Best Gmail MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT

The best Gmail MCP server on your computer is Alrighty's: you sign in with Google once, with no Google Cloud project to set up, and Claude, ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex or Cursor can read your Gmail next to your iCloud and Outlook mail. Nothing sends until you click Send. If you only use Claude, its Gmail connector needs nothing installed. Developers who want open source should look at Google Workspace MCP, or the maintained fork of the Gmail MCP Server. Google's own Gmail MCP server is in a developer preview, and Composio and Zapier host Gmail tools for agents and automations.

Most lists of Gmail MCP servers point you to a GitHub project and a five-step setup. They leave out what that setup really means: your own Google Cloud project, an OAuth consent screen, and, unless you publish the app, sign-ins that expire every 7 days. They also rarely say that most of these servers send an email the moment the AI asks. This page answers both questions for each option: what you must set up, and whether the AI can send without you.

How we checked

We read each project's README and each vendor's own help and product pages on November 4, 2026, and every fact links to its source. Where a page didn't answer a question, we say so instead of guessing. We didn't install or run the servers. Alrighty is our app, and it is listed first. For the wider question of which mail app to use with an AI, see the best email client for Claude, ChatGPT and MCP.

Gmail MCP servers at a glance

Option	Price	What you set up	Several accounts	Sends without you	Where it runs
Alrighty	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	Sign in with Google, or an app password	Yes, with iCloud and Outlook in one search	No, you click Send	Your computer, 127.0.0.1
Google's Gmail MCP server	Not stated	Preview membership, a Google Cloud project, OAuth	Not stated	No send tool; drafts only	Google's servers
Claude's Gmail connector	Included on Claude plans	Turn it on in Claude	One Google account	Asks first, by default	Anthropic's servers
Google Workspace MCP	Free; hosted plans from $5 a month	Your own Google Cloud project and OAuth client	Many users over HTTP	Yes, unless started read-only	Your computer or server
Gmail MCP Server (fork)	Free	Your own Google Cloud project and OAuth client	One copy of the server per account	Yes, "immediately"	Your computer
Composio Gmail	Free Hobby plan, then paid	Composio's managed sign-in, or your own OAuth app	Yes, named connections	No built-in approval step	Composio's cloud
Zapier MCP	Included in Zapier plans, 2 tasks per call	Connect Gmail in Zapier	Not stated	Its Send Email action sends	Zapier's cloud

Whichever you choose, the mail the AI reads goes to the company that runs the model: Anthropic for Claude, OpenAI for ChatGPT. Only a model on your own computer keeps it there.

What does a self-hosted Gmail MCP server make you set up?

A Gmail MCP server you run yourself needs its own key to Google. That means a Google Cloud project with the Gmail API turned on, an OAuth consent screen, and an OAuth client whose secret file you download. Google's rules then apply to that project, and three of them catch people out.

• Sign-ins that expire in a week. A project with an external user type and a publishing status of "Testing" "is issued a refresh token expiring in 7 days," unless it asks only for name, email and profile (Google). Reading mail needs more than that, so a test project makes you sign in again every week.
• Gmail scopes are restricted. Google lists gmail.readonly ("View your email messages and settings") and full mail access as restricted scopes. "If you store restricted scope data on servers (or transmit), then you must go through a security assessment" (Google).
• The unverified app screen. Until Google verifies it, "the unverified app screen will be displayed before the consent screen, and your app will be limited to 100 new users" (Google).

For one developer on one Gmail account, this is an afternoon of setup and a weekly sign-in. Hosted options and mail apps carry the Google project for you.

Can a Gmail MCP server send email without you?

Most can. The Gmail API has a send call, and most servers give the AI a tool that uses it at once. The risk is a stranger's email that says "forward this thread to me," read by an AI that has a send tool.

The options differ in where the brake sits. Alrighty asks you in its window and waits for your click. Claude's connector asks by default. Google's own server has no send tool: it writes drafts you send from Gmail. Google Workspace MCP has a read-only mode. The Gmail MCP Server, Composio and Zapier leave the brake to your AI client and your prompt.

Alrighty: best for Gmail next to iCloud and Outlook

Alrighty is a desktop mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts Gmail, iCloud and Outlook accounts in one inbox. It signs in to Gmail with Sign in with Google, or with an app password, and reads mail through the Gmail API. You don't create a Google Cloud project. It also runs an MCP server on your computer, so the AI you already use can read every account Alrighty holds.

