@mcp-z/mcp-gmail

Docs: https://mcp-z.github.io/mcp-gmail Gmail MCP server for searching, reading, and sending mail over MCP.

Common uses

• Search and read messages
• Send and reply to emails
• Manage labels and export messages to CSV

Transports

MCP supports stdio and HTTP.

Stdio

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mcp-z/mcp-gmail"]
    }
  }
}

HTTP

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:9002/mcp",
      "start": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "@mcp-z/mcp-gmail", "--port=9002"]
      }
    }
  }
}

start is an extension used by npx @mcp-z/cli up to launch HTTP servers for you.

Create a Google Cloud app

1. Go to Google Cloud Console.
2. Create or select a project.
3. Enable the Gmail API.
4. Create OAuth 2.0 credentials (Desktop app).
5. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret.
6. Select your MCP transport (stdio for local and http for remote) and platform

• For stdio, choose "APIs & Services", + Create client, "Desktop app" type
• For http, choose "APIs & Services", + Create client, "Web application" type, add your URL (default is http://localhost:3000/oauth/callback based on the --port or PORT)
• For local hosting, add "http://127.0.0.1" for Ephemeral redirect URL

7. Enable OAuth2 scopes: openid https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.profile https://www.googleapis.com/auth/userinfo.email https://mail.google.com/
8. Add test emails

OAuth modes

Configure via environment variables or the env block in .mcp.json. See server.json for the full list of options.

Loopback OAuth (default)

Environment variables:

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret

Example (stdio) - Create .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mcp-z/mcp-gmail"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id"
      }
    }
  }
}

Example (http) - Create .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "outlook": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:3000",
      "start": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "@mcp-z/mcp-gmail", "--port=3000"],
        "env": {
          "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Local (default): omit REDIRECT_URI → ephemeral loopback. Cloud: set REDIRECT_URI to your public /oauth/callback and expose the service publicly.

Note: start block is a helper in "npx @mcp-z/cli up" for starting an http server from your .mpc.json. See @mcp-z/cli for details.

Service account

Environment variables:

AUTH_MODE=service-account
GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY_FILE=/path/to/service-account.json

Example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mcp-z/mcp-gmail", "--auth=service-account"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_KEY_FILE": "/path/to/service-account.json"
      }
    }
  }
}

DCR (self-hosted)

HTTP only. Requires a public base URL. CSV export and /files are disabled in DCR mode; resourceStoreUri is ignored.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gmail-dcr": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@mcp-z/mcp-gmail",
        "--auth=dcr",
        "--port=3456",
        "--base-url=https://oauth.example.com"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
        "GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-client-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

How to use

# List tools
mcp-z inspect --servers gmail --tools

# Call a tool
mcp-z call gmail message-search '{"query":"from:alice@example.com"}'

Tools

1. categories-list
2. label-add
3. label-delete
4. labels-list
5. message-get
6. message-mark-read
7. message-move-to-trash
8. message-respond
9. message-search
10. message-send
11. messages-export-csv

Resources

1. email

Prompts

1. draft-email
2. query-syntax

Configuration reference

See server.json for all supported environment variables, CLI arguments, and defaults.