Use MCP to query Gmail and Outlook mailboxes

A developer built a cloud email analysis system that lets LLMs pull answers from Gmail and Outlook through MCP.

Done with CursorCodexClaude Code· Advanced· Sep 2026

What they did
They spent six months assembling the product with Cursor, Codex, and Claude Code. It runs in the cloud, connects to Gmail and Outlook, and uses open-source models to read messages briefly without keeping the content. The extracted signals are exposed through MCP so ChatGPT, Claude, and other LLMs can query them; the first release is set up as a ChatGPT app.
How it went
The product is mostly complete and in private beta. A wider launch is stalled until Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI sign off, which the developer described as slow and tedious. IMAP and additional providers are on the roadmap.
Tips
Plan early for provider review, since approvals can become the slowest part of the project. Start with read-only access and a tight permission set before adding anything that can change mail.

Try it yourself with Cursor

Help me prototype an email analysis tool that lets an LLM ask questions about a mailbox through MCP. Begin with [Gmail or Outlook] in read-only mode, and add tools for [searching messages, summarizing a conversation, locating attachments]. Use OAuth with the fewest permissions possible. Pause and ask for confirmation before any action that would send, remove, or submit data, and stop once I can ask a question in plain language and see the supporting emails cited.

Fill in the [brackets]. Agents can make mistakes, so review anything before it is sent, paid or deleted.

Read the original on news.ycombinator.com ↗

Get 3 agent uses like this every morning

With the day's top AI news. Free, and one click to unsubscribe.