---
title: "Gmail connector"
sidebarTitle: "Gmail"
description: "Sync email threads from Gmail with real-time Pub/Sub webhooks and incremental sync"
icon: "/icons/hugeicons/mail-01.svg"
---

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>
**Max Plan Required:** The Gmail connector is available on Max plan and above.
</Note>

## Quick setup

### 1. Create Gmail Connector

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    import { Supermemory } from "supermemory"

    const supermemory = new Supermemory({ apiKey: process.env.SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY })

    const connector = await supermemory.connectors.create("user-123", {
      provider: "gmail",
      redirectUrl: "https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback"
      documentLimit: 5000,
    })

    // Send the user to Google to authorize
    if (connector.authorization) window.location.href = connector.authorization.url
    console.log("Auth URL expires at:", connector.authorization?.expiresAt)
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    from supermemory import Supermemory
    import os

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

    connector = client.connectors.create(
        "user-123",
        request={
            "provider": "gmail",
            "redirectUrl": "https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback",
            "documentLimit": 5000,
        },
    )

    # Send the user to Google to authorize
    print(f"Redirect to: {connector.authorization.url}")
    print(f"Auth URL expires at: {connector.authorization.expires_at}")
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/ns/user-123/connectors" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "provider": "gmail",
        "redirectUrl": "https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback",
        "documentLimit": 5000
      }'

    # Response: {
    #   "id": "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA",
    #   "authorization": {
    #     "url": "https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth?...",
    #     "expiresAt": "2024-01-15T11:30:00.000Z"
    #   }
    # }
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### 2. Handle OAuth callback

Send the user to `authorization.url` before `authorization.expiresAt`. After the user grants permissions, Google redirects to your `redirectUrl` and the initial sync begins. A pending OAuth connector is not visible in list or get until the user finishes authorization.

### 3. Check Connector Status

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    // Get connector details with recent sync runs
    const connector = await supermemory.connectors.get("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA", {
      include: "syncs",
    })

    console.log("Connected email:", connector.account)
    console.log("Last sync:", connector.latestRun?.system.status)
    console.log("Threads synced:", connector.documentCount)

    // List synced email threads in the namespace
    const docs = await supermemory.list("user-123", "documents")

    console.log(`Synced ${docs.pagination.totalItems} email threads`)
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    # Get connector details with recent sync runs
    connector = client.connectors.get("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA", include=["syncs"])

    print(f"Connected email: {connector.account}")
    print(f"Last sync: {connector.latest_run.system.status}")
    print(f"Threads synced: {connector.document_count}")

    # List synced email threads in the namespace
    docs = client.list("user-123", "documents")

    print(f"Synced {docs.pagination.total_items} email threads")
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    # Get connector details with recent sync runs
    curl "https://api.supermemory.ai/ns/user-123/connectors/PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA?include=syncs" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"

    # List synced email threads in the namespace
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/ns/user-123/list/documents" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{}'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
There is no per-connector document list in v5. `supermemory.list(namespace, "documents")` returns every document in the namespace.
</Note>

## 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 supermemory.search("user-123", {
  query: "project update",
  filter: {
    operator: "and",
    operands: [
      { field: "type", operator: "eq", value: "gmail_thread" },
      { field: "from", operator: "eq", value: "team@company.com" },
    ],
  },
  searchMode: "chunks",
})
```

## Connector Management

### List All Connectors

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    // List all connectors in a namespace
    const { connectors } = await supermemory.connectors.list("user-123")

    connectors.forEach(connector => {
      console.log(`Provider: ${connector.provider}`)
      console.log(`ID: ${connector.id}`)
      console.log(`Account: ${connector.account}`)
      console.log(`Created: ${connector.createdAt}`)
      console.log(`Document limit: ${connector.documentLimit}`)
      console.log("---")
    })
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    # List all connectors in a namespace
    connectors = client.connectors.list("user-123").connectors

    for connector in connectors:
        print(f"Provider: {connector.provider}")
        print(f"ID: {connector.id}")
        print(f"Account: {connector.account}")
        print(f"Created: {connector.created_at}")
        print(f"Document limit: {connector.document_limit}")
        print("---")
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    # List all connectors in a namespace
    curl "https://api.supermemory.ai/ns/user-123/connectors" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

### Delete Connector

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    // Delete the connector and its imported documents (default)
    await supermemory.connectors.delete("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA")

    // Delete the connector but keep the imported documents
    await supermemory.connectors.delete("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA", {
      deleteDocuments: false,
    })
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    # Delete the connector and its imported documents (default)
    client.connectors.delete("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA")

    # Delete the connector but keep the imported documents
    client.connectors.delete("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA", delete_documents=False)
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    # Delete the connector and its imported documents (default)
    curl -X DELETE "https://api.supermemory.ai/ns/user-123/connectors/PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"

    # Delete the connector but keep the imported documents
    curl -X DELETE "https://api.supermemory.ai/ns/user-123/connectors/PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA?deleteDocuments=false" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Note>
Deleting a connector will:
- Stop all future syncs from Gmail
- Remove the OAuth authorization
- Delete the synced documents unless you pass `deleteDocuments: false`
</Note>

### Manual sync

Trigger a manual synchronization. The call returns `409` while a sync for that connector is already running.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    const run = await supermemory.connectors.sync("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA")

    console.log(run.status)
    // Output: queued
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    run = client.connectors.sync("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA")

    print(run.status)
    # Output: queued
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/ns/user-123/connectors/PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA/sync" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"

    # Response: {"id": "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA", "status": "queued"}
    ```
  </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 connector 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 connector 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 Max Plan or above
- **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 connector (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 connector stops syncing:

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

```typescript
// Re-create the connector to get fresh tokens
await supermemory.connectors.delete("user-123", "PTzGiUYei7pgzg5buzZHgA", {
  deleteDocuments: false,
})

const next = await supermemory.connectors.create("user-123", {
  provider: "gmail",
  redirectUrl: "https://yourapp.com/auth/gmail/callback"
})

// User must re-authenticate
if (next.authorization) window.location.href = next.authorization.url
```

### 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 connector was created recently (watch registration happens on creation)
- Trigger a manual sync to verify the connector is working

### Permission denied errors

If you see permission errors:

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