What can an AI agent do with
Read, send and organize Gmail?
The agent can read all your email, write and send email as you, and sort, label or trash messages. It cannot permanently delete messages while skipping the trash, but it can permanently delete drafts and labels.
How to spot it
On a Google Workspace connection or settings screen, this is https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify.
With it, an agent can
- Read every email and attachment
- Send email as you
- Create, edit and send drafts
- Permanently delete drafts and labels
- Add or remove labels, archive mail and mark it as read
- Move messages and whole threads to the trash
- Place new messages directly in your mailbox without sending them
It cannot, on its own
- Permanently delete received or sent messages, skipping the trash
- Create Gmail filters or change forwarding settings
What a bad day looks like
If a scam email tricks the agent, it could reply to customers in your name or move important messages to the trash without you noticing.
Set it up safer
- If it only needs to read, ask for https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly.
- If it only needs to write and send, ask for https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.compose or https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.send.
- Turn on an approval step so nothing is sent without your OK.
Narrower permissions on Google Workspace:
- Read Gmail
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly - Write drafts and send email
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.compose - Send email as you
https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.send
Ask the company selling the agent
- Does it send email on its own, or does it wait for my approval?
- What does it do when an email asks it to pay, forward or share something?
- Can it work with read-only access?
- Can I see a log of every email it sent or trashed?
Source
Checked against Google Workspace documentation on 2026-09-28. All Google Workspace permissions →
Thinking about a specific agent?
Tell us what it connects to, what it is allowed to do and who approves its work. You get a plain-language label of what it can touch and what to ask the seller. It takes a couple of minutes, and your answers stay in your browser unless you choose to post a test job.
Or have a person go through the AI apps on up to 3 of your business services with you and get a written report, for $249.
This page explains what a permission allows. It does not describe, test or rate any product. Permission details are summarized in our own words from the provider's documentation, linked on the page; providers change their documentation, so check the source before you rely on a detail.