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Connect Gmail to Claude Code

Give Claude Code governed access to Gmail’s 16 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.

Book a demo Claude Code setup guide

Set up

Add Gmail to Claude Code in four steps

Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Claude Code then gets it through the same governed connection.

  1. 1

    Approve Gmail in Runlayer

    Add Gmail from the catalog and choose who can use it and which of its tools are allowed.

  2. 2

    Connect Claude Code to Runlayer

    Runlayer’s CLI installs the Runlayer Plugin natively in Claude Code, and an Anthropic org install also reaches Claude Code. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Gmail’s 16 tools show up in Claude Code’s own tool list (supported Claude Code versions).

    Claude Code setup guide
  3. 3

    Sign in to Gmail

    Sign in the way Gmail requires. Runlayer holds the credentials so they stay out of the client’s configuration.

  4. 4

    Use Gmail from Claude Code

    Gmail’s approved tools appear in Claude Code. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.

Tools

16 Gmail tools in Claude Code

Runlayer policy decides which of these Claude Code users can call. 6 read data only.

  • Add labels

    Add one or more labels to a message or multiple messages

  • Archive messages

    Archive one or more messages (remove from inbox)

  • Create draft

    Create a draft email that can be edited later or sent

  • Create label

    Create a new label in the user's Gmail account

  • Fetch attachment

    Fetch a Gmail message attachment.

  • Fetch message

    Fetch the full content of a Gmail message using its message ID (don't use external tools to read messages)

  • List drafts

    List all draft messages with pagination support

  • List labels

    List all available labels in the Gmail account

See all 16 Gmail tools

Control

What Runlayer can see and stop in Claude Code

Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what Claude Code exposes to Runlayer.

  • Gateway policy (available)

    Every Gmail call from Claude Code passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.

  • Audit trail (available)

    Each call is recorded with the user, Claude Code as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.

  • Client hooks (available)

    Capture supported prompts, reasoning, local and MCP tool calls, responses, and scanner decisions in real time.

  • Anthropic inference hooks (available)

    With Claude Enterprise, Anthropic sends each governed Claude Code prompt to Runlayer before inference, with nothing installed on devices (Anthropic beta).

  • OTLP telemetry (available)

    Claude Code can export OpenTelemetry logs to Runlayer for observe-only session reconstruction.

  • Stop a call before it runs (available)

    Runlayer can deny a tool call before Claude Code runs it.

  • Block output after it runs (available)

    Runlayer can block a tool’s output before Claude Code’s model sees it.

  • Redact output in place (available)

    Runlayer can mask sensitive parts of a tool’s output in Claude Code and pass the rest through.

In Claude Code

  • When a tool fails, Runlayer records the error but cannot hide it.

Frequently asked questions

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