clawdbot/docs/automation/gmail-pubsub.md

summary, read_when

summary	read_when
Gmail Pub/Sub push wired into Moltbot webhooks via gogcli	Wiring Gmail inbox triggers to Moltbot Setting up Pub/Sub push for agent wake

Gmail Pub/Sub -> Moltbot

Goal: Gmail watch -> Pub/Sub push -> gog gmail watch serve -> Moltbot webhook.

Prereqs

• gcloud installed and logged in (install guide).
• gog (gogcli) installed and authorized for the Gmail account (gogcli.sh).
• Moltbot hooks enabled (see Webhooks).
• tailscale logged in (tailscale.com). Supported setup uses Tailscale Funnel for the public HTTPS endpoint. Other tunnel services can work, but are DIY/unsupported and require manual wiring. Right now, Tailscale is what we support.

Example hook config (enable Gmail preset mapping):

{
  hooks: {
    enabled: true,
    token: "CLAWDBOT_HOOK_TOKEN",
    path: "/hooks",
    presets: ["gmail"]
  }
}

To deliver the Gmail summary to a chat surface, override the preset with a mapping that sets deliver + optional channel/to:

{
  hooks: {
    enabled: true,
    token: "CLAWDBOT_HOOK_TOKEN",
    presets: ["gmail"],
    mappings: [
      {
        match: { path: "gmail" },
        action: "agent",
        wakeMode: "now",
        name: "Gmail",
        sessionKey: "hook:gmail:{{messages[0].id}}",
        messageTemplate:
          "New email from {{messages[0].from}}\nSubject: {{messages[0].subject}}\n{{messages[0].snippet}}\n{{messages[0].body}}",
        model: "openai/gpt-5.2-mini",
        deliver: true,
        channel: "last"
        // to: "+15551234567"
      }
    ]
  }
}

If you want a fixed channel, set channel + to. Otherwise channel: "last" uses the last delivery route (falls back to WhatsApp).

To force a cheaper model for Gmail runs, set model in the mapping (provider/model or alias). If you enforce agents.defaults.models, include it there.

To set a default model and thinking level specifically for Gmail hooks, add hooks.gmail.model / hooks.gmail.thinking in your config:

{
  hooks: {
    gmail: {
      model: "openrouter/meta-llama/llama-3.3-70b-instruct:free",
      thinking: "off"
    }
  }
}

Notes:

• Per-hook model/thinking in the mapping still overrides these defaults.
• Fallback order: hooks.gmail.model → agents.defaults.model.fallbacks → primary (auth/rate-limit/timeouts).
• If agents.defaults.models is set, the Gmail model must be in the allowlist.
• Gmail hook content is wrapped with external-content safety boundaries by default. To disable (dangerous), set hooks.gmail.allowUnsafeExternalContent: true.

To customize payload handling further, add hooks.mappings or a JS/TS transform module under hooks.transformsDir (see Webhooks).

Wizard (recommended)

Use the Moltbot helper to wire everything together (installs deps on macOS via brew):

moltbot webhooks gmail setup \
  --account moltbot@gmail.com

Defaults:

• Uses Tailscale Funnel for the public push endpoint.
• Writes hooks.gmail config for moltbot webhooks gmail run.
• Enables the Gmail hook preset (hooks.presets: ["gmail"]).

Path note: when tailscale.mode is enabled, Moltbot automatically sets hooks.gmail.serve.path to / and keeps the public path at hooks.gmail.tailscale.path (default /gmail-pubsub) because Tailscale strips the set-path prefix before proxying. If you need the backend to receive the prefixed path, set hooks.gmail.tailscale.target (or --tailscale-target) to a full URL like http://127.0.0.1:8788/gmail-pubsub and match hooks.gmail.serve.path.

Want a custom endpoint? Use --push-endpoint <url> or --tailscale off.

Platform note: on macOS the wizard installs gcloud, gogcli, and tailscale via Homebrew; on Linux install them manually first.

Gateway auto-start (recommended):

• When hooks.enabled=true and hooks.gmail.account is set, the Gateway starts gog gmail watch serve on boot and auto-renews the watch.
• Set CLAWDBOT_SKIP_GMAIL_WATCHER=1 to opt out (useful if you run the daemon yourself).
• Do not run the manual daemon at the same time, or you will hit listen tcp 127.0.0.1:8788: bind: address already in use.

Manual daemon (starts gog gmail watch serve + auto-renew):

moltbot webhooks gmail run

One-time setup

1. Select the GCP project that owns the OAuth client used by gog.

gcloud auth login
gcloud config set project <project-id>

Note: Gmail watch requires the Pub/Sub topic to live in the same project as the OAuth client.

2. Enable APIs:

gcloud services enable gmail.googleapis.com pubsub.googleapis.com

3. Create a topic:

gcloud pubsub topics create gog-gmail-watch

4. Allow Gmail push to publish:

gcloud pubsub topics add-iam-policy-binding gog-gmail-watch \
  --member=serviceAccount:gmail-api-push@system.gserviceaccount.com \
  --role=roles/pubsub.publisher

Start the watch

gog gmail watch start \
  --account moltbot@gmail.com \
  --label INBOX \
  --topic projects/<project-id>/topics/gog-gmail-watch

Save the history_id from the output (for debugging).

Run the push handler

Local example (shared token auth):

gog gmail watch serve \
  --account moltbot@gmail.com \
  --bind 127.0.0.1 \
  --port 8788 \
  --path /gmail-pubsub \
  --token <shared> \
  --hook-url http://127.0.0.1:18789/hooks/gmail \
  --hook-token CLAWDBOT_HOOK_TOKEN \
  --include-body \
  --max-bytes 20000

Notes:

• --token protects the push endpoint (x-gog-token or ?token=).
• --hook-url points to Moltbot /hooks/gmail (mapped; isolated run + summary to main).
• --include-body and --max-bytes control the body snippet sent to Moltbot.

Recommended: moltbot webhooks gmail run wraps the same flow and auto-renews the watch.

Expose the handler (advanced, unsupported)

If you need a non-Tailscale tunnel, wire it manually and use the public URL in the push subscription (unsupported, no guardrails):

cloudflared tunnel --url http://127.0.0.1:8788 --no-autoupdate

Use the generated URL as the push endpoint:

gcloud pubsub subscriptions create gog-gmail-watch-push \
  --topic gog-gmail-watch \
  --push-endpoint "https://<public-url>/gmail-pubsub?token=<shared>"

Production: use a stable HTTPS endpoint and configure Pub/Sub OIDC JWT, then run:

gog gmail watch serve --verify-oidc --oidc-email <svc@...>

Test

Send a message to the watched inbox:

gog gmail send \
  --account moltbot@gmail.com \
  --to moltbot@gmail.com \
  --subject "watch test" \
  --body "ping"

Check watch state and history:

gog gmail watch status --account moltbot@gmail.com
gog gmail history --account moltbot@gmail.com --since <historyId>

Troubleshooting

• Invalid topicName: project mismatch (topic not in the OAuth client project).
• User not authorized: missing roles/pubsub.publisher on the topic.
• Empty messages: Gmail push only provides historyId; fetch via gog gmail history.

Cleanup

gog gmail watch stop --account moltbot@gmail.com
gcloud pubsub subscriptions delete gog-gmail-watch-push
gcloud pubsub topics delete gog-gmail-watch