Gmail MCP Server

⚡ Quick Start

# One-command setup — auto-configures your AI client
npx gmail-mcp-server setup

That's it. The setup wizard will:

1. Check your Google OAuth credentials

2. Let you choose your AI client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf)

3. Auto-write the config file

4. Run the OAuth authentication flow

Related MCP server: Gmail MCP Server

✨ Why choose this MCP?

While Google provides workspace integrations and generic email readers exist, this MCP is explicitly built for AI Agents acting autonomously:

• Zero-Config Setup: npx gmail-mcp-server setup detects your OS and AI client, automatically editing your local configuration JSON. No manual path mapping required.

• Built for AI Agents: Includes tools like advanced_filter (search + bulk actions with LLM-friendly dry-runs), batch_modify_emails (modify 1000 emails at once), and get_frequent_contacts (turn an inbox into a CRM context).

• 100% Local & Private: Bring-your-own-credentials. Tokens remain strictly on your machine. No proxy servers, no telemetry, and no third-party email routing.

• Modular & Extensible: Clean, deeply typed domain-driven structure (e.g., src/tools/compose.ts, src/tools/search.ts) making it extremely easy for developers to fork and extend.

🔧 Tools (20 tools)

🚀 Step-by-Step Setup Guide

Follow these steps to get your Gmail MCP server running in less than 5 minutes.

1. Create Google Cloud Project & Enable API

1. Open the Google Cloud Console.

2. Create a New Project: Click the project dropdown (top left) → "New Project" → Name it Gmail MCP → "Create".

3. Enable Gmail API: Search for "Gmail API" in the search bar → Click it → Click Enable.

2. Configure OAuth Consent Screen

1. Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen.

2. Select User Type: "External" (or "Internal" if you have a Google Workspace) → Click Create.

3. App Information: Fill in "App name" (e.g., Gmail MCP) and "User support email".

4. Developer Contact: Fill in your email address.

5. Click Save and Continue until you reach the Summary.

6. Add Test Users: Go back to the "OAuth consent screen" tab → Under "Test users" → Click + ADD USERS → Enter your Gmail address → Click Save.

3. Generate Credentials

1. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials.

2. Click + CREATE CREDENTIALS → Select OAuth client ID.

3. Application type: Select Desktop app.

4. Name: Give it a name (e.g., Gmail MCP Client).

5. Click Create.

6. Download JSON: In the "OAuth 2.0 Client IDs" list, click the download icon (↓) for your new client.

7. Rename & Move: Save this file as credentials.json in your project folder (or keep it ready for the setup wizard).

4. Run the Setup Wizard

Open your terminal and run:

npx gmail-mcp-server setup

The wizard will guide you through:

• Finding your credentials.json.

• Selecting your AI client (Claude, Cursor, etc.).

• Authorizing the app via your browser.

🖥️ Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

npx gmail-mcp-server setup   # Select "Claude Desktop"

Or manually add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gmail-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

npx gmail-mcp-server setup   # Select "Claude Code"

Or add to ~/.claude/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gmail-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

npx gmail-mcp-server setup   # Select "Cursor"

Or add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gmail-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

npx gmail-mcp-server setup   # Select "Windsurf"

🛠️ CLI Commands

npx gmail-mcp-server setup      # Interactive setup wizard
npx gmail-mcp-server auth       # Run OAuth flow
npx gmail-mcp-server serve      # Start MCP server (default)
npx gmail-mcp-server doctor     # Diagnose issues
npx gmail-mcp-server --help     # Show help
npx gmail-mcp-server --version  # Show version

🩺 Troubleshooting

If you run into issues, try the following:

1. Run the Doctor: npx gmail-mcp-server doctor will diagnose common problems with your credentials, tokens, and system.

2. Missing credentials.json: Ensure you've downloaded the file from Google Cloud Console and it's named exactly credentials.json in your current directory.

3. Invalid Grant / Expired Token: If the server can't connect, try running npx gmail-mcp-server auth to reset your OAuth tokens.

4. Port 3000 Busy: The auth flow uses port 3000. If it's busy, the flow might fail. Ensure no other apps are using port 3000 during setup.

💬 Usage Examples

Once configured, ask your AI agent:

• "Search my emails for unread messages from GitHub"

• "Get the full content of email ID 18abc123"

• "Show me the whole thread for this conversation"

• "Reply to that email saying thanks"

• "Forward the invoice to accounting@company.com"

• "Create a draft reply for that message"

• "Mark all newsletters from last month as read"

• "Extract all email addresses from my last 50 emails"

• "Who do I email most frequently?"

• "Download the PDF attachment from that email"

🔒 Security

• credentials.json — never committed (in .gitignore)

• Tokens stored in ~/.gmail-mcp/token.json — outside the project, auto-refreshed

• OAuth scope: gmail.modify (read + modify, no permanent delete or admin)

• All data stays local — no external servers, no telemetry

🌍 Environment Variables

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

git clone https://github.com/neutral-Stage/gmail-mcp-server.git
cd gmail-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

📄 License

MIT — use it however you want.