ClawHosters
by Daniel Samer
3 min read
Google quietly published a CLI tool called gws to GitHub on March 2, and it's probably the most interesting thing to happen for OpenClaw users this month.
One npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli and your agent can talk to Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Chat, Tasks, Meet, Forms, Keep, and Admin. That's 25+ Google Workspace APIs through a single interface.
What Makes This Different
The tool doesn't ship with a static list of commands. It dynamically builds its entire command surface from Google's live API Discovery Service. When Google adds new endpoints, gws picks them up automatically.
But the OpenClaw angle is where it gets interesting.
Google included 100+ Agent Skills (SKILL.md files) and 50 curated recipes for Gmail, Drive, Docs, Calendar, and Sheets. You symlink the skills directory to ~/.openclaw/skills/ and your agent gains google workspace automation capabilities without you writing a single prompt.
It also exposes a full MCP server via gws mcp, with scoping so you can limit what your agent touches. Something like gws mcp -s drive,gmail,calendar restricts access to just those services.
The Security Question
Setup is straightforward. gws auth setup followed by gws auth login handles OAuth, and credentials get encrypted with AES-256-GCM.
Here's the part that should make you pause, though. Over-scoping OAuth permissions is a real risk. Full Gmail modify access means your agent could, in theory, delete emails. If you're running OpenClaw in production, you'll want to think carefully about which scopes you grant. Our security hardening guide covers how to approach permission management for exactly this kind of integration.
Worth noting: Google states this is "not an officially supported Google product." It lives under the googleworkspace developer samples org, not the official Google Cloud repo.
Why This Matters
This is the first time a major platform has built tooling specifically for OpenClaw agents. As TechRadar reported, the release landed weeks after OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger was hired by OpenAI, which some in the industry see as a competitive signal.
For ClawHosters users running managed OpenClaw instances, google workspace integration opens up a whole new category of workflows. Your agent can draft emails, create docs, schedule meetings, and pull spreadsheet data without leaving the conversation.
If you want to try it, check your instance's LLM configuration to make sure your model supports MCP tool use. And if you're weighing self-hosting against managed, our comparison guide breaks down the trade-offs.
