Google Workspace Automation

Standard Approach: gws-account + gws Skills

This skill is not superseded by the gws-* skills. It is the umbrella entry point that tells agents how to choose the right Google Workspace account before using the domain-specific gws-drive, gws-docs, gws-calendar, gws-sheets, gws-slides, gws-tasks, and related skills.

gws-account is the standard for Google Workspace access. It wraps gws with the correct account profile. Do not use raw gws unless you explicitly set GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CONFIG_DIR.

Choose the Profile First

Always select the profile by organization/context before running a command:

If the user says "Synthera", treat it as likely synthyra and confirm only if the target account is ambiguous.

Before acting, inspect profiles:

/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account list

If a profile reports auth_method: none or an auth failure, stop and report that the profile needs reauthorization before trying Drive/Docs/Calendar operations.

Email routing:

• Search, inspect, summarize, or read email history with msgvault, not gws.
• LFW/PAIA agents should create email drafts through the n8n Gmail draft webhook, then wait for human review.
• Use Gmail via GWS only for explicit live Gmail operations that are not covered by msgvault or n8n, and confirm before sending or mutating mail.

LFW agent safety: The lfw profile may create/update Workspace artifacts such as Drive files, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Tasks, and contacts. It must not have Gmail send/modify scopes or Calendar write scopes. Do not use lfw-human unless Braydon explicitly approves a live outbound send/calendar mutation. Google does not provide a Calendar draft-invite mode, and Gmail draft-capable API scopes also permit sending, so agents must not hold those outbound write scopes.

For LFW email drafting, use the n8n draft-only workflow:

curl -sS -X POST 'http://127.0.0.1:5678/webhook/email-draft-lfw-0e02ff130c72' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"to":"recipient@example.com","subject":"Draft subject","body":"Draft body"}'

The workflow creates a Gmail draft for human review; it does not grant send permission to the agent.

See the gws-shared skill for global flags, syntax, and account details. See individual skills for each service: gws-drive, gws-docs, gws-calendar, gws-sheets, gws-slides, gws-tasks, and related GWS service skills.

Quick Reference

# List Drive files (always include shared drives flags for LFW)
/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account lfw drive files list --params '{"includeItemsFromAllDrives": true, "supportsAllDrives": true, "fields": "files(id,name,mimeType)"}'

# List MCCO Drive files
/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account mcco drive files list --params '{"includeItemsFromAllDrives": true, "supportsAllDrives": true, "fields": "files(id,name,mimeType)"}'

# List Synthyra Drive files
/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account synthyra drive files list --params '{"includeItemsFromAllDrives": true, "supportsAllDrives": true, "fields": "files(id,name,mimeType)"}'

# Search for docs by name
/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account lfw drive files list --params '{"q": "name contains '\''SOW'\''", "includeItemsFromAllDrives": true, "supportsAllDrives": true, "fields": "files(id,name)"}'

# Read a Google Doc
/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account lfw docs documents get --params '{"documentId": "<id>"}'

# Export a Google Doc as plain text
/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account lfw drive files export --params '{"fileId": "<id>", "mimeType": "text/plain"}'

# Search/read email history with msgvault, not GWS Gmail
MSGVAULT_HOME=/Volumes/data2/msgvault /Users/braydon/.local/bin/msgvault --home /Volumes/data2/msgvault --config /Volumes/data2/msgvault/config.toml search "subject:invoice" --json

# List calendar events
/Users/braydon/projects/experiments/gws-profiles/bin/gws-account lfw calendar events list --params '{"calendarId": "primary", "maxResults": 10}'

Do Not Use

• gspread / googleapiclient Python libraries — requires service account setup, adds code complexity
• Custom OAuth flows — gws handles auth
• GWS Gmail for email search/reading — use msgvault
• Direct SMTP/Gmail sending from PAIA agents — create n8n drafts for human review
• paia-os Gmail/GCal integration modules — legacy, ~4,900 lines of code that gws/msgvault/n8n replace