Gmail

Gmail

Read email via IMAP and send email via SMTP using Gmail app passwords. Used for inbox monitoring, digest generation, and sending reports.

Prerequisites

• A Gmail account with an app password (requires 2FA enabled)
• App password stored in the assistant's .env file as GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD
• Account email configured in config.yaml

Reading Email (IMAP)

Use the gmail CLI tool to read email:

gmail inbox                        # Fetch unread messages from INBOX
gmail inbox --folder "INBOX"       # Specify folder
gmail inbox --max-age 24h          # Only messages from last 24 hours
gmail inbox --limit 20             # Max messages to fetch
gmail read <message-id>            # Read full message body

Inbox Output Format

From: sender@example.com
Subject: Weekly team update
Date: 2026-02-20T09:15:00Z
ID: msg-12345
Snippet: Here are the highlights from this week...
---
From: notifications@github.com
Subject: [repo] New issue: Bug in login flow
Date: 2026-02-20T08:30:00Z
ID: msg-12346
Snippet: @user opened a new issue...

Summarization Pattern

When generating an inbox digest:

1. Fetch recent messages: gmail inbox --max-age 24h
2. Group by importance:
   • Action required — messages that need a response or decision
   • FYI — informational, worth knowing about
   • Noise — automated notifications, marketing, can be skipped
3. For action-required messages, read the full body if the snippet isn't enough
4. Summarize concisely — sender, subject, what's needed, urgency

Sending Email (SMTP)

gmail send --to recipient@example.com --subject "Daily Report" --body "Report content here..."
gmail send --to recipient@example.com --subject "Alert" --body-file /path/to/report.md
gmail send --to recipient@example.com --subject "Report" --html --body-file /path/to/report.html

Sending Best Practices

• Keep reports concise. Email bodies should be scannable — use short paragraphs and bullet points.
• Use plain text by default. Only use --html when formatting genuinely helps (tables, links).
• Subject lines should be informative. "[Assistant] Daily Digest — Feb 20" not "Report".
• Don't send empty reports. If there's nothing noteworthy, skip the email or send a one-liner.

State Tracking

The skill tracks which messages have been seen to avoid re-processing:

• State file: state/gmail-last-seen.json
• Contains: { "uidNext": 12345, "lastMessageId": "msg-xxx", "lastRun": "2026-02-20T07:00:00Z" }
• Updated after each successful inbox fetch

Configuration

In config.yaml:

skills:
  gmail:
    account: user@gmail.com
    folders: [INBOX]
    maxAge: 24h
    sendFrom: user@gmail.com    # defaults to account

Secrets in .env:

GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx