What it does
The Gmail MCP gives an agent the ability to operate a Gmail mailbox the way a competent assistant would: read inbound, classify and label, draft and send replies, search history, and surface anything that needs the human's attention.
The agent operates inside a defined authority surface — what it can send without confirmation, what requires the user's sign-off, what is read-only.
Capabilities
- Read inbox and individual threads
- Search across mail history
- Apply labels and stars
- Draft replies (always reviewable before send)
- Send replies (only within the configured authority surface)
- Archive, mark read, snooze
Authority surface
During configuration, the user (or the business) defines what the agent can do unsupervised:
- Read-only — agent can read, classify, summarize; never sends
- Draft-only — agent prepares replies; user sends
- Bounded send — agent can send replies that match configured templates / topics; everything else drafted
- Full delegation — agent sends freely in the user's voice (typical for Pynk personal use; rare for business)
Auth
Google OAuth, scoped to gmail.readonly, gmail.modify, or gmail.send depending on the authority surface granted.
When to use it
- Onyx deployments where the business uses Gmail / Google Workspace
- Pynk deployments where the user wants the agent to manage personal email
Limitations
Does not handle calendar invites (use google-calendar MCP). Does not handle Google Drive attachments beyond download (use google-drive MCP if needed).