Google Loops — Setup and Daily Operation

The connector ingests Gmail threads, calendar events, and contacts into the brain and maintains the open-loop record behind gbrain waiting. Full references: docs/guides/google-connect.md (setup + every error and its fix) and docs/guides/open-loops.md (how detection works).

Contract for the harness (read first)

1. Relay [SHOW USER] blocks verbatim. Setup commands print fenced [SHOW USER] ... [/SHOW USER] blocks — numbered steps with deep links. Pass them to the user unchanged (paraphrasing loses load-bearing detail like "Desktop app, NOT Web application"). Batch everything into ONE message per block.
2. The whole setup is exactly two user interactions. (1) The Google Cloud checklist + the user hands back the downloaded client JSON. (2) The user clicks one consent URL. If you find yourself asking a third question, re-read the block you skipped.
3. Never put secrets in argv or chat when avoidable. When the user drops client_secret_*.json into chat, save it to a file (mode 0600) and pass the path: gbrain google connect --client-json <path>. Env (GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID/GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET) also works. Raw --client-id/--client-secret flags are the last resort.
4. Every command speaks JSON. Add --json and read { ok, status, next_action: { command, user_message }, error }. When next_action.user_message is present, that IS the message to show the user; when next_action.command is present, that is your next call. Errors carry { code, problem, cause, fix, doc_url } — show the user problem + fix, nothing else.
5. Re-running is always safe. gbrain google connect and gbrain google setup are idempotent state machines — the documented fix for most errors is "run it again."

Setup (the one command)

gbrain google setup --json

Handles: credential intake (prints the GCP checklist when nothing is on file) → consent (loopback locally; auto paste-back over SSH/headless — non-TTY flows complete via a second call: gbrain google connect --code "<pasted-redirect-url>") → source registration → a budgeted first sync (newest mail first; the deep backfill resumes on later syncs automatically) → the first gbrain waiting digest.

Multiple accounts: repeat with --account work@example.com.

Already holding Google access another way (a Google CLI with its own auth, gcloud, a credential gateway that mints tokens)? Skip OAuth and point the source at it — no credential enters gbrain:

gbrain sources add gmail-work --kind google --account you@example.com \
  --access command --token-command "<command that prints an access token>"

(--access env --token-env <VAR> reads an externally-refreshed token from the environment instead.) Then gbrain sync --source gmail-work and gbrain waiting work identically.

Verify health afterwards: gbrain google status --json (per-account refresh probe) — and gbrain doctor carries a google_oauth check that warns once a Testing-mode account goes 5+ days without a successful refresh. An actively-syncing account gets no pre-warning before the 7-day Testing-mode expiry — publishing to Production is the real fix.

Daily operation

gbrain waiting --json        # the killer output: ranked people waiting
gbrain loops done <id>       # user handled it
gbrain loops drop <id>       # user is not going to do it
gbrain loops mute sender <email>   # never track this sender again (closes its open reply-owed loops)
gbrain loops unmute sender <email> # undo; the loops it closed are re-checked on the next sync
gbrain loops drop sender <email> --dry-run   # preview closing one sender's reply-owed loops

• waiting may end with withheld_noise: open reply-owed loops from senders whose mail is automated (bank or shipping alerts). Show the user each preview_command, run it (--dry-run changes nothing), and drop only after the user agrees: a drop cannot be undone. Offer loops mute sender when the user wants a stop they can reverse.

• waiting REFUSES on stale data (no successful sync in 24h) and names the exact fix (gbrain sync --source <id>). Run the sync, then retry. Only use --stale-ok when the user explicitly accepts stale results.

• completeness: "partial" means some mail in the last 14 days is held after repeated import failures (listed in held). Present the answer as partial: name each held item (sender, and subject when shown) and its retry command (gbrain sources retry-held <id>). Never say "you are clean" on a partial answer.

• When presenting loops, show: the counterparty, what's owed (summary), the evidence quote, the deep link (opens the exact Gmail thread in the right account), and the due date when present. The trusted-local result already carries a paste-ready text digest — reuse it.

• For "context to respond": each group carries the counterparty's entity card (summary, recent history, other open threads). Need more, call context_pack with the counterparty slug.

• After the user says they replied/handled something, close the loop (loops done) — thread loops also self-close on the next sync when the reply is visible in Gmail.

Continuous ingestion

Google sources sync like any source: autopilot and gbrain sync --all pick them up automatically. No cron of its own. A bare un-targeted gbrain sync does NOT reach them — use --source <id> or --all.

Troubleshooting

Every failure has a typed code with the fix attached — docs/guides/google-connect.md#troubleshooting is the canonical table. The three the user will actually hit:

• "Google hasn't verified this app" during consent → expected; it's the user's own app: Advanced → Continue. Warn them BEFORE they click the URL.
• access_denied_test_user → they forgot to add themselves as a test user (the error carries the deep link).
• invalid_grant_testing_expiry (everything silently stopped ~day 7) → their consent screen is still in Testing; publish to Production, then gbrain google connect --reauth <email>.

Cost honesty

Commitment extraction sends recent email text (≤30 days, ≤50 threads/sweep) to the configured chat provider. Tell the user once during setup; the off switch is gbrain config set loops.extraction_enabled false. The unanswered-thread detector is free and unaffected.

Output Format

When relaying gbrain waiting, present per counterparty, most urgent first, then the ## No counterparty section (loops that name no person) last:

## <Counterparty> (<N> open)
- [<loop_type>] <what's owed> (<age>) — due <date if any>
  > "<evidence quote>"
  <Gmail deep link>

The trusted-local --json result already carries this as a paste-ready text field — prefer relaying it over re-rendering. For setup commands, relay [SHOW USER] blocks verbatim and error.problem + error.fix on failures; never dump raw JSON envelopes at the user.

When it fails

Follow the agent operator protocol for any gbrain error code, exit code, [AGENT] block or notice block. Specific to this skill:

• Setup prints [SHOW USER] blocks: relay them verbatim, one message per block. gbrain mcp expose and gbrain google still exit 2 when they need the user's confirmation (documented legacy), so read the block, not just the exit code.
• A Google credential error (invalid_grant_revoked, consent_timeout, wrong_account_consented, …) carries { code, problem, cause, fix }: show the user the problem and fix; most fixes are "run it again" by the user.
• gbrain waiting refuses on stale data or reports partial coverage from held items: run the sync it names, or gbrain sources status <id> then, after the user agrees, gbrain sources retry-held <id>.

Anti-Patterns

• Paraphrasing a [SHOW USER] block. The checklists carry load-bearing detail ("Desktop app, NOT Web application", the test-user step). Relay verbatim, one message per block.
• Asking the user for client_id/client_secret as chat text. Take the downloaded JSON as a 0600 file (--client-json <path>) or env vars; secrets in argv/chat are the last resort, never the default.
• Answering "who is waiting on me" from query/search. The open-loop record is open_loops / gbrain waiting — search results have no loop-state semantics and will happily surface answered threads.
• Dropping completeness: "partial". A partial answer with no loops is not an empty inbox; say which items are held and how to re-attempt them.
• Bypassing the staleness refusal with --stale-ok silently. Run the named gbrain sync --source <id> first; only pass --stale-ok when the user explicitly accepts possibly-outdated loops.
• Marking loops done for the user. Close (gbrain loops done <id>) only after the user says it's handled; thread loops self-close on the next sync when the reply is visible in Gmail.