Gmail MCP Server

The Gmail MCP server gives Claude and MCP-compatible agents access to your Google inbox. Claude can search for emails using Gmail query syntax, read full message threads, draft and send replies, and manage labels — turning your AI assistant into an email co-pilot.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Google Cloud Project with the Gmail API enabled
• OAuth 2.0 credentials (Desktop App type) — download the credentials.json file
• First run will open a browser for you to grant access; a token.json file is saved locally
• Required OAuth scope: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify

Installation & Configuration

Add this block to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-gmail"],
      "env": {
        "GMAIL_CREDENTIALS_PATH": "/path/to/your/credentials.json",
        "GMAIL_TOKEN_PATH": "/path/to/your/token.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config file location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Available Tools (5)

• search_emails
  Query inbox with Gmail syntax
• get_email
  Read a full message thread
• send_email
  Compose and send a message
• reply_to_email
  Reply within a thread
• modify_labels
  Add/remove labels (archive, etc.)

Use Cases

• Summarise all unread emails from a specific sender
• Draft a professional reply to a support request and send it
• Find and archive all newsletter emails older than 30 days

Tips & Gotchas

Source & Documentation