# Read Gmail Messages with GWS

Finding a specific email body or header through a general mailbox workflow can take unnecessary steps. This skill retrieves one Gmail message directly by ID.

## Install

```bash
npx skillstore add googleworkspace/gws-gmail-read
```

## Metadata

- Status: approved
- Slug: googleworkspace-gws-gmail-read
- Version: 0.23.0
- Author version: 0.23.0
- Skillstore revision: r2
- Version status: valid
- Tree hash: 48f916adc4d6e11c4f77c81f05cef3c252cf52c9ce78e4ff6dc83ad531bc8b20
- Author: googleworkspace
- GitHub username: googleworkspace
- License: MIT
- Repository: https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/tree/main/skills/gws-gmail-read/
- Ref: 286d37c9c189ddd1aafd3548415fb031d1df79d5
- Supported tools: Claude, Codex, Claude Code
- Audit status: complete
- Agent install advisory: allowed
- Manual install advisory: allowed
- Artifact signature: available
- Audit attestation: unavailable
- Human verification: not\_verified
- Risk factors: external\_commands, filesystem
- Quality score: 80
- Quality tier: silver
- Public page: https://skillstore.pages.dev/skills/googleworkspace-gws-gmail-read
- Manifest: https://skillstore.pages.dev/api/skills/googleworkspace-gws-gmail-read/manifest

## Capabilities

- Reads a Gmail message using its message ID.
- Returns plain text by default.
- Includes From, To, Subject, and Date headers when requested.
- Returns the HTML body when requested.
- Supports text and JSON output formats.
- Shows the planned request with dry-run mode.

## Use Cases

- Review a support email: Retrieve a known customer message with headers before preparing a response.
- Extract content for a workflow: Read one message body in JSON format for controlled downstream processing.
- Inspect an HTML newsletter: Retrieve the original HTML body when plain text conversion omits needed formatting.

## Prompt Templates

### Read one message

```
Read the Gmail message with ID [MESSAGE_ID] and return its plain text body.
```

### Include message headers

```
Read Gmail message [MESSAGE_ID] with its From, To, Subject, and Date headers.
```

### Retrieve the HTML body

```
Read Gmail message [MESSAGE_ID] and return the HTML body instead of converted plain text.
```

### Prepare structured extraction

```
Dry-run a JSON request for Gmail message [MESSAGE_ID]. After approval, read it and extract only the body for downstream processing.
```

## Limitations

- Requires the GWS CLI and configured Google Workspace authentication.
- Requires a known Gmail message ID.
- Reads one message per command.
- Does not search mailboxes, send messages, or modify messages.

## Best Practices

- Confirm the message ID before reading sensitive content.
- Use dry-run mode before integrating the command into automation.
- Request only the body format and headers required for the task.

## Anti Patterns

- Do not expose retrieved email content in public logs or unrelated conversations.
- Do not use guessed message IDs as a substitute for Gmail search.
- Do not request HTML when plain text is sufficient.

## Security Audit

- Audited at: 2026-08-05T11:06:21.781\+00:00
- Summary: All 16 static alerts are false positives caused by Markdown syntax, documented Gmail CLI examples, and valid sibling documentation links. No prompt injection, covert execution, path traversal, system reconnaissance, or other semantic security issue was found.

## Stats

- Views: 0
- Downloads: 4
- Favorites: 0
- Popularity score: 0