In This Article
Introduction
Google Workspace is ubiquitous in business. OpenClaw can integrate with Gmail, Drive, and Calendar for email triage, document access, and scheduling. Here's what we're covering: Google Workspace integration patterns.
Gmail Integration: Deep Dive
OpenClaw connects to Gmail via the Gmail API (OAuth 2.0). Read emails for triage, summarization, and drafting responses. Send emails (with approval workflows for sensitive contexts). Use labels and filters to scope what the agent accesses. Never give unsupervised send access for business email.
Step-by-step: Email triage. Create a Heartbeat that polls Gmail every 15-60 min. The agent reads new emails (filter by label: "inbox" or "to-triage"), summarizes each, and drafts responses for high-priority items. Output: "5 emails need attention. Drafts ready for review." For "What's my schedule today?" emails, the agent queries Calendar and drafts a response. One team cut email triage from 2 hours to 30 min daily.
Google Drive
Read documents, spreadsheets, and files from Drive. OpenClaw can summarize docs, extract data, and answer questions from your knowledge base. Useful for internal Q&A and document workflows. Scope access to specific folders; avoid broad Drive access.
Step-by-step: Document Q&A. Store key docs in a shared Drive folder. OpenClaw can read via Drive API, index content in memory, and answer "What does our policy say about X?" Scope to specific folders. Never expose sensitive docs to broad access.
Google Calendar
Read calendar events, create events, and manage availability. OpenClaw can schedule meetings, send invites, and compile daily schedules. Integrates with scheduling workflows (appointments, interviews). Essential for many business automations.
Step-by-step: Scheduling. When someone asks "When can we meet?", the agent checks Calendar free/busy, suggests slots, and can create a draft event. For Calendly-style flows, OpenClaw can generate booking links or draft confirmations.
Setup: Step-by-Step
Create a Google Cloud project, enable Gmail/Drive/Calendar APIs, configure OAuth consent. OpenClaw Skills or custom integrations use the credentials. Store tokens securely. Review Google's API quotas and best practices.
OAuth flow. (1) Create project at console.cloud.google.com. (2) Enable Gmail API, Drive API, Calendar API. (3) Create OAuth 2.0 credentials (Desktop or Web). (4) Configure consent screen. (5) Use the OAuth flow in your Skill to get refresh token. (6) Store refresh token securely; use for API calls. Tokens typically last 7 days without refresh; implement token refresh.
Implementation Checklist
- □ Create Google Cloud project; enable APIs
- □ Configure OAuth consent; get credentials
- □ Build or use Skill for Gmail/Drive/Calendar
- □ Scope access narrowly (specific labels, folders)
- □ Run in draft-only for email send
- □ Test token refresh
Cost & Quotas
Google APIs are free within quotas. Gmail: 1B quota units/day (typical read = 5 units). Drive: 1000 requests/100 sec. Calendar: 1M requests/day. OpenClaw's usage stays well under limits for most deployments. OAuth and API setup: 2-4 hours.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Pitfall 1: Broad Drive access. Scope to specific folders. Pitfall 2: Unsupervised email send. Always approval workflow. Pitfall 3: Token expiry. Implement refresh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does OpenClaw work with Google Workspace? Yes. Gmail, Drive, Calendar all have REST APIs. What about shared mailboxes? Use a service account with domain-wide delegation, or OAuth as the mailbox user. Can we use for Google Sheets? Yes. Drive API provides Sheets access; read/write cells via Sheets API.
Wrapping Up
Google Workspace integration makes OpenClaw a powerful assistant for Gmail, Drive, and Calendar users. OpenClaw Consult helps configure these integrations.