Google Personal Assistant

A comprehensive skill for managing Google Workspace services via the gog CLI. Designed for Personal Assistant and Chief of Staff workflows with emphasis on efficient searching, filtering, and querying.

When to Use This Skill

• Triaging and processing email inbox
• Scheduling meetings and managing calendar events
• Finding availability across multiple calendars
• Searching and organizing Google Drive documents
• Managing task lists and to-dos
• Looking up and managing contacts
• Reading/writing data in Google Sheets
• Exporting Docs, Slides, or Sheets
• Setting focus time or out-of-office status

Prerequisites

Ensure gog is installed and authenticated:

# Check installation
gog version

# Check authentication status
gog auth status

# Verify account access
gog people me

# Add a new account if needed
gog auth add your@email.com --services=all

Quick Start

Gmail

# Search unread emails
gog gmail search "is:unread" --max=20

# Search from specific sender
gog gmail search "from:boss@company.com newer_than:7d"

# Send an email
gog gmail send --to="recipient@example.com" --subject="Subject" --body="Message body"

# Reply to a thread
gog gmail send --reply-to-message-id=MESSAGE_ID --body="Reply text"

# Get message details
gog gmail get MESSAGE_ID

Calendar

# View today's events
gog calendar events --today

# View this week
gog calendar events --week

# Create an event with Google Meet
gog calendar create primary \
  --summary="Team Sync" \
  --from="2026-01-15T14:00:00-08:00" \
  --to="2026-01-15T15:00:00-08:00" \
  --attendees="person1@example.com,person2@example.com" \
  --with-meet

# Check availability
gog calendar freebusy "person1@example.com,person2@example.com" \
  --from="2026-01-15T09:00:00Z" --to="2026-01-15T17:00:00Z"

# Find scheduling conflicts
gog calendar conflicts --week

Drive

# List files in root
gog drive ls

# Search for documents
gog drive search "quarterly report"

# Download a file
gog drive download FILE_ID

# Upload a file
gog drive upload /path/to/file.pdf --parent=FOLDER_ID

# Get shareable URL
gog drive url FILE_ID

Tasks

# List task lists
gog tasks lists list

# View tasks in default list
gog tasks list @default

# Add a task
gog tasks add @default --title="Review report" --due="2026-01-15"

# Mark task complete
gog tasks done @default TASK_ID

Sheets

# Read a range
gog sheets get SPREADSHEET_ID "Sheet1!A1:D10"

# Update values
gog sheets update SPREADSHEET_ID "Sheet1!A1" "Value1" "Value2"

# Append a row
gog sheets append SPREADSHEET_ID "Sheet1!A:D" "Col1" "Col2" "Col3" "Col4"

Gmail Search Syntax

Gmail search is powerful. Here are the essential operators:

Sender & Recipient

Status & Labels

Content & Subject

Date & Time

Units for newer_than/older_than: d (day), m (month), y (year)

Size

Units: K (KB), M (MB)

Categories

Boolean Operators

Example Queries

# Unread from VIPs this week
gog gmail search "is:unread from:(boss@company.com OR ceo@company.com) newer_than:7d"

# Large attachments
gog gmail search "has:attachment larger:10M"

# Urgent subjects excluding promotions
gog gmail search "subject:(urgent OR asap OR EOD) -category:promotions is:unread"

# Contracts from legal team
gog gmail search "from:legal@company.com subject:contract has:attachment filename:pdf"

# All messages in a thread (use thread ID from search results)
gog gmail thread get THREAD_ID

See references/gmail-search-syntax.md for complete operator reference.

Drive Search Syntax

Drive search uses a query language for precise file finding:

Basic Operators

Date Filters

Ownership & Sharing

Properties

Common MIME Types

Boolean Operators

• and - Both conditions must match
• or - Either condition matches
• not - Negate condition

Example Queries

# Recent docs mentioning Q4
gog drive search "fullText contains 'Q4' and modifiedTime > '2026-01-01'"

# All spreadsheets shared with me
gog drive search "sharedWithMe and mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.spreadsheet'"

# PDFs I own
gog drive search "'me' in owners and mimeType = 'application/pdf'"

# Files modified this week
gog drive search "modifiedTime > '2026-01-03'"

# Documents in specific folder
gog drive ls --parent=FOLDER_ID

# Starred presentations
gog drive search "starred and mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.presentation'"

See references/drive-search-syntax.md for complete query reference.

PA/CoS Workflows

Morning Inbox Triage

# 1. Check unread counts by label
gog gmail labels list --json | jq '.[] | select(.messagesUnread > 0) | {name, unread: .messagesUnread}'

# 2. Review unread from priority senders
gog gmail search "is:unread from:(boss@company.com OR vip@client.com)" --max=20

# 3. Check for urgent subjects
gog gmail search "is:unread subject:(urgent OR asap OR EOD OR \"action required\")" --max=10

# 4. Review threads needing response (excludes noise)
gog gmail search "is:unread in:inbox -category:updates -category:promotions -category:social" --max=30

# 5. Check for emails with attachments requiring action
gog gmail search "is:unread has:attachment newer_than:2d" --max=15

Schedule a Meeting

# 1. Find availability for attendees
gog calendar freebusy "person1@company.com,person2@company.com" \
  --from="2026-01-15T09:00:00-08:00" \
  --to="2026-01-15T17:00:00-08:00"

# 2. Check your own conflicts
gog calendar conflicts --days=7

# 3. Create the meeting
gog calendar create primary \
  --summary="Project Kickoff" \
  --from="2026-01-15T14:00:00-08:00" \
  --to="2026-01-15T15:00:00-08:00" \
  --attendees="person1@company.com,person2@company.com" \
  --description="Agenda:\n1. Project overview\n2. Timeline review\n3. Action items" \
  --location="Conference Room A" \
  --with-meet \
  --reminder="popup:15m"

# 4. Send follow-up email with details
gog gmail send \
  --to="person1@company.com,person2@company.com" \
  --subject="Meeting Scheduled: Project Kickoff - Jan 15 at 2pm" \
  --body="Hi team,

I've scheduled our project kickoff meeting for Wednesday, January 15th at 2:00 PM.

