Integration Gmail

OpenClaw Gmail Integration: Complete Email Management Guide

Complete guide to integrating OpenClaw with Gmail. Learn how to set up OAuth, manage your inbox, achieve inbox zero, and automate email categorization and responses.

↻ Updated: February 1, 2026 10 min read

Quick Answer

Set up OpenClaw Gmail integration: Run `openclaw integrations gmail`, complete OAuth flow, grant permissions, and start managing email. OpenClaw can read, categorize, respond to, and archive emails automatically.

Introduction

Email management is one of OpenClaw’s most powerful features. With Gmail integration, OpenClaw can read your emails, categorize them, draft responses, archive messages, and help you achieve inbox zero—all from your chat apps.

This guide covers everything you need to integrate OpenClaw with Gmail and automate your email workflow.

For other integrations, see our guides:

Why Gmail Integration?

Gmail integration offers powerful email automation:

  • Inbox Management — Achieve inbox zero automatically
  • Smart Categorization — Auto-categorize emails
  • Auto-Responses — Draft and send responses
  • Email Summaries — Get daily/weekly summaries
  • Search & Filter — Find emails quickly
  • Attachment Handling — Process attachments

Prerequisites

Before setting up Gmail integration:

  1. OpenClaw Installed — See installation guide
  2. OpenClaw Configured — Run openclaw onboard to set up your AI model
  3. Gmail Account — Active Gmail or Google Workspace account
  4. OAuth Setup — You’ll configure this in the next step

Step 1: Set Up Google OAuth

Create Google Cloud Project

  1. Go to Google Cloud Console: console.cloud.google.com
  2. Create a new project or select existing
  3. Name your project (e.g., “OpenClaw Gmail Integration”)
  4. Click “Create”

Enable Gmail API

  1. Go to “APIs & Services” → “Library”
  2. Search for “Gmail API”
  3. Click “Gmail API”
  4. Click “Enable”

Create OAuth Credentials

  1. Go to “APIs & Services” → “Credentials”

  2. Click “Create Credentials” → “OAuth client ID”

  3. Configure OAuth consent screen (if first time):

    • User Type: External (or Internal for Workspace)
    • App name: “OpenClaw”
    • User support email: Your email
    • Developer contact: Your email
    • Scopes: Add https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify
    • Save and continue

  4. Create OAuth client ID:

    • Application type: “Desktop app” or “Web application”
    • Name: “OpenClaw Desktop”
    • Authorized redirect URIs: http://localhost:3000/oauth/callback (or your OpenClaw callback URL)
    • Click “Create”

  5. Copy Client ID and Client Secret — You’ll need these

Configure OpenClaw OAuth

OpenClaw will guide you through OAuth, or configure manually:

openclaw config set gmail.oauth.clientId "your-client-id"
openclaw config set gmail.oauth.clientSecret "your-client-secret"

Step 2: Configure OpenClaw

Run Integration Setup

Start the Gmail integration:

openclaw integrations gmail

Or use the general integrations command:

openclaw integrations
# Select Gmail from the menu

Complete OAuth Flow

  1. OpenClaw will open a browser or provide a URL
  2. Sign in with Google account you want to connect
  3. Review permissions — OpenClaw requests:
    • Read your emails
    • Send emails on your behalf
    • Manage your email settings
  4. Click “Allow”
  5. Copy authorization code if provided
  6. Paste code into OpenClaw terminal prompt

Verify Connection

You should see:

✓ Gmail integration configured successfully!
  Account: your.email@gmail.com
  Access: Read & Send

Step 3: Start Managing Email

Check Email

Ask OpenClaw to check your email:

Check my email

Or be more specific:

Show me unread emails from the last 24 hours

Read Specific Email

Read the email from Sarah

Or:

Show me the email about the meeting tomorrow

Categorize Emails

OpenClaw can automatically categorize:

Categorize my inbox

Categories might include:

  • Important
  • Newsletters
  • Social
  • Promotions
  • Updates

Archive Emails

Archive all emails older than 30 days

Or:

Archive all newsletters

Delete Emails

Delete all promotional emails from last week

Note: OpenClaw will ask for confirmation before deleting.

Advanced Features

Auto-Categorization

Enable automatic email categorization:

openclaw config set gmail.autoCategorize true
openclaw config set gmail.categories ["important", "newsletters", "social", "promotions"]

OpenClaw will automatically categorize incoming emails.

Inbox Zero Automation

Set up automatic inbox zero:

openclaw config set gmail.inboxZero.enabled true
openclaw config set gmail.inboxZero.schedule "daily"
openclaw config set gmail.inboxZero.actions.archive true
openclaw config set gmail.inboxZero.actions.delete true

OpenClaw will automatically process your inbox daily.

Email Summaries

Get daily or weekly email summaries:

openclaw config set gmail.summaries.enabled true
openclaw config set gmail.summaries.frequency "daily"
openclaw config set gmail.summaries.time "08:00"

OpenClaw will send summaries via your connected chat app.