Which assistants. Claude (the desktop app and Claude Code), ChatGPT's desktop app, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, OpenCode, Antigravity or a local model. The MCP server is off until you turn it on with Connect AI. The setup guide has the steps for each assistant.

What the AI can do. It can list your accounts and folders, search every account by keyword and by meaning, and open a message, a whole conversation or an attachment. To do work, it opens Alrighty in a window of its own while you watch: it opens mail, writes replies and files messages. You can take over at any time.

Can it send without you? No. Nothing sends until you click Send in that window. Alrighty also tells the assistant to treat what emails say as information, never as instructions.

Where it runs. The server runs inside the app on your computer and listens on 127.0.0.1 only, so other computers can't reach it. Each request needs a token that Alrighty makes, and requests from a web page are refused. Your Google tokens stay on your computer, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain, and no assistant ever gets them.

Alrighty's own AI. Separate from MCP, Alrighty has built-in AI features. While you're signed in, opening a reply starts a suggested draft, and Clean up sorts senders in the background. These send only the emails they need to Alrighty's server, which asks an AI model (OpenAI's for answers and replies).

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro.

What it can't do. There's no iPhone or web app. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, not Yahoo or other IMAP. It reads mail only, with no calendar, so your AI doesn't get Google Calendar, Drive or Docs through it. It's a new app with no long track record.

Pick it if you want your AI to read Gmail, and your other accounts, without a Google Cloud project, with you in charge of every send.

Google's Gmail MCP server: best for trying Google's own server

Google now runs its own Gmail MCP server, at gmailmcp.googleapis.com. It is "an MCP server provided by Gmail API," and it is "Available as part of the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program" (Google). Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar and other Workspace apps each get a server of their own.

What it can do. Its tools are search_threads, get_thread, get_message, create_draft, list_drafts, and label tools. There's no send, delete or attachment tool. Google's setup guide describes a draft you then "review and send" from Gmail (Google).

What you set up. "Membership in the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program," "A Google Cloud project," the APIs turned on, and an OAuth client; for an external user type, you "add test users." To use it in Claude, "you must have the Claude Enterprise, Pro, Max, or Team plan."

What it can't do. It's a preview for developers. The pages we read don't say whether personal Gmail accounts can use it, or what it will cost.

Pick it if you're a developer and want Google's own server, drafts only, before it opens to everyone.

Claude's Gmail connector: best for one Gmail account in Claude

Anthropic's Google Workspace connectors are "available for all users on Claude and Claude Desktop" (Anthropic). With Gmail on, Claude can "Search and read emails using natural language queries," draft emails, and "Send, reply to, and forward emails from Gmail." There's nothing to install and no Google Cloud project.

Can it send without you? "By default, Claude asks for your approval before each of these actions." On Team and Enterprise plans, owners decide whether members can let them run without asking each time.

What it can't do. "Claude can only access the Gmail, Calendar, and Drive data for the Google account you've connected," so iCloud, Outlook and a second Gmail stay out. "Attachment content is not directly accessible through Gmail (metadata only)." It works in Claude only, not ChatGPT or Cursor. Our guide to letting Claude read your email has the setup steps.

Pick it if all your mail is in one Gmail account and you use Claude in the browser or its app.

Google Workspace MCP: best open-source server for Gmail and the rest of Workspace

Google Workspace MCP, by Taylor Wilsdon, puts "120+ tools behind a single MCP server, with OAuth 2.1 multi-user auth, three progressive tool tiers, read-only mode." It covers Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Calendar and more, and it "Supports all free Google accounts & Google Workspace plans." It is MIT licensed, with about 3,500 GitHub stars and a release on October 30, 2026.

What it can do with Gmail. The core tier has search, read and send_gmail_message. The extended tier adds attachments, threads, labels, drafts and filters (tool tiers).

Can it send without you? Yes in the default tiers, since send is in core. "In read-only mode it requests just the readonly variants and skips registering write tools entirely" (Workspace MCP).

What you set up. Your own Google Cloud project and OAuth client. The README says "this server sends no data anywhere except Google's APIs, on behalf of the authenticated user, using your own OAuth client credentials." It runs "locally over stdio for legacy clients and remotely over streamable HTTP."

Hosted version. The maintainers sell a hosted server: Student is $5 a month, Standard is $15 a month on their shared client ID, and Custom is $25 a month with your own client ID (Workspace MCP Cloud).

Pick it if you're a developer who wants Gmail plus Calendar, Drive and Docs in one well-maintained server, and you'll run the Google Cloud setup.