Location: Conference Room A (Google Meet link in calendar invite)

Agenda:
1. Project overview
2. Timeline review
3. Action items

Please let me know if you have any conflicts.

Best regards"

Weekly Calendar Prep

# 1. View the week ahead
gog calendar events --week

# 2. Check all calendars for the week
gog calendar events --week --all

# 3. Find and resolve conflicts
gog calendar conflicts --week

# 4. Check team availability (for group)
gog calendar team engineering@company.com --week

# 5. Block focus time
gog calendar focus-time \
  --from="2026-01-16T09:00:00-08:00" \
  --to="2026-01-16T12:00:00-08:00"

# 6. Set out of office (if needed)
gog calendar out-of-office \
  --from="2026-01-20" \
  --to="2026-01-21" \
  --summary="Out of office - personal day"

# 7. Set working location
gog calendar working-location \
  --from="2026-01-17" \
  --to="2026-01-17" \
  --type="home"

Document Search & Organization

# Find all docs from a project
gog drive search "fullText contains 'Project Alpha'"

# List recent docs you created
gog drive search "'me' in owners and modifiedTime > '2026-01-01'" --max=50

# Find docs shared by specific person
gog drive search "'colleague@company.com' in writers"

# Find presentation decks
gog drive search "mimeType = 'application/vnd.google-apps.presentation' and modifiedTime > '2025-10-01'"

# Download a doc as PDF
gog docs export DOC_ID --format=pdf --output="./report.pdf"

# Read doc contents (plain text for quick review)
gog docs cat DOC_ID

# Export spreadsheet as Excel
gog sheets export SPREADSHEET_ID --format=xlsx --output="./data.xlsx"

# Get shareable link
gog drive url FILE_ID
gog drive share FILE_ID --role=reader --type=anyone

Daily Task Management

# 1. List all task lists
gog tasks lists list

# 2. View all tasks in default list
gog tasks list @default

# 3. View tasks due today
gog tasks list @default --due-max="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT23:59:59Z)"

# 4. Add a new task with due date
gog tasks add @default \
  --title="Review Q4 financials" \
  --due="2026-01-15" \
  --notes="Check revenue projections and expense reports"

# 5. Complete a task
gog tasks done @default TASK_ID

# 6. Reopen a completed task
gog tasks undo @default TASK_ID

# 7. Delete a task
gog tasks delete @default TASK_ID

# 8. Clear all completed tasks
gog tasks clear @default

Contact Lookup

# Search for a contact
gog contacts search "John Smith"

# List all contacts
gog contacts list --max=100

# Get contact details
gog contacts get RESOURCE_NAME

# Create a new contact
gog contacts create \
  --given="Jane" \
  --family="Doe" \
  --email="jane.doe@example.com" \
  --phone="+1-555-123-4567"

# Search directory (Workspace)
gog contacts directory search "engineering"

See references/common-workflows.md for more workflow recipes.

Command Reference

Gmail Commands

Calendar Commands

Drive Commands

Sheets Commands

Docs Commands

Slides Commands

Tasks Commands

Contacts Commands

Groups Commands

People Commands

Global Flags

All gog commands support these flags:

Multi-Account Usage

# Use specific account for a command
gog gmail search "is:unread" --account=work@company.com

# List available accounts
gog auth list

JSON Output for Scripting

# Get unread count for inbox
gog gmail labels get INBOX --json | jq '.messagesUnread'

# Extract event IDs from today
gog calendar events --today --json | jq '.[].id'

# List file IDs from search
gog drive search "budget" --json | jq '.[].id'

# Process email subjects
gog gmail search "is:unread" --json | jq '.[].snippet'

Best Practices

Efficient Searching

1. Start narrow, then broaden - Begin with specific queries, add filters if too many results
2. Use date filters - newer_than: reduces noise dramatically
3. Combine operators - is:unread from:boss newer_than:7d is better than browsing
4. Use --max - Limit results when exploring: --max=10

Calendar Management

1. Always check freebusy before scheduling meetings with others
2. Use --with-meet for remote meetings to auto-create video link
3. Set reminders - --reminder="popup:15m" for important meetings
4. Block focus time proactively to protect deep work

Drive Organization

1. Use folder IDs - Store frequently-used folder IDs for quick access
2. Search by content - fullText contains finds docs even if filename is unclear
3. Filter by MIME type - Narrow to specific doc types
4. Export early - Download important docs as PDF for offline access

Automation Tips

1. Use --json for scripting - Parse with jq
2. Use --plain for simple scripts - Tab-separated, no colors
3. Use --no-input in CI - Prevents hangs on prompts
4. Store IDs - Calendar, folder, and task list IDs for reuse

Reference Files

• Gmail Search Syntax - Complete query operator reference
• Drive Search Syntax - Complete Drive query reference
• Calendar Scheduling - Event creation, time formats, RRULE
• Common Workflows - Extended PA/CoS workflow recipes