Google Workspace CLI (GWS)

Open-source Google CLI (not officially supported, pre-v1) that exposes Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Admin through a JSON-first command interface. When installed alongside Claude Code, it replaces Google MCPs with a single tool that carries ~100 built-in multi-step skill recipes and auto-discovers new Google Workspace API endpoints as they ship.

Key facts

• Open-source Google project, not officially supported (beta pre-v1)
• Single CLI covers Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Admin
• JSON-first structured responses tuned for LLM consumption
• 100+ built-in multi-step skill recipes (create docs from templates, schedule meetings, etc.)
• Auto-discovers new Google Workspace API endpoints
• Setup: Google Cloud project + OAuth client ID + credentials JSON in ~/.config/gws
• Cheaper in tokens than equivalent Google Workspace MCP servers
• Justin Poehnelt later said publicly that Google terminated him after creating the viral open-source Google Workspace CLI, framing the episode as a conflict between agentic tooling and Workspace platform disruption concerns ^[src-151].

Source references

• ^[src-004] Nate Herk cluster — Nate Herk — Claude Code cluster (21 videos)

– Videos referenced: Wu67lLD8bB0

• ^[src-151] Justin Poehnelt – "Google Workspace CLI termination story" (2026-06-23)