---
title: "Gmail Connector"
description: "Sync email threads from Gmail with real-time Pub/Sub webhooks and incremental sync"
icon: "mail"
---

Connect Gmail to automatically sync email threads into your supermemory knowledge base. Supports real-time updates via Google Cloud Pub/Sub webhooks and incremental synchronization.

<Note>
**Scale Plan Required:** The Gmail connector is available on Scale and Enterprise plans only.
</Note>

## Quick Setup

### 1. Create Gmail Connection

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    import Supermemory from 'supermemory';

    const client = new Supermemory({
      apiKey: process.env.SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY!
    });

    const connection = await client.connections.create('gmail', {
      redirectUrl: 'https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback',
      containerTags: ['user-123', 'gmail-sync'],
      documentLimit: 5000,
      metadata: {
        source: 'gmail',
        department: 'support'
      }
    });

    // Redirect user to Google OAuth
    window.location.href = connection.authLink;
    console.log('Auth expires in:', connection.expiresIn);
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    from supermemory import Supermemory
    import os

    client = Supermemory(api_key=os.environ.get("SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"))

    connection = client.connections.create(
        'gmail',
        redirect_url='https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback',
        container_tags=['user-123', 'gmail-sync'],
        document_limit=5000,
        metadata={
            'source': 'gmail',
            'department': 'support'
        }
    )

    # Redirect user to Google OAuth
    print(f'Redirect to: {connection.auth_link}')
    print(f'Expires in: {connection.expires_in}')
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/gmail" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "redirectUrl": "https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback",
        "containerTags": ["user-123", "gmail-sync"],
        "documentLimit": 5000,
        "metadata": {
          "source": "gmail",
          "department": "support"
        }
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### 2. Handle OAuth Callback

After user grants permissions, Google redirects to your callback URL. The connection is automatically established and the initial sync begins.

### 3. Check Connection Status

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    // Get connection details
    const connection = await client.connections.getByTags('gmail', {
      containerTags: ['user-123', 'gmail-sync']
    });

    console.log('Connected email:', connection.email);
    console.log('Connection created:', connection.createdAt);

    // List synced email threads
    const documents = await client.documents.list({
      containerTags: ['user-123', 'gmail-sync']
    });

    console.log(`Synced ${documents.memories.length} email threads`);
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    # Get connection details
    connection = client.connections.get_by_tags(
        'gmail',
        container_tags=['user-123', 'gmail-sync']
    )

    print(f'Connected email: {connection.email}')
    print(f'Connection created: {connection.created_at}')

    # List synced email threads
    documents = client.documents.list(
        container_tags=['user-123', 'gmail-sync']
    )

    print(f'Synced {len(documents.memories)} email threads')
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    # Get connections by provider and tags
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/list" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "containerTags": ["user-123", "gmail-sync"],
        "provider": "gmail"
      }'

    # List synced email threads
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/documents/list" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "containerTags": ["user-123", "gmail-sync"],
        "source": "gmail"
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## What Gets Synced

### Email Threads

Gmail threads (conversations) are synced as individual documents with all messages included:

- **Thread content** converted to structured markdown
- **All messages** within each thread preserved in order
- **Message metadata**: subject, from, to, cc, bcc, date
- **HTML content** converted to clean markdown
- **Attachment metadata**: filename, mime type, size (attachments are referenced, not stored)

### Document Metadata

Each synced thread includes searchable metadata:

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `type` | Always `gmail_thread` |
| `subject` | Email subject line |
| `threadId` | Gmail thread ID |
| `from` | Sender email address |
| `to` | Recipient email addresses |
| `date` | Date of first message |
| `messageCount` | Number of messages in thread |
| `attachmentCount` | Number of attachments (if any) |
| `attachmentNames` | List of attachment filenames |

You can filter searches using these metadata fields:

```typescript
const results = await client.search.documents({
  q: "project update",
  containerTags: ['user-123'],
  filters: JSON.stringify({
    AND: [
      { key: "type", value: "gmail_thread", negate: false },
      { key: "from", value: "team@company.com", negate: false }
    ]
  })
});
```

## Connection Management

### List All Connections

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    // List all connections for specific container tags
    const connections = await client.connections.list({
      containerTags: ['user-123']
    });

    connections.forEach(conn => {
      console.log(`Provider: ${conn.provider}`);
      console.log(`ID: ${conn.id}`);
      console.log(`Email: ${conn.email}`);
      console.log(`Created: ${conn.createdAt}`);
      console.log(`Document limit: ${conn.documentLimit}`);
      console.log('---');
    });
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    # List all connections for specific container tags
    connections = client.connections.list(
        container_tags=['user-123']
    )

    for conn in connections:
        print(f'Provider: {conn.provider}')
        print(f'ID: {conn.id}')
        print(f'Email: {conn.email}')
        print(f'Created: {conn.created_at}')
        print(f'Document limit: {conn.document_limit}')
        print('---')
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    # List all connections for specific container tags
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/list" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "containerTags": ["user-123"]
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### Delete Connection

