gogcli (gog)

gog is a fast, script-friendly CLI for Google services. It is JSON-first, supports multiple accounts/OAuth clients, and has explicit guardrails for agent and CI usage.

Authoritative upstream: https://github.com/steipete/gogcli

This skill was refreshed against upstream gog v0.13.0 (2026-04-20). When exact syntax matters, run gog <command> --help or gog schema --json; the command surface moves quickly, rather inconveniently for anyone fond of stale notes.

Operating rules

• Prefer gog --json ... | jq ... for inspection and scripting.
• Use --plain only when stable TSV is more convenient than JSON.
• Use --dry-run for supported mutating operations when preparing a change or when user intent is ambiguous.
• Use --no-input in automation so commands fail instead of prompting.
• Use --force only when the user asked for the destructive/public/send/admin operation or after you have clearly explained the effect.
• Do not repair OAuth, consent, keyring, or Workspace delegation problems silently. Show the exact command the user should run.
• Do not export tokens, print secrets, open public shares, add delegates/forwarding, send mail, suspend users, or permanently delete data unless the user explicitly requested that action.
• For agent runs that must not send mail, add --gmail-no-send, set GOG_GMAIL_NO_SEND=1, or configure gog config no-send set <account>.

Install and auth

brew install gogcli
gog auth credentials set ~/Downloads/client_secret_....json
gog auth add you@example.com --services gmail,calendar,drive
gog auth list --check

Notes:

• Homebrew now uses brew install gogcli; old tap examples are obsolete.
• gog auth add defaults to --services user. Request the services needed for the task.
• --services all is accepted only as a backwards-compatible alias for user; do not use it when you need every API.
• Use --readonly, --drive-scope readonly|file|full, and --gmail-scope readonly|full for least privilege.
• Keep and Admin require Workspace service-account/domain-wide delegation. Google Chat, Groups, directory, and Classroom also have Workspace restrictions.
• For headless/CI, consider --manual, --remote, --access-token, or GOG_AUTH_MODE=adc.

Read references/authentication.md for full auth patterns.

Global flags

--account, -a <email|alias|auto>   # account selection
--client <name>                    # named OAuth client/token bucket
--access-token <token>             # direct short-lived token; also GOG_ACCESS_TOKEN
--json, -j                         # machine-readable JSON
--plain, -p                        # stable TSV
--results-only                     # JSON primary result only
--select <fields>                  # best-effort JSON projection
--dry-run, -n                      # preview supported writes
--force, -y                        # skip confirmations
--no-input                         # never prompt
--enable-commands <csv>            # allowlist top-level or dotted commands
--disable-commands <csv>           # denylist top-level or dotted commands
--gmail-no-send                    # block Gmail send operations
--verbose, -v                      # debug logging

Useful command aliases:

gog send ...             # alias for gog gmail send
gog ls                   # alias for gog drive ls
gog search "budget"      # alias for gog drive search
gog download <fileId>    # alias for gog drive download
gog upload ./file.pdf    # alias for gog drive upload
gog me                   # alias for gog people me
gog status               # alias for gog auth status
gog open <id-or-url>     # best-effort Google web URL, offline

High-value workflows

Account selection

gog auth alias set work you@company.com
gog --account work gmail search 'is:unread newer_than:2d'
GOG_ACCOUNT=work gog calendar events primary --today
gog --client work auth credentials set ~/Downloads/work-client.json
gog --client work auth add you@company.com --services gmail,calendar

Gmail

gog --json gmail search 'is:unread newer_than:7d' | jq -r '.threads[].id'
gog gmail messages search 'from:alice@example.com has:attachment' --include-body
gog gmail messages search 'subject:report newer_than:30d' --full
gog gmail thread get <threadId> --download --out-dir ./attachments
gog gmail labels modify <threadId> --add Project --remove INBOX
gog gmail messages modify <messageId> --add STARRED
gog gmail send --to user@example.com --subject "Hello" --body-file ./body.txt
gog gmail forward <messageId> --to user@example.com --note "FYI"

For forwarding, autoreply, watch/Pub/Sub, filters, delegates, send-as, label colours, batch operations, and tracking, read references/gmail.md.

Calendar

gog calendar calendars
gog calendar events primary --today --weekday
gog calendar events --all --from "2026-04-25T00:00:00+02:00" --to "2026-04-26T00:00:00+02:00"
gog calendar freebusy --cal primary --from "2026-04-25T09:00:00+02:00" --to "2026-04-25T17:00:00+02:00"
gog calendar create primary --summary "Planning" --from "2026-04-25T14:00:00+02:00" --to "2026-04-25T14:30:00+02:00" --attendees "alice@example.com,bob@example.com" --with-meet
gog calendar respond primary <eventId> --status accepted --send-updates all

Use RFC3339 with timezone offsets for generated datetimes. Read references/calendar.md for aliases, subscriptions, secondary calendars, extended properties, Focus Time, OOO, working locations, team calendars, and conflict detection.

Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Apps Script

gog drive search "invoice filetype:pdf" --max 20
gog drive upload ./report.md --convert-to doc --parent <folderId>
gog drive upload ./deck.pdf --replace <fileId> --name "Board Deck.pdf"
gog drive share <fileId> --to user --email editor@example.com --role commenter
gog docs write <docId> --file ./brief.md --replace --markdown
gog docs sed <docId> 's/status/{b c=green}approved/g' --dry-run
gog sheets update <spreadsheetId> 'Sheet1!A1' '[["Name","Score"],["Ada",98]]'
gog sheets chart list <spreadsheetId>
gog slides thumbnail <presentationId> <slideId> --out ./slide.png
gog forms responses list <formId> --max 20
gog appscript run <scriptId> myFunction --params '["arg1", 123]'

Read references/drive-docs.md for current file/content commands. For Docs sed formatting, read references/sedmat.md.

Other services

gog contacts search "Ada"
gog tasks lists
gog tasks add <tasklistId> --title "Weekly review" --due "2026-04-27" --repeat weekly
gog chat messages send spaces/<spaceId> --text "Build complete"
gog groups members engineering@example.com
gog admin users list --domain example.com
gog keep search "receipt"

Read references/other-services.md for Chat, Classroom, Contacts, Tasks, People, Groups, Admin, Keep, and time utilities.

Scripting patterns

# Inspect shape first
gog --json gmail search 'is:unread' --max 3 | jq .

# Use pagination/all-pages where available
gog --json calendar events primary --from today --to tomorrow --all-pages

# Fail cleanly when a supported list command has no results
gog --json calendar events primary --query "unlikely query" --fail-empty

# Batch with xargs after checking output
gog --json gmail search 'older_than:1y label:newsletter' --max 200 | \
  jq -r '.threads[].id' | \
  xargs -n 50 gog gmail labels modify --remove INBOX

# Agent-safe command surface
GOG_ENABLE_COMMANDS=calendar.events,calendar.freebusy,tasks \
  gog --no-input --json calendar events primary --today

Reference map

• references/command-reference.md - generated command index from gog schema --json
• references/authentication.md - OAuth clients, service accounts, scopes, keyrings, headless auth
• references/configuration.md - config keys, environment variables, output modes, safety switches
• references/gmail.md - Gmail search, read, send, labels, settings, watch, tracking, autoreply
• references/calendar.md - Calendar listing, event writes, scheduling, special events, aliases
• references/drive-docs.md - Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Apps Script
• references/sedmat.md - Docs sed/formatting DSL
• references/other-services.md - Chat, Classroom, Contacts, Tasks, People, Groups, Admin, Keep