Gmail Access

Gmail Access

Access Gmail accounts securely via the gmail.cs CLI tool located in this skill directory. Credentials are stored in 1Password and never exposed.

Setup

1. Create OAuth Credentials

You need to create your own Google OAuth credentials to use this skill.

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Create a new project (or select an existing one)
3. Enable the Gmail API for your project
4. Go to "Credentials" > "Create Credentials" > "OAuth client ID"
5. Choose "Desktop app" as the application type
6. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret
7. Replace the placeholder values in both gmail.cs and get-gmail-token.cs:

   private const string ClientId = "YOUR_CLIENT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com";
   private const string ClientSecret = "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET";
   

Note: Client secrets for desktop/CLI apps cannot be fully protected per OAuth 2.0 spec. It's safe to commit these to your private repository but avoid public repositories.

2. Authorize Your Gmail Account(s)

For each Gmail account you want to access:

# Run the token setup script
dotnet run get-gmail-token.cs your-email@gmail.com

# This will:
# 1. Open a browser for Google OAuth authorization
# 2. Get a refresh token
# 3. Store it in 1Password as "Gmail - your-email@gmail.com"

Prerequisites:

• 1Password CLI installed (brew install 1password-cli)
• 1Password CLI authenticated

The refresh token allows the tool to access your Gmail without repeated logins (tokens are cached for one hour).

Quick Reference

# Search emails
dotnet run gmail.cs -- search --email your-email@gmail.com --query "<gmail query>" --max-results 20

# Create a draft
dotnet run gmail.cs -- draft --email your-email@gmail.com --to "recipient@example.com" --subject "Subject" --body "Body"

# Reply to an email
dotnet run gmail.cs -- reply --email your-email@gmail.com --message-id "<id>" --body "Reply text"

# Download attachments
dotnet run gmail.cs -- download-attachments --email your-email@gmail.com --message-id "<id>" --output-dir "/tmp/attachments"

Commands

search

Search emails with Gmail query syntax.

dotnet run gmail.cs -- search --email your-email@gmail.com --query "from:someone@example.com" --max-results 10

Options:

• --email (required): Gmail account to search
• --query or -q: Gmail search query (supports all Gmail operators)
• --max-results or -m: Maximum results (default: 20)

Common query patterns:

• from:sender@example.com - From specific sender
• subject:invoice - Subject contains word
• has:attachment - Has attachments
• newer_than:7d - Last 7 days
• is:unread - Unread messages
• label:important - Specific label

draft

Create a new email draft.

dotnet run gmail.cs -- draft --email your-email@gmail.com --to "recipient@example.com" --subject "Subject" --body "Email content"

Options:

• --email (required): Sender account
• --to or -t (required): Recipient email
• --subject or -s: Subject line
• --body or -b (required): Email body content

reply

Create a reply draft to an existing email.

dotnet run gmail.cs -- reply --email your-email@gmail.com --message-id "18abc123def" --body "Reply text"

Options:

• --email (required): Account to reply from
• --message-id or -m (required): Gmail message ID to reply to (from search results)
• --body or -b (required): Reply content

download-attachments

Download all attachments from an email.

dotnet run gmail.cs -- download-attachments --email your-email@gmail.com --message-id "18abc123def" --output-dir /tmp/attachments

Options:

• --email (required): Account
• --message-id or -m (required): Gmail message ID
• --output-dir or -o (required): Directory to save attachments

Output Format

All commands output JSON. Success responses include "success": true. Example search result:

{
  "success": true,
  "count": 2,
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "18abc123def",
      "threadId": "18abc000000",
      "from": "sender@example.com",
      "to": "your-email@gmail.com",
      "subject": "Example Subject",
      "date": "Mon, 1 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0100",
      "snippet": "Preview of email content...",
      "body": "Full email body text"
    }
  ]
}

Authentication

First use per hour requires 1Password authorization (Touch ID). Subsequent calls use cached token. If token expired, you'll see a Touch ID prompt.

Writing Ephemeral Programs

When writing programs that use gmail.cs, use CliWrap:

#:package CliWrap@3.6.6

using CliWrap;
using CliWrap.Buffered;

var result = await Cli.Wrap("dotnet")
    .WithArguments(["run", "gmail.cs", "--", "search", "--email", "your-email@gmail.com", "--query", "is:unread"])
    .WithWorkingDirectory("/path/to/gmail/skill")  // Set to your gmail skill directory
    .ExecuteBufferedAsync();

var json = result.StandardOutput;