Google Workspace MCP Server

Give AI agents full access to Google Workspace — Gmail, Calendar, Drive, and more — through a single MCP server that handles multi-account credential routing, response formatting for AI consumption, and contextual guidance.

Built on Google's official Workspace CLI (gws), which means API coverage grows as Google does. The server uses a manifest-driven factory that turns declarative YAML into fully functional MCP tools — adding a new Google API operation is a config change, not a code change.

Why This MCP Server

For users: One install gives your AI agent real, authenticated access to your Google accounts. Search email, check your calendar, manage Drive files, chain multi-step workflows — all through natural conversation.

For teams: Multi-account support means your agent can work across personal and work accounts simultaneously, with per-account credential isolation and XDG-compliant storage.

For developers: The factory architecture means coverage expands fast. Google's Workspace CLI already supports 15+ services and hundreds of API operations. The manifest curates which ones are exposed, patches add domain-specific formatting, and the defaults handle everything else.

What's Available

5 tools, 32+ operations across 3 core services:

Tool	Operations	What It Does
manage_email	search, read, send, reply, replyAll, forward, triage, trash, untrash, modify, labels, threads, getThread	Full Gmail — search, read, compose, thread management, label management
manage_calendar	list, agenda, get, create, quickAdd, update, delete, calendars, freebusy	Calendar CRUD, natural language event creation, availability checks
manage_drive	search, get, upload, download, copy, delete, export, listPermissions, share, unshare	File management, Google Docs export, sharing and permissions
manage_accounts	list, authenticate, remove, status, refresh, scopes	Multi-account lifecycle — add accounts, manage credentials and scopes
queue_operations	—	Chain operations sequentially with $N.field result references

Every response includes next-steps guidance — the agent always knows what it can do next.

How It Works

                          ┌─────────────────────────┐
MCP Client ──stdio──▶     │  manifest.yaml           │
                          │  (52 operations declared) │
                          └────────┬────────────────┘
                                   │
                          ┌────────▼────────────────┐
                          │  Factory Generator       │
                          │  schemas + handlers      │
                          └────────┬────────────────┘
                                   │
                    ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
                    ▼              ▼              ▼
              ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐
              │  Gmail   │  │ Calendar │  │  Drive   │
              │  Patch   │  │  Patch   │  │  Patch   │
              └────┬─────┘  └────┬─────┘  └────┬─────┘
                   │             │             │
                   └──────┬──────┘──────┬──────┘
                          ▼             ▼
                    Account Router ──▶ gws CLI ──▶ Google APIs

The factory reads a YAML manifest and generates MCP tool schemas and request handlers at startup. Patches add domain-specific behavior where needed — Gmail search hydration, calendar formatting, Drive file type detection. Operations without patches get sensible defaults automatically.

The underlying engine is Google's @googleworkspace/cli — a Rust binary that wraps the full Google Workspace API surface. The MCP server curates which operations to expose and shapes the responses for AI consumption.

Install

MCPB Bundle (Claude Desktop and other MCP clients)

Download the .mcpb bundle for your platform from the latest release:

Platform	File
macOS (Apple Silicon)	google-workspace-mcp-darwin-arm64.mcpb
macOS (Intel)	google-workspace-mcp-darwin-x64.mcpb
Linux x64	google-workspace-mcp-linux-x64.mcpb
Linux ARM64	google-workspace-mcp-linux-arm64.mcpb
Windows x64	google-workspace-mcp-windows-x64.mcpb

In Claude Desktop, drag the .mcpb file into the app — it will prompt you for your Google OAuth credentials, then you're ready to go. Other MCP clients that support .mcpb extensions can install it the same way. The bundle includes everything: the server, the gws binary, and all dependencies.

Claude Code / npm

npm install @aaronsb/google-workspace-mcp

Or run directly:

npx @aaronsb/google-workspace-mcp

Prerequisites

1. Node.js 18+

2. Google Cloud OAuth credentials — create at console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials:

   • Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID (Desktop application)
   • Enable the APIs you want (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, etc.)

3. Set environment variables:

   export GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
   export GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"
   

MCP Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-workspace": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@aaronsb/google-workspace-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-client-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add to .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "google-workspace": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@aaronsb/google-workspace-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-client-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage

Add an account (opens browser for OAuth):

manage_accounts { "operation": "authenticate" }

Then use any tool with your account email:

manage_email    { "operation": "triage", "email": "[email protected]" }
manage_calendar { "operation": "agenda", "email": "[email protected]" }
manage_drive    { "operation": "search", "email": "[email protected]", "query": "quarterly report" }

Multi-Step Workflows

Chain operations with result references — the output of one step feeds the next:

{
  "operations": [
    { "tool": "manage_email", "args": { "operation": "search", "email": "[email protected]", "query": "from:boss subject:review" }},
    { "tool": "manage_email", "args": { "operation": "read", "email": "[email protected]", "messageId": "$0.messageId" }}
  ]
}

Expanding Coverage

The server discovers operations from the gws CLI, which already supports 15+ Google services (Sheets, Docs, Tasks, People, Chat, and more). Adding coverage is a manifest edit:

make manifest-discover   # Find all 287+ available operations
make manifest-lint       # Validate the curated manifest
make test                # Verify everything works

New operations get default formatting automatically. Add a patch only when you need domain-specific presentation.

Data Storage

Follows XDG Base Directory Specification:

Data	Location
Account registry	~/.config/google-workspace-mcp/accounts.json
Credentials	~/.local/share/google-workspace-mcp/credentials/

Credentials are per-account files with standard OAuth tokens. No secrets are stored in the project directory.

License

MIT