gws-gmail-send Skill for Claude: Send or Draft Gmail from the Terminal

Makes Claude send or save-as-draft Gmail messages, with CC, BCC and attachments, by running the gws command-line tool.

Installs: 75.4K; on skills.sh
Stars: 32K; on GitHub
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

gws-gmail-send makes Claude run one command, gws gmail +send, to send an email from your Gmail account. It takes recipients, subject and body, and can add CC, BCC, a sender alias, HTML and file attachments, or save the message as a draft instead of sending.

It needs the gws program installed and signed in, and it tells Claude to read the separate gws-shared skill first. The skill marks sending as a write command that Claude should confirm with you before it runs.

Good for

Developers who want Claude to email reports or files from scripts and terminals
Anyone who wants Claude to draft email first and send only after review
Teams already using the gws CLI for Google Workspace

Install gws-gmail-send

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the gws-gmail-send skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli
gws auth setup
npx skills add googleworkspace/cli --skill gws-shared --skill gws-gmail-send -a claude-code

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js 18+, A Google account, gcloud CLI for gws auth setup.

The skills only work with the gws program installed and signed in, so run all three lines. The first two lines come from the README; the third names gws-shared and gws-gmail-send because the skill tells the assistant to read gws-shared first. gws auth setup needs the gcloud CLI; without it, use the README's manual OAuth setup. To limit what you grant, the README suggests choosing only the services you need at sign-in, for example gws auth login -s drive.

From the vendor's docs. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Gmail: Send an email.

Sections in SKILL.md

Usage
Flags
Examples
Tips
See Also

Key facts

Author: googleworkspace (GitHub org)
Repo: googleworkspace/cli
License: Apache-2.0
Installs on skills.sh: 75,409 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars (whole repo): 32,038 (Nov 2, 2026)
Last commit to the repo: Oct 30, 2026
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk pass
Skill folder: 1 file: SKILL.md (counted from the GitHub folder)
Needs: The gws CLI on your PATH and the gws-shared skill; the SKILL.md says to read gws-shared first
Attachment limit: 25 MB in total, per the SKILL.md
Not an official Google product: The README says gws is not an officially supported Google product and may have breaking changes before v1.0

What it includes

Sends an email
Required flags are --to, --subject and --body. Recipients are comma-separated.
Try: “Email alice@example.com the Q1 report and attach report.pdf”
Runs code · gws gmail +send
Copies and blind copies
Both take comma-separated addresses.
--cc and --bcc
Sends from a send-as alias
Omit it to use the account default address.
--from
Adds a file; repeat for several
Total size limit is 25MB. Claude reads the file from disk.
Files · --attach (-a)
Treats the body as HTML
Use fragment tags such as <p>, <b>, <a> and <br>; no html or body wrapper is needed.
--html
Saves a draft instead of sending
Use it to review the message in Gmail before anything is sent.
Write · --draft
Shows the request without sending it
Shows the request that would be sent without executing it.
--dry-run

From the official docs

Permissions

High risk

The skill makes Claude send real email from your Gmail account and attach files from your disk. Sign in with only the Gmail service and use --draft or --dry-run before any send.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It sends real email as you
A sent message goes out from your address to real people. Use --draft or --dry-run first and approve each send.
It can attach files from your disk
The attach flag reads files you name. Check the file list in the command before approving.
It needs a program and sign-in outside the skill
The gws binary and a Google OAuth login must be set up first. Choose only the Gmail service when you sign in.
The tool is unofficial and changing
The README says gws is not an official Google product and may break before v1.0.
The required gws-shared skill adds GitHub prompts
The gws-shared SKILL.md, which this skill tells Claude to read first, says to encourage users to star the repository and to direct bug reports to its issue tracker. Decline anything you did not ask for.

Technical details

Talks to	Gmail API
Sign-in and keys	gws stores sign-in credentials encrypted (AES-256-GCM); the key sits in your OS keyring, or in ~/.config/gws/.encryption_key if you choose the file backend.
Scopes	Gmail (choose with gws auth login -s gmail)

Questions

How do I install gws-gmail-send?

Use the install box above. It installs the gws program, signs you in, then adds gws-gmail-send with gws-shared, which this skill tells Claude to read first. The skill also points to a gws-gmail skill for reading and managing mail.

Can I check an email before it is sent?

Yes. Use --draft to save it as a Gmail draft, or --dry-run to print the request without sending. The SKILL.md also says to confirm with you before running a send.

Can it attach files?

Yes. Add -a or --attach once per file. The total size limit is 25MB, and Claude needs to read each file from your disk.

Why does sign-in fail with a personal @gmail.com account?

The README says an unverified OAuth app in testing mode allows only about 25 scopes and the recommended preset needs 85 or more, especially for @gmail.com accounts. It suggests choosing only the services you need, for example gws auth login -s gmail.

Does it work in the Claude app?

No documented route. The skill runs the gws program on your computer, and the README documents the skills CLI install, not the Claude app.

Is gws an official Google tool?

No. The README says it is not an officially supported Google product and expects breaking changes before v1.0.

Is gws-gmail-send safe?

It sends real email from your account. Use --draft or --dry-run, and approve each send. Sign in with only the Gmail service.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: googleworkspace/cli
Folder: skills/gws-gmail-send

googleworkspace/cli skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

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