gws-workflow-file-announce Skill: Announce a Drive File in a Chat Space

Posts a message in a Google Chat space that announces a Google Drive file.

Installs: 31.1K; on skills.sh
Stars: 32K; on GitHub
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

gws-workflow-file-announce has your agent run gws workflow +file-announce with a Drive file ID and a Chat space name. It looks up the file name in Drive, builds the announcement and sends it to the space, with an optional custom message. SKILL.md calls it a write command that sends a Chat message. Upload the file first with gws drive +upload if it is not in Drive yet.

Good for

Team members who share new docs and want a Chat post to go with each one
Project managers and content creators who announce deliverables
Claude Code or Codex users who already run the gws program

Install gws-workflow-file-announce

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the gws-workflow-file-announce skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli --skill gws-workflow-file-announce --skill gws-shared -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, gws installed and signed in.

Do the "First" and "Then" methods once before the skills command: they install gws and sign you in. The skills command adds 2 skills (gws-workflow-file-announce, gws-shared) because gws-workflow-file-announce reads gws-shared first. Without gcloud, use the manual OAuth setup in the README.

From the vendor's docs. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Google Workflow: Announce a Drive file in a Chat space.

Sections in SKILL.md

Usage
Flags
Examples
Tips
See Also

Key facts

Author: googleworkspace organization (repo owner)
Status: Not an officially supported Google product, per the README
License: Apache-2.0
Installs on skills.sh: 31,117 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 32,038 (Nov 2, 2026) (whole repo)
Last commit: Oct 30, 2026
What installs: 1 file, SKILL.md; it bundles no scripts
Needs: the gws program signed in to Google, plus gws-shared
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub: pass, Socket: pass, Snyk: pass
Documented setups: skills CLI, OpenClaw, Gemini CLI extension

What it includes

Announces a Drive file in a Chat space
Needs --file-id and --space. It fetches the file name from Drive and sends the Chat message.
Write · gws workflow +file-announce
Sets a custom announcement
Replaces the default text with your own message.
--message
Chooses the output format
json is the default. table, yaml and csv are also accepted.
--format

From the official docs

Permissions

Medium risk

It sends a real message to a Chat space, so the risk is posting the wrong file or text to the wrong people. Sign in with only the services you need and read each command before you approve it.

What it can do

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

Watch out for

It posts a message other people see
The skill calls this a write command that sends a Chat message. Check the file ID, the space and the text before you approve the command. github.com
A wrong space name posts to the wrong place
The space is given as spaces/SPACE_ID. Copy it from Chat rather than typing it from memory. github.com
The project is in active development
The README says to expect breaking changes before v1.0. Re-read the install steps after you update gws. github.com

Technical details

Turning on read-only	No read-only switch in the skill. The gws-shared skill says to prefer --dry-run for destructive operations and to confirm write commands with you.
Talks to	Google Drive and Google Chat APIs through gws
Sign-in and keys	gws sign-in. The README says credentials are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) with the key kept in your OS keyring.
Scopes	Google Drive read access and Google Chat message posting

Questions

What does gws-workflow-file-announce do?

Posts a message in a Google Chat space that announces a Google Drive file.

How do I install gws-workflow-file-announce in Claude Code?

Use the install box above. It adds gws-workflow-file-announce together with gws-shared in one step. You also need the gws program installed and signed in to Google first, and the box lists both steps.

Does gws-workflow-file-announce work in the Claude app or Codex?

The install box has a Codex tab that uses the skills CLI's Codex target, but the repo README does not list Codex as a supported setup. The README documents no Claude app route, and every command runs the gws program in a terminal, so use Claude Code or another terminal agent.

Does gws-workflow-file-announce need an API key?

No API key. It uses your Google sign-in through gws, and the README says you need a Google Cloud project for the sign-in credentials. gws auth setup can create one if you have the gcloud CLI.

Is gws-workflow-file-announce safe?

It sends a real message to a Chat space, so the risk is posting the wrong file or text to the wrong people. Check the file ID, space and message before you approve the command.

Does it upload the file?

No. Its tips say to upload the file with gws drive +upload first, then announce it here. That upload helper has its own gws skill.

Do I need the gws-workflow skill too?

The SKILL.md links to it as the list of all workflow commands, but it is not required for this one. Add it if you also want the standup, meeting-prep and weekly-digest helpers.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: googleworkspace/cli
Folder: skills/gws-workflow-file-announce

googleworkspace/cli skills.sh

Sources

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

Show all 4

googleworkspace/cli README · github.com
skills CLI commands · github.com
gws-workflow-file-announce SKILL.md · github.com
gws-shared SKILL.md · github.com