Connect Grok Bot to Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Sheets without losing control

Grok Bot reaches Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive and Sheets through separate plugins you add from Connect Apps and authorize in your browser. Gmail can search, read, draft, send and label mail in the connected mailbox. On a company account, your Google Workspace admin may need to mark the app named Grok as trusted first.

This guide reflects Cursor's help, the official docs and the changelog through 0.78.1 (October 27), plus attributed Cursor staff forum replies. We have not connected a mailbox ourselves.

At a glance#

Since 0.75.8, scheduling uses whichever calendar you connected, Google or Outlook, and the Bot offers to connect one only if neither is.

Connecting the Google plugins#

Every Google service is its own plugin and acts as the Google account you authorize, with exactly that account's access. Grok Bot appears to Google as Grok, not Cursor. Remember that when you look for it in Google's security settings. The general flow lives in our plugins and MCP guide.

1. Open Connect Apps in the sidebar, or tap the Connect card a Bot shows.
2. Add Gmail. Since 0.63.0 the Google sign-in opens immediately.
3. Pick the account in your browser and approve within about 10 minutes. If it stalls, use Reconnect on the plugin or Reopen on the chat card.
4. Check that Gmail appears under Installed as authorized. Since 0.67.0 it shows the email address instead of "default."
5. Add Calendar, Drive or Sheets only when a task actually needs them.
6. Run a read-only first task (template below) before you let anything send.

Getting past a Workspace admin block#

Symptom → Fix

• "Your admin needs to review Grok" → request access if offered, wait for approval, then choose Authorize again.
• "Access blocked" → Google refused the sign-in, usually because Grok is not allowlisted or third-party apps are blocked. Switching browsers or relinking will not help.
• "Disabled by team admin" → that is a Cursor team setting, not Google. Ask your Cursor admin.

Steps for the Google admin#

1. In the Google Admin console, go to Security → Access and data control → API controls.
2. Open App access control → Manage third-party app access.
3. Add the app named Grok. If search misses it, use the client ID from the blocked page or the review email.
4. Set Grok to Trusted for the users who need it, then have them choose Authorize again.

Who presses Send: drafts, Auto-review and rules#

By default the chat shows an editable draft card: check recipients and body, then Send email or Discard. The send behavior changed on October 23 (0.75.5), and it is the part most people get wrong.

The docs.x.ai teams page still said every outbound email waits as a draft when checked October 25, so the official sources disagree for now.

Other upgrades worth knowing: since 0.68.0 a From picker for verified send-as addresses and your signature on draft cards; since 0.68.1 formatted emails with headings and lists; since 0.75.2 sent mail shows your name and saved signature, and reply drafts stay in their thread. Since 0.77.0 the Discard button is back on draft cards.

Common mistakes#

• Saying "reply to this" when you meant "draft a reply." The wording now decides whether it sends.
• Turning off drafts early. Watch a Bot get several emails right first, and set an Ask first rule. See our permissions guide.
• Connecting a mailbox every Bot does not need. Every Bot on your account can use it.

Your Gmail or the Bot's own inbox?#

You may not need to share your mailbox at all. Agent email, announced October 11, gives you one address at mail.grokbot.com that all your Bots can use to receive, search and send mail, collect receipts, catch sign-up codes with your OK, and trigger routines. There is no inbox view; you ask a Bot what arrived.

Who should use which:

• Use Gmail when the work lives in your existing mail: triage, or replying as you.
• Use the Bot's address for sign-ups, newsletters and vendor mail that should never touch your personal account.

If both are connected, the Bot asks which to send from. Either way it treats instructions inside received email as information, not permission.

Pick the name carefully#

The address is permanent, one per account, and cannot be renamed, released or deleted. A forum thread opened October 10, past 300 views by October 28 with no staff reply, collects users stuck with names they claimed too fast. Since 0.71.2 you can send from tagged forms like name+shop@ and run a routine per tag; plus-addressing failed in a user test on October 11, before that release, and has not been retested. On a Cursor team, an admin turns on Agent Email first.

