Step 6 · Connect Gmail (optional)
Connect Gmail
Optional. Connect it only if you want service reports and payment reminders sent from your own inbox. Everything works without it.
You can skip this
Without Gmail, the skills still write your reports and reminders — you just copy, text, print, or send them yourself. Connect Gmail only if you'd like Claude to prepare the email for you.
What it's for
Three skills can use your Gmail:
- Service report — email a homeowner their “digital door hanger” after a visit.
- Collect a card — email a customer their secure add-your-card or update-your-card link.
- Chase payments — email a past-due reminder.
Invoices never go through Gmail
Invoice emails of all types — monthly plans and one-off charges — are sent by Stripe automatically when the invoice is finalized (a hosted pay-link invoice if there's no card on file, a receipt if a saved card was charged). Gmail is only for the items above: service reports and one-off emails to customers, always as drafts you send yourself.
Connect it
1
Open Connectors in Claude
Go to Customize → Connectors. (Customize is in the left-hand menu.)
2
Find Gmail and click Connect
Gmail is an official connector in Claude's directory — search for Gmail and click Connect.
3
Sign in with Google
Sign in to the Google account you send business email from, and approve on Google's own screen.
Screenshot
Claude's Connectors directory with Gmail and a Connect button, then Google's consent screen showing “Manage drafts and send emails” being requested.
Claude drafts — you press send
The Gmail connection is set up to leave a ready-to-send draft in your inbox. It doesn't send on its own — you open the draft, give it a glance, and hit send. That's an extra human check on anything that reaches a customer, and it's the default behavior, nothing to configure.
About Google's permission screen
- Google will ask to manage drafts and send email, and to view your email. The “view” part comes bundled by Google and can't be unchecked separately — it's the standard Gmail connection.
- It does not ask for your Google Calendar or Drive. This is Gmail only.