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    // Delete by connection ID
    const result = await client.connections.deleteByID('connection_id_123');
    console.log('Deleted connection:', result.id);

    // Delete by provider and container tags
    const providerResult = await client.connections.deleteByProvider('gmail', {
      containerTags: ['user-123']
    });
    console.log('Deleted Gmail connection:', providerResult.id);
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    # Delete by connection ID
    result = client.connections.delete_by_id('connection_id_123')
    print(f'Deleted connection: {result.id}')

    # Delete by provider and container tags
    provider_result = client.connections.delete_by_provider(
        'gmail',
        container_tags=['user-123']
    )
    print(f'Deleted Gmail connection: {provider_result.id}')
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    # Delete by connection ID
    curl -X DELETE "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/connection_id_123" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"

    # Delete by provider and container tags
    curl -X DELETE "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/gmail" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "containerTags": ["user-123"]
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
Deleting a connection will:
- Stop all future syncs from Gmail
- Remove the OAuth authorization
- Keep existing synced documents in supermemory (they won't be deleted)
</Note>

### Manual Sync

Trigger a manual synchronization:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    // Trigger sync for Gmail connections
    await client.connections.import('gmail');

    // Trigger sync for specific container tags
    await client.connections.import('gmail', {
      containerTags: ['user-123']
    });

    console.log('Manual sync initiated');
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    # Trigger sync for Gmail connections
    client.connections.import_('gmail')

    # Trigger sync for specific container tags
    client.connections.import_(
        'gmail',
        container_tags=['user-123']
    )

    print('Manual sync initiated')
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    # Trigger sync for all Gmail connections
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/gmail/import" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"

    # Trigger sync for specific container tags
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/connections/gmail/import" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "containerTags": ["user-123"]
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Sync Mechanism

Gmail connector supports multiple sync methods:

| Feature | Behavior |
|---------|----------|
| **Real-time sync** | Via Google Cloud Pub/Sub webhooks (7-day expiry, auto-renewed) |
| **Scheduled sync** | Every 4 hours |
| **Manual sync** | On-demand via API |
| **Incremental sync** | Uses Gmail `historyId` to fetch only changed threads |

### How Real-time Sync Works

1. When a connection is created, supermemory registers a Gmail API "watch" subscription
2. Gmail sends notifications to a Google Cloud Pub/Sub topic when emails change
3. supermemory receives these notifications and fetches updated threads
4. Watch subscriptions expire after 7 days and are automatically renewed

<Note>
Real-time sync monitors the **INBOX** label. Emails in other labels are synced via scheduled/manual sync.
</Note>

## Permissions & Scopes

The Gmail connector requests the following OAuth scopes:

| Scope | Purpose |
|-------|---------|
| `gmail.readonly` | Read-only access to Gmail messages and threads |
| `userinfo.email` | Access to user's email address for connection identification |

<Warning>
**Read-only Access:** The Gmail connector only reads emails. It cannot send, delete, or modify any emails in the user's account.
</Warning>

## Limitations

<Warning>
**Important Limitations:**
- **Plan requirement**: Requires Scale Plan or Enterprise Plan
- **INBOX only** for real-time sync: Only INBOX label triggers real-time updates; other labels sync via scheduled sync
- **Watch expiration**: Gmail watch subscriptions expire after 7 days (automatically renewed by supermemory)
- **Document limit**: Default limit is 10,000 threads per connection (configurable via `documentLimit` parameter)
- **Attachments**: Attachment metadata is stored, but attachment content is not downloaded
- **Rate limits**: Gmail API rate limits may affect sync speed for accounts with many emails
</Warning>

## Troubleshooting

### OAuth Fails or Missing Refresh Token

If OAuth fails or the connection stops syncing:

1. Delete the existing connection
2. Create a new connection
3. Ensure the user completes the full OAuth flow with consent

```typescript
// Re-create connection to get fresh tokens
await client.connections.deleteByProvider('gmail', {
  containerTags: ['user-123']
});

const newConnection = await client.connections.create('gmail', {
  redirectUrl: 'https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback',
  containerTags: ['user-123']
});

// User must re-authenticate
window.location.href = newConnection.authLink;
```

### Emails Not Syncing in Real-time

If real-time sync isn't working:

- Scheduled sync (every 4 hours) and manual sync still work
- Real-time sync requires supermemory's Pub/Sub infrastructure
- Check if the connection was created recently (watch registration happens on creation)
- Trigger a manual sync to verify the connection is working

### Permission Denied Errors

If you see permission errors:

- Ensure the user granted the required Gmail scopes during OAuth
- Verify your organization has Scale Plan or Enterprise Plan access
- Check if the user revoked app access in their Google Account settings