Google opens the door to AI claws in new Workspace release

OpenClaw has taken the AI industry by storm over the past few months, inspiring a new AI term for personal AI agents — claws. It’s now so popular that even Google can’t ignore it.

If you’re a Google Workspace user, Google has now released a command-line interface (CLI) that officially gives developers a way to integrate third-party AI agents like OpenClaw into the Workspace platform. This means that OpenClaw and other AI assistants can connect to a user’s Google Workspace services such as Gmail and Google Drive.

Google published the Google Workspace CLI on Github just days ago alongside specific documentation on how to integrate OpenClaw. The documentation also includes guidance on how to connect MCP (Model Context Protocol) compatible apps such as the Claude Desktop app and the Gemini CLI.

As PCWorld noted, OpenClaw and similar claws could already connect to Google Workspace. However, this involved workarounds and the use of multiple APIs to integrate AI assistants into Google’s services and platforms.

While the Google CLI is an official Google release, the company shared that it’s “not an officially supported Google product” and is more for developer use than the average Google user.

Still, this is a notable move from Google. It’s a first step in Google basically embracing claws and giving developers a legitimate way to integrate them into their Google Workspace account.

OpenClaw went viral earlier this year and basically became the standard-bearer for agentic AI tools. Last month, OpenAI hired OpenClaw’s founder Peter Steinberger, who joined the company with a goal “to build an agent that even my mum can use.”