gws-contacts

name	gws-contacts
description	Google Contacts CLI operations via gws. Use when users need to list, search, view, create, or delete contacts. Triggers: contacts, google contacts, people api, contact management.
metadata	{"short-description":"Google Contacts CLI operations","compatibility":"claude-code, codex-cli"}

Google Contacts (gws contacts)

gws contacts provides CLI access to Google Contacts via the People API with structured JSON output.

Disclaimer: gws is not the official Google CLI. This is an independent, open-source project not endorsed by or affiliated with Google.

Dependency Check

Before executing any gws command, verify the CLI is installed:

gws version

If not found, install: go install github.com/omriariav/workspace-cli/cmd/gws@latest

Minimum version required: v1.14.0 (Contacts support added in this release)

Authentication

Requires OAuth2 credentials. Run gws auth status to check. If not authenticated: gws auth login (opens browser for OAuth consent). For initial setup, see the gws-auth skill.

Quick Command Reference

Task	Command
List contacts	gws contacts list
List more contacts	gws contacts list --max 100
Search by name	gws contacts search "John Doe"
Search by email	gws contacts search "[e-mail]"
Get contact details	gws contacts get <resource-name>
Create a contact	gws contacts create --name "Jane Smith" --email "[e-mail]"
Update a contact	gws contacts update <resource-name> --name "New Name"
Delete a contact	gws contacts delete <resource-name>
Batch create contacts	gws contacts batch-create --file contacts.json
Batch update contacts	gws contacts batch-update --file updates.json
Batch delete contacts	gws contacts batch-delete --resources people/c1 --resources people/c2
List directory people	gws contacts directory
Search directory	gws contacts directory-search --query "John"
Update contact photo	gws contacts photo <resource-name> --file photo.jpg
Delete contact photo	gws contacts delete-photo <resource-name>
Resolve multiple contacts	gws contacts resolve --ids people/c1 --ids people/c2

Detailed Usage

list — List contacts

gws contacts list [flags]

Lists contacts from your Google account.

Flags:

• --max int — Maximum number of contacts to return (default 50)

Output includes:

• resource_name — Resource identifier (e.g., people/c1234567890)
• name — Contact's display name
• emails — Array of email addresses
• phones — Array of phone numbers
• organization — Organization info (name and title)

Examples:

gws contacts list
gws contacts list --max 100
gws contacts list --format json | jq '.contacts[] | select(.name | contains("Smith"))'

search — Search contacts

gws contacts search <query>

Searches contacts by name, email, or phone number.

Arguments:

• query — Search string (required)

Search behavior:

• Searches across names, email addresses, and phone numbers
• Case-insensitive matching
• Returns contacts that match any field

Examples:

gws contacts search "John"
gws contacts search "[e-mail]"
gws contacts search "555-1234"
gws contacts search "Company Inc"

get — Get contact details

gws contacts get <resource-name>

Gets detailed information about a specific contact by resource name.

Arguments:

• resource-name — Resource identifier (required, e.g., people/c1234567890)

Output includes:

• resource_name — Resource identifier
• name — Contact's display name
• emails — Array of email addresses
• phones — Array of phone numbers
• organization — Organization info (name and title)

Examples:

gws contacts get people/c1234567890

Tip: Get the resource_name from list or search output:

gws contacts search "Jane" --format json | jq -r '.contacts[0].resource_name' | xargs gws contacts get

create — Create a new contact

gws contacts create --name <name> [flags]

Creates a new contact with a name, email, and/or phone number.

Flags:

• --name string — Contact name (required)
• --email string — Contact email address (optional)
• --phone string — Contact phone number (optional)

Output includes:

• status — Always "created"
• resource_name — New contact's resource identifier
• All contact fields

Examples:

gws contacts create --name "Jane Smith"
gws contacts create --name "John Doe" --email "[e-mail]"
gws contacts create --name "Bob Wilson" --email "[e-mail]" --phone "555-1234"

delete — Delete a contact

gws contacts delete <resource-name>

Deletes a contact by resource name.

Arguments:

• resource-name — Resource identifier (required, e.g., people/c1234567890)

Output includes:

• status — Always "deleted"
• resource_name — Deleted contact's resource identifier

Examples:

gws contacts delete people/c1234567890

Warning: This operation is permanent and cannot be undone. Consider confirming before deletion:

gws contacts get people/c1234567890  # Review first
gws contacts delete people/c1234567890  # Then delete

update — Update a contact

gws contacts update <resource-name> [flags]

Updates an existing contact by resource name. Specify fields to update via flags.

