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Connect Gmail to Codex

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

Set up

Add Gmail to Codex in four steps

Admins approve the server once. Everyone in Codex 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 Codex to Runlayer

    Runlayer’s CLI adds the Runlayer Plugin to Codex’s local plugin marketplace, and users then enable it in Codex. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Gmail’s 16 tools show up in Codex’s own tool list (Codex 0.122 or newer, installed through the Runlayer CLI).

    Codex 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 Codex

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

Tools

16 Gmail tools in Codex

Runlayer policy decides which of these Codex 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 Codex

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

  • Gateway policy (available)

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

  • Audit trail (available)

    Each call is recorded with the user, Codex 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.

  • Stop a call before it runs (available)

    Runlayer can deny a tool call or permission request before Codex runs it.

  • Block output after it runs (available)

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

  • Redact output in place (not available)

    Codex cannot take masked output, so Runlayer can block a tool’s output but not mask it. The gateway still applies policy to the call.

Frequently asked questions

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