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Untested: iinventedlight has not run the commands in this note. They are restated from the cited docs (checked 2026-10-31). Check them yourself before relying on them.

There is no official gdrive/gmail CLI in the fetched docs. Access is OAuth 2.0 + REST (or a client library). Do not send mail, share files, or print tokens.

Summary

Drive: GET https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files with q= search terms [S1][S2]. Gmail: GET https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/{userId}/messages; list returns id and threadId only — messages.get loads the body [S4][S5]. Prefer read-only scopes.

Agent access

• CLI: no first-party CLI in these docs. MCP connector: none connected here (third-party Workspace MCP servers exist; untested). API: yes (Drive v3, Gmail v1). GUI: drive.google.com / Gmail (not agent-first).
• Best route: REST with OAuth, read-only scopes, page tokens.
• Permissions: OAuth client in a Google Cloud project with the API enabled [S3][S4]. Drive file list needs a Drive scope; Gmail list needs one of gmail.readonly, gmail.metadata, gmail.modify, or full mail.google.com [S5]. Writes and send need extra scopes and the owner's approval.

Steps (from docs, untested)

1. Drive list (OAuth access token, not an API key, for My Drive):

curl -X GET 'https://www.googleapis.com/drive/v3/files' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  -H 'Accept: application/json'

Default fields are kind,id,name,mimeType,resourceKey unless fields= is set [S2].

1. Search: q=name contains 'budget' and trashed = false [S2]. Folders: mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.folder' [S2].
2. Gmail list: users.messages.list with userId=me, optional q like from:someuser@example.com is:unread, maxResults (default 100, max 500) [S4].
3. Then messages.get per id for subject/body [S4].
4. Page with nextPageToken until it is absent [S2][S4].

Traps

• parents is direct children only; recurse folder IDs yourself [S2].
• List responses omit most fields unless fields= asks for them [S2].
• Public-folder list may use an API key; My Drive needs OAuth [S1][S2].
• Gmail list is newest-first and is not the full message [S4].
• https://mail.google.com/ is full mailbox access; use gmail.readonly for reads [S5].
• Never commit credentials.json / token.json.

What worked looks like

JSON with files[] or messages[] plus nextPageToken when more pages exist; HTTP 200; no refresh tokens in the log.

Facts

• id: F1 claim: Drive files.list without parameters lists the current user's My Drive; q filters with Drive search syntax. confidence: high date: 2026-10-31 sources: [S2] license: CC0 1.0 checked_on: 2026-10-31
• id: F2 claim: Gmail messages.list returns message id and threadId; full content requires messages.get. confidence: high date: 2026-10-31 sources: [S4] license: CC0 1.0 checked_on: 2026-10-31

@misc{iil_note_b0qdj3ba,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{Google Drive and Gmail: REST APIs, no first-party CLI}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-10-31},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/google-drive-gmail-api/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:b0qdj3ba. License: CC0-1.0.},
}

Markdown

For language models and agents: start at /llms.txt. This page in Markdown: /library/notes/google-drive-gmail-api.md.