Google Workspace

Step 0: Check if already set up

$GSETUP --check

If it prints AUTHENTICATED, skip to Usage — setup is already done.

Step 1: Triage — ask the user what they need

Before starting OAuth setup, ask the user TWO questions:

Question 1: "What Google services do you need? Just email, or also Calendar/Drive/Sheets/Docs?"

• Email only → They don't need this skill at all. Use the himalaya skill instead — it works with a Gmail App Password (Settings → Security → App Passwords) and takes 2 minutes to set up. No Google Cloud project needed. Load the himalaya skill and follow its setup instructions.

• Email + Calendar → Continue with this skill, but use --services email,calendar during auth so the consent screen only asks for the scopes they actually need.

• Calendar/Drive/Sheets/Docs only → Continue with this skill and use a narrower --services set like calendar,drive,sheets,docs.

• Full Workspace access → Continue with this skill and use the default all service set.

Question 2: "Does your Google account use Advanced Protection (hardware security keys required to sign in)? If you're not sure, you probably don't — it's something you would have explicitly enrolled in."

• No / Not sure → Normal setup. Continue below.
• Yes → Their Workspace admin must add the OAuth client ID to the org's allowed apps list before Step 4 will work. Let them know upfront.

Step 2: Create OAuth credentials (one-time, ~5 minutes)

Tell the user:

You need a Google Cloud OAuth client. This is a one-time setup:

1. Create or select a project: https://console.cloud.google.com/projectselector2/home/dashboard
2. Enable the required APIs from the API Library: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library Enable: Gmail API, Google Calendar API, Google Drive API, Google Sheets API, Google Docs API, People API
3. Create the OAuth client here: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials Credentials → Create Credentials → OAuth 2.0 Client ID
4. Application type: "Desktop app" → Create
5. If the app is still in Testing, add the user's Google account as a test user here: https://console.cloud.google.com/auth/audience Audience → Test users → Add users
6. Download the JSON file and tell me the file path

Important Hermes CLI note: if the file path starts with /, do NOT send only the bare path as its own message in the CLI, because it can be mistaken for a slash command. Send it in a sentence instead, like: The JSON file path is: /home/user/Downloads/client_secret_....json

Once they provide the path:

$GSETUP --client-secret /path/to/client_secret.json

If they paste the raw client ID / client secret values instead of a file path, write a valid Desktop OAuth JSON file for them yourself, save it somewhere explicit (for example ~/Downloads/hermes-google-client-secret.json), then run --client-secret against that file.

Step 3: Get authorization URL

Use the service set chosen in Step 1. Examples:

$GSETUP --auth-url --services email,calendar --format json
$GSETUP --auth-url --services calendar,drive,sheets,docs --format json
$GSETUP --auth-url --services all --format json

This returns JSON with an auth_url field and also saves the exact URL to ~/.hermes/google_oauth_last_url.txt.

Agent rules for this step:

• Extract the auth_url field and send that exact URL to the user as a single line.
• Tell the user that the browser will likely fail on http://localhost:1 after approval, and that this is expected.
• Tell them to copy the ENTIRE redirected URL from the browser address bar.
• If the user gets Error 403: access_denied, send them directly to https://console.cloud.google.com/auth/audience to add themselves as a test user.

Step 4: Exchange the code

The user will paste back either a URL like http://localhost:1/?code=4/0A...&scope=... or just the code string. Either works. The --auth-url step stores a temporary pending OAuth session locally so --auth-code can complete the PKCE exchange later, even on headless systems:

$GSETUP --auth-code "THE_URL_OR_CODE_THE_USER_PASTED" --format json

If --auth-code fails because the code expired, was already used, or came from an older browser tab, it now returns a fresh fresh_auth_url. In that case, immediately send the new URL to the user and have them retry with the newest browser redirect only.

Step 5: Verify

$GSETUP --check

Should print AUTHENTICATED. Setup is complete — token refreshes automatically from now on.

