Does the Gmail MCP server work with Claude?

Yes. Google ships a remote Gmail MCP server that you add to Claude as a custom connector. It works with Claude Cowork, Claude Code, and Claude Desktop on the Enterprise, Pro, Max, or Team plans.

Is there an official Gmail MCP server?

Yes. Google publishes an official remote Gmail MCP server at https://gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1 as part of its Google Workspace MCP servers. There are also community servers like GongRzhe/Gmail-MCP-Server.

Is the Gmail MCP server free?

The official Google server has no separate fee, but connecting it to Claude requires a paid Claude plan (Enterprise, Pro, Max, or Team). Community servers are open source and free to self-host.

Can the Gmail MCP server send email automatically?

The official Google server creates drafts but does not send — you review and hit send yourself in Gmail. The community GongRzhe server adds a send_email tool that dispatches immediately, so use it carefully.

Gmail MCP Server: What It Does & How to Use It with Claude

The Gmail MCP server lets an AI assistant search your inbox, read threads, draft replies, and organize mail with labels, all through natural language. Google ships an official remote server for Gmail, and an active community server adds direct sending, attachments, and filters for teams that want more reach.

What the Gmail MCP server can do

The official Google server exposes ten tools and is deliberately scoped to reading and drafting. It never sends mail on its own. Here is what it covers:

Capability	What it enables
Search threads	Find conversations with Gmail’s native query syntax (`from:`, `subject:`, `after:`, `has:attachment`).
Read a thread	Pull the full message history of a conversation so the assistant has real context before it drafts.
List labels	Enumerate your labels and folders to route or categorize mail.
List drafts	See drafts already sitting in your account.
Create draft	Compose a reply or new message that lands in your Drafts for you to review and send.
Manage labels	Create labels and add or remove them from messages and threads.

The full tool set is search_threads, get_thread, list_labels, list_drafts, create_draft, create_label, label_message, label_thread, unlabel_message, and unlabel_thread.

Official vs community server

Both exist, and they target different needs.

Official (Google’s Gmail MCP server) is the right default. It is a hosted remote server at https://gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1, authenticated with OAuth 2.0, scoped to gmail.readonly and gmail.compose. It reads and drafts but never sends, a safety choice that suits most teams.
Community (GongRzhe/Gmail-MCP-Server) is a self-hosted, open-source Node server that adds send_email (dispatches immediately), attachments, batch label/delete operations, and Gmail filters. Note the original repo was archived in March 2026; an actively maintained fork lives at ArtyMcLabin/Gmail-MCP-Server. Use it when you genuinely need automated sending or filter management.

How do you connect it to Claude (Cowork / Code / Desktop)?

The official server connects the same way across Claude surfaces:

Enable the APIs in Google Cloud. Turn on both the Gmail API and the Gmail MCP API for your project.
Create an OAuth client (a client ID and secret) and configure the OAuth consent screen with the gmail.readonly and gmail.compose scopes.
Add a custom connector in Claude (Cowork, Desktop, or Code), pointing at https://gmailmcp.googleapis.com/mcp/v1 with your OAuth credentials. You need a Claude Enterprise, Pro, Max, or Team plan.
Authorize and test. Complete the OAuth consent flow, then ask Claude to “search my inbox for invoices from last week” to confirm it works.

Start read-only: lean on search and read first, and treat draft-creation as the only write action until you trust the setup.

How we use it: The official Gmail MCP server is excellent for triage: “summarize unread threads from clients,” “draft a reply to this contract email,” “label everything from finance.” It is genuinely good for getting a human-reviewed draft into place fast. It is bad for fully autonomous sending or bulk cleanup, because by design it stops at drafts, and for good reason. The one gotcha that bites people: Gmail’s compose scope creates drafts but cannot send, so an agent told to “email this person” will quietly produce a draft and report success while nothing leaves your outbox. If you actually need send-on-its-own, that is when you reach for the community server, and you accept the risk that comes with it.

How should you handle security and permissions?

Grant the narrowest scopes that do the job. gmail.readonly plus gmail.compose covers triage and drafting without ever sending. Keep OAuth credentials out of shared configs, prefer the official hosted server over a self-hosted one for production, and avoid the community send_email and batch_delete tools unless a human reviews every action.

Wiring Gmail into your stack

A Gmail connector is rarely the whole picture. Most teams want mail, calendar, Slack, and their CRM working from one agent. That is the part worth getting right: scoping permissions, choosing official vs self-hosted, and deciding where a human stays in the loop. If you want a second set of eyes on that design, book a discovery call.

Sources: Gmail MCP server setup · Gmail MCP reference (tool list) · Google Workspace MCP servers · GongRzhe/Gmail-MCP-Server