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.

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⬇️ Download the latest release for your OS

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.

• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Shell Completion
• Quick Start
• Why gws?
• Authentication
• AI Agent Skills
• Advanced Usage
• Environment Variables
• Exit Codes
• Architecture
• Troubleshooting
• Development

• Node.js 18+ — for npm install (or download a pre-built binary from GitHub Releases)
• A Google Cloud project — required for OAuth credentials. You can create one via the Google Cloud Console or with the gcloud CLI or with the gws auth setup command.
• A Google account with access to Google Workspace

The recommended way to install gws is to download the pre-built binary for your OS and architecture from the GitHub Releases page. Extract the archive and place the gws binary in your $PATH.

For convenience, you can also use npm to automate downloading the appropriate binary from GitHub Releases:

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli

Or build from source:

cargo install --git https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli --locked

A Nix flake is also available at github:googleworkspace/cli

nix run github:googleworkspace/cli

On macOS and Linux, you can also install via Homebrew:

brew install googleworkspace-cli

Generate a completion script for Bash, Zsh, Fish, PowerShell, or Elvish:

# Bash (current session)
source <(gws completion bash)
# Zsh (current session)
source <(gws completion zsh)
# Fish (current session)
gws completion fish | source

# PowerShell
gws completion powershell | Out-String | Invoke-Expression

# Elvish
eval (gws completion elvish | slurp)

For faster shell startup, generate the script once into your shell's completion directory instead of adding the generation command to your startup file. For example, Fish loads ~/.config/fish/completions/gws.fish, while Bash and Zsh completion directories vary by installation. The generated script is a snapshot of the current Google API Discovery documents; regenerate it after upgrading gws to pick up newly added services and methods.

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

For humans — stop writing curl calls against REST docs. gws gives you --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'

The CLI supports multiple auth workflows so it works on your laptop, in CI, and on a server.

Credentials are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) with the key stored in your OS keyring (or ~/.config/gws/.encryption_key when GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_KEYRING_BACKEND=file).

Access tokens are short-lived. gws keeps them in its encrypted token cache and refreshes them automatically, so a normal access-token refresh should not open the browser. If gws auth login itself is needed again roughly every seven days, the OAuth app is probably still in Testing. Google intentionally gives test-user refresh tokens a seven-day lifetime. For durable personal use, move the app to In production in the Cloud Console; for a Google Workspace organization, use Internal when that audience is available. Production apps requesting sensitive or restricted scopes may need Google verification.

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

gws auth setup requires the gcloud CLI. If you don't have gcloud, use the manual setup below instead.

gws auth login -s drive,gmail,sheets

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
   • For a long-lived personal setup, set publishing status to In production after completing the required app details. Leave Testing for temporary development only because test-user authorizations expire after seven days. If the account belongs to a Google Workspace organization, Internal is usually the simplest durable option when it is available.
3. If the app is still Testing, add your account under Test users
4. Create an OAuth client:
   • Type: Desktop app
5. Download the client JSON and save it to:
   • ~/.config/gws/client_secret.json

Then run:

gws auth login

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.

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

Point to your key file; no login needed.

export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE=/path/to/service-account.json
gws drive files list

Useful when another tool (e.g. gcloud) already mints tokens for your environment.

export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_TOKEN=$(gcloud auth print-access-token)

Environment variables can also live in a .env file.

The encrypted gws credential wins over ADC when both are present. Keep one interactive user credential as your normal desktop source; otherwise it is easy to forget which account a command is using.

Google keeps two separate local credential stores:

• gcloud auth login authenticates the gcloud CLI itself.
• gcloud auth application-default login creates Application Default Credentials (ADC) for applications and client libraries.

They may use the same Google account, but one does not automatically replace the other. gws can use ADC, including Workspace scopes when you provide the same Desktop OAuth client and request the scopes you need:

gcloud auth application-default login \
 --client-id-file="$HOME/.config/gws/client_secret.json" \
 --scopes="https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar"
# Select that ADC file for gws in this shell, ahead of gws's own saved login.
export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE="$HOME/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json"

Use this as an intentional alternative to gws auth login, not in addition to it. Do not put a raw access token from gcloud auth print-access-token in a long-lived shell profile: it expires quickly and bypasses gws's refresh cache. For unattended Cloud workloads, prefer attached service accounts, service account impersonation, or Workload Identity Federation; avoid distributing service-account JSON keys unless there is no safer option.

