| name | gws-gmail-read |
| description | Gmail: Read a message and extract its body or headers. Use this to get the full content of an email after finding its ID via +triage or a threads/messages search. Handles base64 decoding, HTML-to-text conversion, and multipart messages automatically — prefer this over raw messages.get for reading email bodies. |
| metadata | {"version":"0.22.0","openclaw":{"category":"productivity","requires":{"bins":["gws"]},"cliHelp":"gws gmail +read --help"}} |
gmail +read
PREREQUISITE: Read ../gws-shared/SKILL.md for auth, global flags, and security rules. If missing, run gws generate-skills to create it.
Read a message and extract its body or headers.
Usage
gws gmail +read --id <ID>
Finding Message IDs
You need a message ID before calling +read. Here's how to get one:
gws gmail +triage --format json | jq '.[0].id'
gws gmail users threads list --params '{"userId": "me", "q": "from:alice subject:report", "maxResults": 1}'
gws gmail users messages list --params '{"userId": "me", "q": "subject:quarterly review", "maxResults": 5}'
Flags
| Flag | Required | Default | Description |
|---|
--id | ✓ | — | The Gmail message ID to read |
--headers | — | — | Include headers (From, To, Subject, Date) in the output |
--format | — | text | Output format (text, json) |
--html | — | — | Return HTML body instead of plain text |
--dry-run | — | — | Show the request that would be sent without executing it |
Examples
gws gmail +read --id 18f1a2b3c4d
gws gmail +read --id 18f1a2b3c4d --headers
gws gmail +read --id 18f1a2b3c4d --format json | jq '.body'
Tips
- Converts HTML-only messages to plain text automatically.
- Handles multipart/alternative and base64 decoding.
- Use
--headers to include From, To, Subject, Date alongside the body — helpful for summarization tasks.
- For thread summarization, call
+read --headers on each message ID in the thread.
See Also