Limits for the Bot's own address#

• Up to 50 recipients per email across To, Cc and Bcc.
• Up to 10 attachments, 10 MB each, 25 MB total; no executables. Incoming mail has the same cap, and extra files are skipped.
• Newsletters and first-contact emails go one recipient per message.
• Bounces, unsubscribes or spam reports stop mail to that address. Since 0.77.0, every one-to-one email carries a one-click unsubscribe.
• Forwarding with attachments (0.75.5) needs Grok Bot 0.75.2 or later.

Known Gmail and Google issues#

Still open#

• Links become google.com/url redirects → staff said October 16 a fix is in progress. Let the Bot draft, then re-paste links in Gmail before sending.
• Recipients see a "--null" MIME boundary → a strict relay repacks single-part plain-text mail; open as of October 4.
• Bot sees an attachment's name but not its contents → read via the browser or route the file through Drive. Sending attachments works since 0.75.2.
• 1Password cannot fill a Google password → take over the screen, type it, finish 2-step verification, hand back. No ETA (October 10).
• IMAP or SMTP scripts time out → since about October 1 some Bot computers allow only HTTPS on port 443 outbound. The Gmail connector still works. Users reported it through October 22.

Fixed recently#

• Silent sign-outs → 0.77.0: your primary Bot tells you and offers to reconnect; throttling no longer disconnects.
• Ask first or Block rules bypassed under another tool name → 0.77.0: rules hold.
• Replies not folding into threads → 0.77.0 quotes the original.
• Plain-text drafts with hard line breaks; attachments from the Bot's computer → 0.78.1.
• Spam search empty → 0.68.1 can search Spam and move mail back.
• Full thread refused → since 0.71.2 the Bot falls back to the first message, so check that summaries cover the whole thread.

Google Workspace on a team#

On a Shared Bot, sign-in plugins act as whoever is chatting, so each teammate connects their own Google account and nobody's mailbox is lent out. In Slack threads the Bot asks before using your connector. There is no Google Chat connector yet, agent email does not work in Slack threads or other people's chats, and Shared Bots have no shared team address.

A safe first Gmail brief#

Start small and read-only: one label or one day of mail, drafts only. Once it works, schedule it; our routines troubleshooting guide helps if it does not fire.

Using the connected Gmail, read only messages in [label or Inbox]

received since [date, time, time zone].

Sort them into three groups: Needs me, Can wait, Noise.

For each: sender, subject, one-line reason, link.

Draft replies only for Needs me, and leave them as drafts.

Do not send, archive, label, delete or unsubscribe from anything.

If you cannot read the mailbox, say so and stop.

Our take#

Connect Gmail with drafts on and an Ask first rule for sending, and keep it that way until the Bot has earned trust on real mail. Route sign-ups and vendor mail to the Bot's own address, but only claim it once you know what every Bot will use it for, because you cannot change it. Re-check links in outgoing mail until the redirect fix ships.

Frequently asked questions#

Can Grok Bot send email from my Gmail account?#

Yes, once the Gmail plugin is connected. It can search, read, draft, send and label mail. Since 0.68.0 it can send from a verified send-as address, and since 0.75.2 it can attach files, reply all and add notes when forwarding. Since 0.75.5, an email you ask for in chat goes out once Auto-review allows it; routine emails still wait as drafts.

Can Grok Bot have its own email address instead of using my Gmail?#

Yes. You can claim one address at mail.grokbot.com by asking a Bot or from the Email plugin in Connect Apps, and every Bot on your account can receive, search and send from it. It is one per account, permanent, and cannot be renamed or deleted. On a Cursor team, an admin must turn on Agent Email first.

Can I connect my work and personal Gmail at the same time?#

Why does Google say an admin needs to review Grok?#

Your company's Google Workspace has not approved the app yet. Grok Bot signs in to Google as Grok, not Cursor. An admin approves it in the Google Admin console under Security, Access and data control, API controls, Manage third-party app access, and sets Grok to Trusted. Personal Gmail accounts do not need admin approval.

Can Grok Bot add a Zoom link or change Google Meet settings?#

No. The Google Calendar plugin can read calendars you can see, create and update events, check free time and respond to invitations. It cannot change Google Meet settings or add a Zoom link, because Google's Zoom add-on is not available to the plugin. Add the Zoom link to the event yourself.