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:

First, show them the complete email details:
- From (which account)
- To
- CC/BCC (if any)
- Subject
- Full body text
Ask: "Do you want me to send this email?"
ONLY run the send command AFTER the user explicitly confirms (e.g., "yes", "send it", "go ahead")
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:

Go to Google Cloud Console
Create a project (or select existing)
Enable Gmail API and People API (APIs & Services → Library)
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
```
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

bash

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

bash

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

List Recent Emails

bash

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

Send Email (Requires Confirmation)

bash

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:

bash

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

bash

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

Mark as Unread

bash

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):

bash

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.

bash

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

Unarchive

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

bash

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

Star / Unstar

bash

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):

bash

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

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.

bash

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):

bash

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):

bash

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

bash

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

List Contacts

bash

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

Search Contacts

bash

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

Manage Accounts

bash

# 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:

bash

# 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

bash

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

Read a specific email

bash

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

Send a quick email

bash

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

bash

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

Check work email from personal machine

bash

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)

gmail-skill

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Gmail Skill - Email & Contacts Access

CRITICAL: Email Sending Confirmation Required

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

Commands

Search Emails

Read Email

List Recent Emails

Send Email (Requires Confirmation)

Mark as Read

Mark as Unread

Mark Done (Archive)

Unarchive

Star / Unstar

Create Draft

List Labels

List Contacts

Search Contacts

Manage Accounts

Multi-Account Support

Examples

Find unread emails from this week

Read a specific email

Send a quick email

Find someone's contact info

Check work email from personal machine

Output

Requirements

Security Notes