Auto-Responses

Configure automatic responses:

openclaw config set gmail.autoReply.enabled true
openclaw config set gmail.autoReply.rules.outOfOffice true

OpenClaw can draft and send responses automatically (with your approval or auto-send for simple cases).

Smart Filters

Create smart filters:

openclaw config set gmail.filters.newsletters.action "archive"
openclaw config set gmail.filters.promotions.action "delete"
openclaw config set gmail.filters.important.action "star"

Attachment Processing

OpenClaw can process attachments:

  • Download attachments automatically
  • Extract text from PDFs
  • Process images and documents
  • Summarize attachment contents

Configuration Options

Email Limits

Configure how many emails to process:

openclaw config set gmail.limits.maxEmailsPerRequest 50
openclaw config set gmail.limits.maxEmailsPerDay 1000

Response Formatting

Configure how emails are displayed:

openclaw config set gmail.format "summary"

Options:

  • full — Full email content
  • summary — AI-generated summary
  • snippet — Gmail snippet only

Privacy Settings

Configure privacy:

openclaw config set gmail.privacy.localOnly true
openclaw config set gmail.privacy.noCloudStorage true

Notification Settings

Control email notifications:

openclaw config set gmail.notifications.enabled true
openclaw config set gmail.notifications.importantOnly true
openclaw config set gmail.notifications.quietHours "22:00-08:00"

Usage Examples

Daily Briefing

Set up a daily email briefing:

Send me a daily email briefing at 8 AM

OpenClaw will summarize:

  • Important emails
  • Unread count
  • Action items
  • Calendar events from emails

Search your emails:

Find emails about the project proposal

Or:

Show me all emails from John in the last month

Draft Responses

Ask OpenClaw to draft responses:

Draft a response to Sarah's email about the meeting

OpenClaw will:

  1. Read the original email
  2. Draft a response
  3. Show you for approval
  4. Send when approved

Email Threading

Handle email threads:

Show me the conversation thread about the budget

OpenClaw can follow and summarize entire conversation threads.

Bulk Actions

Perform bulk actions:

Archive all emails from newsletters older than 7 days

Or:

Mark all emails from my team as important

Troubleshooting

OAuth Errors

If OAuth fails:

  1. Check credentials — Verify Client ID and Secret
  2. Check redirect URI — Must match exactly
  3. Check scopes — Ensure all required scopes are requested
  4. Re-authenticate: 
    openclaw integrations gmail --reauth

Permission Denied

If you see permission errors:

  1. Check OAuth scopes — Ensure gmail.modify scope is granted
  2. Re-authorize — Complete OAuth flow again
  3. Check Google account — Ensure correct account is connected

Emails Not Loading

If emails aren’t loading:

  1. Check API quota — Gmail API has daily quotas

  2. Check connection:

    openclaw status

  3. Check logs:

    openclaw logs

  4. Test Gmail API:

    openclaw test gmail

Rate Limiting

If you hit rate limits:

  1. Reduce request frequency:

    openclaw config set gmail.rateLimit 10

  2. Use batch operations — Process multiple emails at once

  3. Check Gmail API quotas — Monitor in Google Cloud Console

Security Best Practices

OAuth Security

  • Keep credentials secret — Never share Client ID/Secret

  • Use environment variables:

    export GMAIL_CLIENT_ID="your-id"
export GMAIL_CLIENT_SECRET="your-secret"

  • Rotate credentials — Regenerate if compromised

Email Privacy

  • Local processing — Emails processed locally when possible
  • No cloud storage — Unless explicitly configured
  • Secure storage — Credentials stored securely in ~/.openclaw

Access Control

  • Limit permissions — Only grant necessary scopes
  • Monitor usage — Check OpenClaw logs regularly
  • Revoke access — Disconnect if needed: 
    openclaw integrations gmail --disconnect

Advanced Use Cases

Team Email Management

Use for team email:

  • Shared inbox — Manage team inbox
  • Email routing — Route emails to team members
  • Response templates — Standardized responses

Customer Support

Use for customer support:

  • Auto-responses — Respond to common questions
  • Ticket creation — Create tickets from emails
  • Escalation — Escalate complex issues

Personal Productivity

Use for personal productivity:

  • Inbox zero — Maintain clean inbox
  • Email summaries — Daily/weekly summaries
  • Quick responses — Fast email handling

Comparison with Other Email Services

Gmail vs IMAP

  • Gmail — OAuth, better API, Gmail-specific features
  • IMAP — Works with any email provider, more basic

OpenClaw supports both Gmail API and IMAP.

Next Steps

Now that Gmail is connected:

  1. Explore Other Integrations — WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord
  2. Set Up Skills — Skills Library
  3. Configure Calendar — Link with Google Calendar
  4. Read FAQ — Common Questions

Conclusion

Gmail integration transforms OpenClaw into a powerful email management assistant. From inbox zero automation to smart categorization to auto-responses, OpenClaw can handle your email workflow efficiently. The OAuth setup is straightforward, and once connected, you can manage your entire inbox from your favorite chat app.

For more help, check our integrations page or FAQ. Happy email managing with OpenClaw!

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