Notes

• Token is stored at ~/.hermes/google_token.json and auto-refreshes.
• Pending OAuth session state/verifier are stored temporarily at ~/.hermes/google_oauth_pending.json until exchange completes.
• If gws is installed, google_api.py points it at the same ~/.hermes/google_token.json credentials file. Users do not need to run a separate gws auth login flow.
• To revoke: $GSETUP --revoke

Usage

All commands go through the API script. Set GAPI as a shorthand:

GAPI="python ${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/skills/productivity/google-workspace/scripts/google_api.py"

Gmail

# Search (returns JSON array with id, from, subject, date, snippet)
$GAPI gmail search "is:unread" --max 10
$GAPI gmail search "from:[email protected] newer_than:1d"
$GAPI gmail search "has:attachment filename:pdf newer_than:7d"

# Read full message (returns JSON with body text)
$GAPI gmail get MESSAGE_ID

# Send
$GAPI gmail send --to [email protected] --subject "Hello" --body "Message text"
$GAPI gmail send --to [email protected] --subject "Report" --body "<h1>Q4</h1><p>Details...</p>" --html
$GAPI gmail send --to [email protected] --subject "Hello" --from '"Research Agent" <[email protected]>' --body "Message text"

# Reply (automatically threads and sets In-Reply-To)
$GAPI gmail reply MESSAGE_ID --body "Thanks, that works for me."
$GAPI gmail reply MESSAGE_ID --from '"Support Bot" <[email protected]>' --body "Thanks"

# Labels
$GAPI gmail labels
$GAPI gmail modify MESSAGE_ID --add-labels LABEL_ID
$GAPI gmail modify MESSAGE_ID --remove-labels UNREAD

Calendar

# List events (defaults to next 7 days)
$GAPI calendar list
$GAPI calendar list --start 2026-03-01T00:00:00Z --end 2026-03-07T23:59:59Z

# Create event (ISO 8601 with timezone required)
$GAPI calendar create --summary "Team Standup" --start 2026-03-01T10:00:00-06:00 --end 2026-03-01T10:30:00-06:00
$GAPI calendar create --summary "Lunch" --start 2026-03-01T12:00:00Z --end 2026-03-01T13:00:00Z --location "Cafe"
$GAPI calendar create --summary "Review" --start 2026-03-01T14:00:00Z --end 2026-03-01T15:00:00Z --attendees "[email protected],[email protected]"

# Delete event
$GAPI calendar delete EVENT_ID

Drive

$GAPI drive search "quarterly report" --max 10
$GAPI drive search "mimeType='application/pdf'" --raw-query --max 5

Contacts

$GAPI contacts list --max 20

Sheets

# Read
$GAPI sheets get SHEET_ID "Sheet1!A1:D10"

# Write
$GAPI sheets update SHEET_ID "Sheet1!A1:B2" --values '[["Name","Score"],["Alice","95"]]'

# Append rows
$GAPI sheets append SHEET_ID "Sheet1!A:C" --values '[["new","row","data"]]'

Docs

$GAPI docs get DOC_ID

Output Format

All commands return JSON. Parse with jq or read directly. Key fields:

• Gmail search: [{id, threadId, from, to, subject, date, snippet, labels}]
• Gmail get: {id, threadId, from, to, subject, date, labels, body}
• Gmail send/reply: {status: "sent", id, threadId}
• Calendar list: [{id, summary, start, end, location, description, htmlLink}]
• Calendar create: {status: "created", id, summary, htmlLink}
• Drive search: [{id, name, mimeType, modifiedTime, webViewLink}]
• Contacts list: [{name, emails: [...], phones: [...]}]
• Sheets get: [[cell, cell, ...], ...]

Rules

1. Never send email or create/delete events without confirming with the user first. Show the draft content and ask for approval.
2. Check auth before first use — run setup.py --check. If it fails, guide the user through setup.
3. Use the Gmail search syntax reference for complex queries — load it with skill_view("google-workspace", file_path="references/gmail-search-syntax.md").
4. Calendar times must include timezone — always use ISO 8601 with offset (e.g., 2026-03-01T10:00:00-06:00) or UTC (Z).
5. Respect rate limits — avoid rapid-fire sequential API calls. Batch reads when possible.

Troubleshooting

Revoking Access

$GSETUP --revoke