Inbox and channels

Connect email

Gmail or Outlook, and exactly what access that grants.

About 5 minutes

Email is usually the first channel worth connecting, because it is where most work arrives.

Steps

  1. Open Inbox and choose Connect a channel.
  2. Pick Gmail or Outlook.
  3. Complete the provider's consent screen. Read it — this is your mail.
  4. Wait for the first sync. Recent conversations appear first; history backfills.

You're done when the Inbox lists real conversations.

What you are granting

Reading your mail, and drafting replies. Sending is a separate grant — connecting does not give agents the ability to send on your behalf, and a drafted reply waits in Tasks until you approve it.

Gotchas

  • Backfill takes time on a large mailbox. Recent conversations are usable immediately.
  • A channel that stops syncing says so on the channel. Silence is not the failure mode; check its status rather than assuming a quiet week.

Checked against

  • endpoints/hub/channels/connect-email_POST.ts
  • endpoints/hub/nylas/