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.

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli

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

• Quick Start
• Why gws?
• Authentication
• AI Agent Skills
• MCP Server
• Advanced Usage
• Architecture
• Development

Quick Start

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli

gws auth setup     # walks you through Google Cloud project config + OAuth login
gws drive files list --params '{"pageSize": 5}'

Or build from source:

cargo install --path .

Why gws?

For humans — stop writing curl calls against REST docs. gws gives you tab‑completion, --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.

Interactive (local desktop)

Credentials are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) with the key stored in your OS keyring.

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

Requires the gcloud CLI to be installed and authenticated.

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=<PROJECT_ID>
   • Credentials: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials?project=<PROJECT_ID>
2. Configure OAuth branding/audience if prompted:
   • App type: External (testing mode is fine)
   • Add your account under Test users
3. Create an OAuth client:
   • Type: Desktop app
4. Download the client JSON and save it to:
   • ~/.config/gws/client_secret.json

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

3. 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

For Domain-Wide Delegation, add:

export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_IMPERSONATED_USER=admin@example.com

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

Priority	Source	Set via
1	Access token	GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_TOKEN
2	Credentials file	GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE
3	Encrypted credentials (OS keyring)	gws auth login
4	Plaintext credentials	~/.config/gws/credentials.json

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 github: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

2. 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.

MCP Server

gws mcp starts a Model Context Protocol server over stdio, exposing Google Workspace APIs as structured tools that any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Gemini CLI, VS Code, etc.) can call.

gws mcp -s drive                  # expose Drive tools
gws mcp -s drive,gmail,calendar   # expose multiple services
gws mcp -s all                    # expose all services (many tools!)

Configure in your MCP client:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gws": {
      "command": "gws",
      "args": ["mcp", "-s", "drive,gmail,calendar"]
    }
  }
}

Tip

Each service adds roughly 10–80 tools. Keep the list to what you actually need to stay under your client's tool limit (typically 50–100 tools).

Flag	Description
-s, --services <list>	Comma-separated services to expose, or all
-w, --workflows	Also expose workflow tools
-e, --helpers	Also expose helper tools

Advanced Usage

Multipart Uploads

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

Pagination

Flag	Description	Default
--page-all	Auto-paginate, one JSON line per page (NDJSON)	off
--page-limit <N>	Max pages to fetch	10
--page-delay <MS>	Delay between pages	100 ms

Model Armor (Response Sanitization)

Integrate Google Cloud Model Armor to scan API responses for prompt injection before they reach your agent.

gws gmail users messages get --params '...' \
  --sanitize "projects/P/locations/L/templates/T"

Variable	Description
GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_SANITIZE_TEMPLATE	Default Model Armor template
GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_SANITIZE_MODE	warn (default) or block

Architecture

gws uses a two-phase parsing strategy:

1. Read argv[1] to identify the service (e.g. drive)
2. Fetch the service's Discovery Document (cached 24 h)
3. Build a clap::Command tree from the document's resources and methods
4. Re-parse the remaining arguments
5. Authenticate, build the HTTP request, execute

All output — success, errors, download metadata — is structured JSON.

Troubleshooting

API not enabled — accessNotConfigured

If a required Google API is not enabled for your GCP project, you will see a 403 error with reason accessNotConfigured:

{
  "error": {
    "code": 403,
    "message": "Gmail API has not been used in project 549352339482 ...",
    "reason": "accessNotConfigured",
    "enable_url": "https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/gmail.googleapis.com/overview?project=549352339482"
  }
}

gws also prints an actionable hint to stderr:

💡 API not enabled for your GCP project.
   Enable it at: https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/gmail.googleapis.com/overview?project=549352339482
   After enabling, wait a few seconds and retry your command.

Steps to fix:

1. Click the enable_url link (or copy it from the enable_url JSON field).
2. In the GCP Console, click Enable.
3. Wait ~10 seconds, then retry your gws command.

Tip

You can also run gws auth setup which walks you through enabling all required APIs for your project automatically.

Development

cargo build                       # dev build
cargo clippy -- -D warnings       # lint
cargo test                        # unit tests
./scripts/coverage.sh             # HTML coverage report → target/llvm-cov/html/

License

Apache-2.0

Disclaimer

This is not an officially supported Google product.