Ask: "Do you want me to send this email?"
3. ONLY run the send command AFTER the user explicitly confirms (e.g., "yes", "send it", "go ahead")
4. NEVER send an email without this confirmation, even if the user asked you to send it initially

This applies even when:

• The user says "send an email to X"
• You are in "dangerously skip permissions" mode
• The user seems to be in a hurry

Always confirm first. No exceptions.

First-Time Setup (One-Time, ~2 minutes)

On first run, the script will guide you through setup. You need to create a Google Cloud OAuth client once:

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a project (or select existing)
3. Enable Gmail API and People API (APIs & Services → Library)
4. Configure OAuth consent screen:
   • User Type: External
   • App name: Gmail Skill
   • Add yourself as test user
   • Add scopes: gmail.readonly, gmail.send, gmail.modify, contacts.readonly
5. Create OAuth client ID:
   • Application type: Desktop app
   • Download JSON → save as ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/credentials.json

Then just run any command - browser opens, you approve, done. Works for all your accounts.

Note: If you previously used gmail-reader, you'll need to re-authenticate to grant the new gmail.send scope.

Commands

Search Emails

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py search "query" [--max-results N] [--account EMAIL]

Query examples:

• from:john@example.com - from specific sender
• subject:meeting after:2026/01/01 - subject + date
• has:attachment filename:pdf - with PDF attachments
• is:unread - unread emails
• "exact phrase" - exact match

Read Email

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py read EMAIL_ID [--account EMAIL]

List Recent Emails

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py list [--max-results N] [--label LABEL] [--account EMAIL]

Send Email (Requires Confirmation)

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py send --to EMAIL --subject "Subject" --body "Body text" [--cc EMAIL] [--bcc EMAIL] [--account EMAIL]

Required arguments:

• --to / -t - Recipient email address
• --subject / -s - Email subject line
• --body / -b - Email body text

Optional arguments:

• --cc - CC recipients (comma-separated)
• --bcc - BCC recipients (comma-separated)
• --account / -a - Send from specific account

Example:

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py send \
  --to "recipient@example.com" \
  --subject "Meeting Tomorrow" \
  --body "Hi, just confirming our meeting at 2pm tomorrow." \
  --account work@company.com

Mark as Read

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py mark-read EMAIL_ID [--account EMAIL]

Mark as Unread

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py mark-unread EMAIL_ID [--account EMAIL]

Both mark-read and mark-unread support multiple IDs (comma-separated):

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py mark-read "id1,id2,id3" --account user@gmail.com

Mark Done (Archive)

Archives email(s) by removing from inbox. Equivalent to Gmail's 'e' keyboard shortcut.

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py mark-done EMAIL_ID [--account EMAIL]

Unarchive

Moves email(s) back to inbox (undo archive).

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py unarchive EMAIL_ID [--account EMAIL]

Star / Unstar

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py star EMAIL_ID [--account EMAIL]
python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py unstar EMAIL_ID [--account EMAIL]

All label commands support multiple IDs (comma-separated):

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py star "id1,id2,id3" --account user@gmail.com

Message format (Superhuman-compatible)

send and draft build multipart/alternative messages (plain text + simple HTML paragraphs, no hard line wraps, proper-case headers). Drafts created this way appear and edit cleanly in Superhuman, including threaded replies and attachments (tested 2026-10-08 with three canary drafts).

Extra options for both send and draft:

• --body-file PATH: read the body from a file (avoids shell quoting for long emails)
• --attach PATH: attach a file (repeatable)
• --reply-to-id MESSAGE_ID: thread the message as a reply (sets In-Reply-To/References and threadId). Available on send as well as draft.

Recommended outreach flow: create drafts in the right account and thread, the user reviews and sends from Superhuman, and only use send after explicit per-email confirmation.

Create Draft

Creates a draft email. Use --reply-to-id when replying to an existing email to ensure proper threading in email clients like Superhuman.

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py draft --to EMAIL --subject "Subject" --body "Body text" [--reply-to-id EMAIL_ID] [--cc EMAIL] [--bcc EMAIL] [--account EMAIL]

Required arguments:

• --to / -t - Recipient email address
• --subject / -s - Email subject line
• --body / -b - Email body text

Optional arguments:

• --reply-to-id / -r - Message ID to reply to (adds proper In-Reply-To and References headers for threading)
• --cc - CC recipients (comma-separated)
• --bcc - BCC recipients (comma-separated)
• --account / -a - Create draft in specific account

Example (new email):

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py draft \
  --to "recipient@example.com" \
  --subject "Draft for Review" \
  --body "Here's my draft message."

Example (reply to existing email):

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py draft \
  --to "sender@example.com" \
  --subject "Re: Original Subject" \
  --body "Thanks for your email..." \
  --reply-to-id 19b99b3127793843 \
  --account work@company.com

List Labels

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py labels [--account EMAIL]

List Contacts

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py contacts [--max-results N] [--account EMAIL]

Search Contacts

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py search-contacts "query" [--account EMAIL]

Manage Accounts

# List all authenticated accounts
python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py accounts

# Remove an account
python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py logout --account user@gmail.com

Multi-Account Support

Add accounts by using --account with a new email - browser opens for that account:

# First account (auto-authenticates)
python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py list

# Add work account
python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py list --account work@company.com

# Add personal account
python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py list --account personal@gmail.com

# Use specific account
python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py search "from:boss" --account work@company.com

Tokens are stored per-account in ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/tokens/

Examples

Find unread emails from this week

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py search "is:unread after:2026/01/01"

Read a specific email

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py read 18d5a3b2c1f4e5d6

Send a quick email

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py send \
  --to "friend@example.com" \
  --subject "Hello!" \
  --body "Just wanted to say hi."

Find someone's contact info

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py search-contacts "John Smith"

Check work email from personal machine

python3 ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/gmail_skill.py list --account work@company.com --max-results 5

Output

All commands output JSON for easy parsing.

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• pip install google-auth google-auth-oauthlib google-auth-httplib2 google-api-python-client requests

Security Notes

• Send confirmation required - Claude must always confirm with the user before sending emails
• Tokens stored locally in ~/.claude/skills/gmail-skill/tokens/
• Revoke access anytime: https://myaccount.google.com/permissions
• Apps in "testing" mode may require re-auth every 7 days (publish app to avoid)