Google Workspace CLI — First-Time Setup

Set up the gws CLI (@googleworkspace/cli) with OAuth credentials and 90+ agent skills for Claude Code. Produces a fully authenticated CLI with skills for Gmail, Drive, Calendar, Sheets, Docs, Chat, Tasks, and more.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A Google account (personal or Workspace)
• Access to Google Cloud Console (console.cloud.google.com)

Workflow

Step 1: Pre-flight Checks

Check what's already done and skip completed steps:

# Check if gws is installed
which gws && gws --version

# Check if client_secret.json exists
ls ~/.config/gws/client_secret.json

# Check if already authenticated
gws auth status

If gws auth status shows "status": "success" with scopes, skip to Step 6 (Install Skills).

Step 2: Install the CLI

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli
gws --version

Step 3: Create a GCP Project and OAuth Credentials

The user needs to create OAuth Desktop App credentials in Google Cloud Console. Walk them through each step.

3a. Create or select a GCP project:

Direct the user to: https://console.cloud.google.com/projectcreate

Or use an existing project. Ask the user which they prefer.

3b. Enable Google Workspace APIs:

Direct the user to the API Library for their project: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library?project=PROJECT_ID

Enable these APIs (search for each):

• Gmail API
• Google Drive API
• Google Calendar API
• Google Sheets API
• Google Docs API
• Google Chat API (requires extra Chat App config — see below)
• Tasks API
• People API
• Google Slides API
• Google Forms API
• Admin SDK API (optional — for Workspace admin features)

3c. Configure Google Chat App (required for Chat API):

Enabling the Chat API alone isn't enough — Google requires a Chat App configuration even for user-context OAuth access. Without this, all Chat API calls return errors.

Direct the user to: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/api/chat.googleapis.com/hangouts-chat?project=PROJECT_ID

1. Click the Configuration tab
2. Fill in app details (name, avatar, description — values don't matter for CLI use)
3. Under "Functionality", check Spaces and group conversations
4. Under "Connection settings", select Apps Script or HTTP endpoint (pick any — we just need the config to exist)
5. Save

This creates the app identity that the Chat API requires. Messages sent via gws still appear as coming from the authenticated user (OAuth user context), not from a bot.

3e. Configure OAuth consent screen:

Direct the user to: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials/consent?project=PROJECT_ID

Settings:

• User Type: External (works for any Google account)
• App name: gws CLI (or any name)
• User support email: their email
• Developer contact: their email
• Leave scopes blank (gws requests scopes at login time)
• Add their Google account as a test user (required while app is in "Testing" status)
• Save and continue through all screens

3f. Create OAuth client ID:

Direct the user to: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials?project=PROJECT_ID

1. Click Create Credentials → OAuth client ID
2. Application type: Desktop app
3. Name: gws CLI
4. Click Create
5. Copy the JSON or download the client_secret_*.json file

3g. Save the credentials:

Ask the user to provide the client_secret.json content (paste the JSON or provide the downloaded file path).

mkdir -p ~/.config/gws

Write the JSON to ~/.config/gws/client_secret.json. The expected format:

{
  "installed": {
    "client_id": "...",
    "project_id": "...",
    "auth_uri": "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth",
    "token_uri": "https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token",
    "client_secret": "...",
    "redirect_uris": ["http://localhost"]
  }
}

Step 4: Choose Scopes

Ask the user what level of access they want:

Recommend full access for power users. The OAuth consent screen shows all requested scopes so the user can review before granting.

Note: If the GCP app is in "Testing" status, scope selection is limited to ~25 scopes. Use -s service1,service2 to request targeted scopes, or publish the app (Publish → In Production) for broader scope access.

Step 5: Authenticate

IMPORTANT: This step prints a very long OAuth URL (30+ scopes) that the user must open in their browser. The URL is too long to copy from terminal output — it wraps across lines and breaks. Always extract it to a file and open it programmatically.

1. Run the login command and capture the output:

gws auth login --full 2>&1 | tee /tmp/gws-auth-output.txt
# Or with specific services:
# gws auth login -s gmail,drive,calendar,sheets,docs,chat,tasks 2>&1 | tee /tmp/gws-auth-output.txt

Running as a background task is fine — it will complete once the user approves in browser.

2. Extract and open the URL (run separately after output appears):

grep -o 'https://accounts.google.com[^ ]*' /tmp/gws-auth-output.txt > /tmp/gws-auth-url.txt
cat /tmp/gws-auth-url.txt | xargs open

If open doesn't work, tell the user: "The auth URL is saved at /tmp/gws-auth-url.txt — open that file and copy the URL."

3. Wait for the user to approve in their browser.

After browser approval, gws stores encrypted credentials at ~/.config/gws/credentials.enc.

Verify:

gws auth status

Should show "status": "success" with the authenticated account and granted scopes.

Step 6: Install Agent Skills

Install the 90+ gws agent skills globally for Claude Code:

npx skills add googleworkspace/cli -g --agent claude-code --all

Verify skills are installed:

ls ~/.claude/skills/gws-* | wc -l

Should show 30+ gws skill directories.

Step 7: Save Credentials for Other Machines

If the user has other machines to set up, suggest exporting the client credentials:

gws auth export

This prints decrypted credentials (including refresh token) to stdout. The client_secret.json file is the portable part — the same OAuth client can be used on any machine, with gws auth login generating fresh user tokens per machine.

Tell the user to save the client_secret.json content somewhere secure (password manager, encrypted note) for use with the gws-install skill on other machines.

Step 8: Verify Everything Works

Run a few commands to confirm:

# Check auth
gws auth status

# Check calendar
gws calendar +agenda --today

# Check email
gws gmail +triage

If any command fails with auth errors, re-run gws auth login with the needed scopes.

Critical Patterns

Testing vs Production OAuth Apps

GCP OAuth apps start in "Testing" status with a 7-day token expiry and ~25 scope limit. For long-term use:

• Push the app to Production in the OAuth consent screen settings
• Production apps have no token expiry limit
• For personal/internal use, Google does not require verification

Scope Reference

Environment Variable Alternative

Instead of client_secret.json, credentials can be provided via environment variables:

export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CLIENT_ID="your-client-id"
export GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CLIENT_SECRET="your-client-secret"
gws auth login

Config Directory

All gws config lives in ~/.config/gws/:

See Also

• gws-install — Quick setup on additional machines with existing credentials
• gws-shared — Auth patterns and global flags for gws commands