Arguments:

• resource-name — Resource identifier (required, e.g., people/c1234567890)

Flags:

• --name string — Updated contact name
• --email string — Updated email address
• --phone string — Updated phone number
• --organization string — Updated organization name
• --title string — Updated job title
• --etag string — Etag for concurrency control (from get command)

Examples:

gws contacts update people/c1234567890 --name "Jane Doe"
gws contacts update people/c1234567890 --email "[e-mail]" --phone "555-9999"
gws contacts update people/c1234567890 --organization "Acme Inc" --title "Manager"

batch-create — Batch create contacts

gws contacts batch-create --file <path>

Creates multiple contacts from a JSON file. The file should contain an array of contact objects.

Flags:

• --file string — Path to JSON file with contacts array (required)

File format:

[
  {"names": [{"unstructuredName": "John Doe"}], "emailAddresses": [{"value": "[e-mail]"}]},
  {"names": [{"unstructuredName": "Jane Smith"}], "phoneNumbers": [{"value": "555-1234"}]}
]

Examples:

gws contacts batch-create --file contacts.json

batch-update — Batch update contacts

gws contacts batch-update --file <path>

Updates multiple contacts from a JSON file. The file should contain a map of resource names to contact objects.

Flags:

• --file string — Path to JSON file with contacts map (required)

File format:

{
  "contacts": {
    "people/c123": {"etag": "...", "names": [{"unstructuredName": "Updated Name"}]},
    "people/c456": {"etag": "...", "emailAddresses": [{"value": "[e-mail]"}]}
  },
  "update_mask": "names,emailAddresses"
}

Examples:

gws contacts batch-update --file updates.json

batch-delete — Batch delete contacts

gws contacts batch-delete --resources <resource-name> [--resources <resource-name> ...]

Deletes multiple contacts by resource names.

Flags:

• --resources string — Resource names to delete (repeatable)

Examples:

gws contacts batch-delete --resources people/c1 --resources people/c2

directory — List directory people

gws contacts directory [flags]

Lists people in the organization's directory. Requires directory.readonly scope.

Flags:

• --max int — Maximum number of directory people to return (default 50)

Examples:

gws contacts directory
gws contacts directory --max 100

directory-search — Search directory people

gws contacts directory-search --query <query> [flags]

Searches people in the organization's directory by query.

Flags:

• --query string — Search query (required)
• --max int — Maximum number of results to return (default 50)

Examples:

gws contacts directory-search --query "John"
gws contacts directory-search --query "engineering" --max 100

photo — Update contact photo

gws contacts photo <resource-name> --file <path>

Updates a contact's photo from an image file (JPEG or PNG).

Arguments:

• resource-name — Resource identifier (required)

Flags:

• --file string — Path to image file, JPEG or PNG (required)

Examples:

gws contacts photo people/c1234567890 --file photo.jpg
gws contacts photo people/c1234567890 --file avatar.png

delete-photo — Delete contact photo

gws contacts delete-photo <resource-name>

Deletes a contact's photo by resource name.

Arguments:

• resource-name — Resource identifier (required)

Examples:

gws contacts delete-photo people/c1234567890

resolve — Resolve multiple contacts

gws contacts resolve --ids <resource-name> [--ids <resource-name> ...]

Gets multiple contacts by their resource names in a single batch request.

Flags:

• --ids string — Resource names to resolve (repeatable)

Examples:

gws contacts resolve --ids people/c1 --ids people/c2

Output Modes

gws contacts list --format json    # Structured JSON (default)
gws contacts list --format yaml    # YAML format
gws contacts list --format text    # Human-readable text

Tips for AI Agents

• Always use --format json (the default) for programmatic parsing
• Use gws contacts list or search to get resource names, then use those with get or delete
• Resource names have the format people/c<numeric-id> (e.g., people/c1234567890)
• The list command paginates automatically up to the --max limit (default 50)
• Search is more efficient than listing all contacts and filtering client-side
• When creating contacts, --name is required, but --email and --phone are optional
• Organization info can be set via update command (--organization, --title flags)
• Use --quiet on any command to suppress JSON output (useful for scripted actions)
• For bulk operations, use batch-create, batch-update, batch-delete for better efficiency
• Use resolve to fetch multiple contacts in one request instead of multiple get calls
• Directory commands (directory, directory-search) require Google Workspace and directory.readonly scope