The repo ships Agent Skills (SKILL.md files) for every supported API and higher-level helpers for common workflows. See the full Skills Index for the complete list. Personas and recipes are optional registry content; generate them with gws generate-skills --really-all.

# Install all skills at once
npx skills add https://github.com/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

# 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/

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.

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

Sheets ranges use ! which bash interprets as history expansion. Always wrap values in single quotes:

# Read cells A1:C10 from "Sheet1"
gws sheets spreadsheets values get \
 --params '{"spreadsheetId": "SPREADSHEET_ID", "range": "Sheet1!A1:C10"}'
# Append rows
gws sheets spreadsheets values append \
 --params '{"spreadsheetId": "ID", "range": "Sheet1!A1", "valueInputOption": "USER_ENTERED"}' \
 --json '{"values": [["Name", "Score"], ["Alice", 95]]}'

Some services ship hand-crafted helper commands alongside the auto-generated Discovery surface. Helper commands are prefixed with + so they are visually distinct and never collide with Discovery-generated method names.

Time-aware helpers (+agenda, +standup-report, +weekly-digest, +meeting-prep) automatically use your Google account timezone (fetched from Calendar Settings API and cached for 24 hours). Override with --timezone/--tz on +agenda, or set the --timezone flag for explicit control.

Run gws <service> --help to see both Discovery methods and helper commands together.

gws gmail --help # shows +send, +reply, +reply-all, +forward, +triage, +watch ...
gws calendar --help # shows +insert, +agenda ...
gws drive --help # shows +upload ...

Full helper reference:

Examples:

# Send an email
gws gmail +send --to alice@example.com --subject "Hello" --body "Hi there"
# Reply to a message
gws gmail +reply --message-id MESSAGE_ID --body "Thanks!"
# Append a row to a spreadsheet
gws sheets +append --spreadsheet SPREADSHEET_ID --values "Alice,95"
# Show today's calendar agenda
gws calendar +agenda
# Upload a file to Drive
gws drive +upload ./report.pdf --name "Q1 Report"
# Morning standup summary
gws workflow +standup-report
# Show today's agenda in a specific timezone
gws calendar +agenda --today --timezone America/New_York

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"

All variables are optional. See .env.example for a copy-paste template.

Environment variables can also be set in a .env file (loaded via dotenvy).

gws uses structured exit codes so scripts can branch on the failure type without parsing error output.

gws drive files list --params '{"fileId": "bad"}'
echo $? # 1 — API error
gws unknown-service files list
echo $? # 3 — validation error (unknown service)

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.

Your OAuth app is in testing mode and your account is not listed as a test user.

Fix: Open the OAuth consent screen in your GCP project → Test users → Add users → enter your Google account email. Then retry gws auth login.

The access token and refresh token are different. Access tokens are expected to be refreshed automatically. A browser login is needed only when the longer-lived refresh token is no longer usable. Google lists these common causes:

• the OAuth app is in Testing (test-user authorizations expire after seven days);
• access was revoked, the password changed while Gmail scopes were granted, or the token was unused for six months;
• the account reached the per-client live refresh-token limit; or
• an administrator's Cloud session-control policy expired the session.

Check gws auth status, then fix the Cloud Console publishing/audience setting before repeatedly running gws auth login. Repeated logins can create more live refresh tokens and eventually invalidate older ones.

Expected when your app is in testing mode. Click Advanced → Go to <app name> (unsafe) to proceed. This is safe for personal use; verification is only required to publish the app to other users.

Unverified (testing mode) apps are limited to ~25 OAuth scopes. The recommended scope preset includes many scopes and will exceed this limit.

Fix: Select only the scopes you need:

gws auth login --scopes drive,gmail,calendar

gws auth setup requires the gcloud CLI to automate project creation. You have three options:

1. Install gcloud and use gcloud directly.
2. Re-run gws auth setup which wraps gcloud calls.
3. Skip gcloud entirely — set up OAuth credentials manually in the Cloud Console

The OAuth client was not created as a Desktop app type. In the Credentials page, delete the existing client, create a new one with type Desktop app, and download the new JSON.

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.

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

Apache-2.0