connect-gmail

name	connect-gmail
description	Connect Gmail to the brain — the easy connector way (browser sign-in, no key) or as a saved local copy via the gws CLI. Use when the user wants their email readable by the brain.

Connect: Gmail

You're connecting the user's email. There are two ways. The user is not technical, so start with the connector — it's a browser sign-in, no keys, and an agent can read Gmail live. Use the gws path only if they want a permanent local copy in raw/. Never have them paste a password or token into the chat.

Option A — Connector (easiest, recommended)

A live connection: Claude reads Gmail when it works; nothing is saved to disk.

1. Have them open the Anthropic connector directory: https://claude.ai/directory (or https://claude.ai/customize/connectors).
2. Find Gmail, add it, and sign in with their Google account in the browser.
3. If they're logged into Claude Code with the same Claude account, it shows up automatically. Confirm inside Claude Code with /mcp — Gmail should be listed.

Terminal alternative: claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>, then /mcp to finish the sign-in. Claude registers itself, so there's no OAuth app to create.

Option B — Local copy in raw/ (via gws)

Use this when they want emails saved to disk — to ingest in bulk, search offline, or keep history. This is the Google Workspace CLI path: run /connect-gws, which installs gws, signs in (gws auth login -s gmail), and writes into raw/gmail.

Which to pick

• "I just want my agent to see my email" → Option A.
• "I want my email in the brain, saved and ingested" → Option B. Either is fine, and they can add the other later.

Close

Mark the Email row in sources.md with today's date and whether it's connector or local-copy. Then ask if they want the next source or to stop here.