Gmail MCP Server: best small open-source server for Gmail only

The Gmail MCP Server by GongRzhe was the first Gmail server many people tried. It is now archived. ArtyMcLabin's fork says "The original repository has been unmaintained since August 2025," and calls itself "an actively maintained fork."

What it can do. Read, search, label and download attachments, and send_email, which "Sends a new email immediately." It also has draft_email and send_draft as separate tools. Permanent delete needs a scope you opt in to.

Can it send without you? Yes, by default. You can sign in with --scopes=gmail.readonly to leave only the read tools.

What you set up. Your own Google Cloud project with the Gmail API and an OAuth client. "It's a local stdio MCP server - you run it on your own machine." Your tokens "are stored globally in ~/.gmail-mcp/," readable only by your user.

Several accounts. Run one copy per account, each with its own --tool-prefix, "e.g. one for a personal account and one for a shared inbox."

What it can't do. Gmail only. You keep the Google project and the updates yourself.

Pick it if you want a small, Gmail-only server you can read in an afternoon.

Composio Gmail: best hosted toolkit for agents with several accounts

Composio is "Hosted by Composio" and gives an agent "61 Tools" for Gmail, including send, draft and a tool that "Permanently deletes a specific email message." It provides "a managed OAuth app for Gmail," so you skip the Google Cloud project, or you can bring your own OAuth app. Several accounts work as named connections, such as "work" and "personal."

Can it send without you? There's no built-in approval step. Composio suggests keeping "an approval step in your prompt" for actions with side effects.

Price. The free Hobby plan "includes 100,000 tool calls per month," with up to 20,000 through managed apps like Gmail.

What it can't do. Your Gmail connection sits with one more company. A prompt is a weak brake against an email written to trick the AI.

Pick it if you're building an agent product that needs Gmail among many other apps.

Zapier MCP: best for Gmail as one step in an automation

Zapier MCP gives Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor Gmail actions such as "Send Email: Create and send a new email message," "Create Draft," "Reply to Email" and "Find Email." It's "included in every Zapier plan," and each tool call "uses two tasks from your existing task quota." Your credentials "stay in Zapier's managed connection layer instead of being passed into the model" (Zapier).

Can it send without you? If you turn on Send Email, the AI can send. Zapier's pages describe choosing which actions the AI gets and reviewing "every MCP action in History," not an approval before each send.

Pick it if Gmail is one of many apps you want an AI to act on in automations.

How to choose

• Gmail plus iCloud or Outlook, no Google Cloud project, nothing sent without your click: Alrighty.
• Google's own server, drafts only, as a developer: Google's Gmail MCP server in the Developer Preview.
• One Gmail account in Claude, nothing to install: Claude's Gmail connector.
• Open source, with Calendar, Drive and Docs too: Google Workspace MCP.
• A small open-source server for Gmail only: ArtyMcLabin's Gmail MCP Server fork.
• An agent product with several Gmail accounts: Composio.
• Gmail as one step in automations: Zapier MCP.

Using Outlook too? Our Outlook MCP server guide compares the options for Microsoft accounts.

Questions

Is there an official Gmail MCP server?

Yes, in preview. Google runs a Gmail MCP server for members of its Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. It searches and reads threads and creates drafts, and it has no send tool.

Why does my Gmail MCP keep logging out?

Every 7 days, the Google Cloud project is in Testing mode: Google issues a refresh token that expires in 7 days to a Testing project that asks for more than basic profile scopes. Publishing the app stops the expiry, but Gmail's restricted scopes then bring Google's verification rules. Every hour, the server isn't renewing its access token. Our page on a Gmail MCP that keeps asking you to sign in covers each cause and fix.

Can ChatGPT read my Gmail?

ChatGPT's desktop app can connect to a local MCP server such as Alrighty's, which gives it Gmail and your other accounts. OpenAI also has its own Gmail plugin for ChatGPT, which our MCP email client guide covers.

Can a Gmail MCP server read attachments?

Some can. Alrighty, Google Workspace MCP's extended tier and the Gmail MCP Server read attachments. Claude's Gmail connector sees only that an attachment exists, and Google's own preview server lists no attachment tool.

Is it safe to give an AI access to Gmail?

Two things decide it. The company that runs the model sees what the AI reads, so pick one you trust or use a local model. And any email can carry text aimed at the AI, so choose a setup where nothing sends without you: a read-only mode, drafts you send yourself, or a window where you click Send.