Google Chat Integration with SmythOS

Want to integrate your automations directly into your team's conversations? Connect Google Chat to SmythOS and empower your agents to send, read, and manage messages in your chat spaces.

TL;DR

Securely link your Google Workspace account to SmythOS by setting up OAuth 2.0 credentials in the Google Cloud Console. Then, use our suite of Google Chat components to automate notifications, create bots, and manage conversations.

List of Google Chat Components

Quickly compare Google Chat components by what they do and their key I/O. Click any component name to jump directly to its detailed guide.

Component	Action	What it Does	Inputs	Key Outputs	Use Case
Create Message	Write	Posts a new message to a specified Google Chat space.	required spaceId, text	name, createTime	Sending automated alerts or notifications.
List Messages	Read	Retrieves a history of messages from a specific space.	required spaceId optional pageSize	messages	Providing conversation history to an AI.
Get Message	Read	Fetches the details of a single, specific message.	required message_name	text, sender_name	Reading the content of a message that triggered a workflow.
Update Message	Write	Edits the content of an existing message.	required message_name optional Body	text, thread_name	Updating a status message with new information.
Delete Message	Write	Permanently deletes a specific message.	required spaceId, messageId	Response	Retracting a message sent in error.
Send Webhook Message	Write	Sends a message to a space using a simple incoming webhook URL.	required webhookUrl, text	Response	A quick and easy way to post notifications.

INFO

Why Integrate Google Chat with Your Agent?

Google Chat is a central communication tool for teams using Google Workspace. Integrating it with SmythOS allows you to build powerful, collaborative automations.

• Automated Notifications & Alerts: Create agents that monitor your applications, databases, or external services and post real-time alerts to a dedicated Google Chat space, ensuring your team is immediately aware of critical events.
• Streamlined Workflows: Use Google Chat as a user interface for your agents. A user could type a command in a chat space, and an agent can read the message, perform a task (like looking up data), and post the result back into the chat.
• Centralized Reporting: Schedule agents to gather data from various sources (like Google Analytics or your CRM) and post daily, weekly, or monthly summary reports directly into a team's chat space.
• Interactive Bots: Build custom bots that can guide users through a process, answer frequently asked questions, or collect information, all within the familiar environment of Google Chat.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, please ensure you have the following:

• An active SmythOS account. (Sign up here).
• A Google Workspace Account with access to Google Chat.
• A Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Project.
• The Google Chat API enabled in your GCP project.
• OAuth 2.0 credentials (Client ID and Client Secret) from the Google Cloud Console.

Getting Started With Google Chat

The connection is handled via OAuth 2.0. This requires a one-time setup in the Google Cloud Console to get your credentials.

Step 1: Get Your OAuth 2.0 Credentials from Google

1. Go to Google Cloud Console: Navigate to https://console.cloud.google.com/ and select or create a project.

2. Enable the Google Chat API: In the search bar, find "Google Chat API" and Enable it for your project.

3. Configure OAuth Consent Screen:

   • Go to APIs & Services > OAuth consent screen.
   • Choose External for User Type and click Create.
   • Fill in the required app information (App name, User support email, Developer contact).
   • Scopes: Click Add or Remove Scopes, and add the scopes you need. For full message functionality, you'll need:
     • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.messages
     • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.spaces.readonly (for listing spaces/messages)
   • Test Users: Add the email addresses of the Google accounts that will authenticate.

4. Create OAuth Client ID:

   • Go to APIs & Services > Credentials.
   • Click + Create Credentials and select OAuth client ID.
   • For Application type, select Web application.
   • Under Authorized redirect URIs, click + Add URI and enter https://app.smythos.com/oauth/google/callback.
   • Click Create.

5. Copy Your Credentials:

   • A dialog will appear with Your Client ID and Your Client Secret. Copy both values immediately.
   Secure Your Credentials!

   Your Client ID and Client Secret are sensitive. Store them securely in the SmythOS Vault.

Step 2: Authenticate in SmythOS

1. Store Credentials: Add your Client ID and Client Secret to the SmythOS Vault.
2. Add a Component: Drag any Google Chat component onto your agent graph.
3. Connect: Open the component's Settings, select your credentials from the Vault, and click Authenticate. You will be redirected to Google to sign in and grant consent.

Which Google Chat Component Should I Use?

If you need to…	Target	Use this Component	Why this one?
Send a quick notification without complex setup	A webhook URL	Send Webhook Message	The simplest way to post messages. Doesn't require OAuth setup.
Post a message as a bot and be able to edit or delete it later	A spaceId and text	Create Message	The standard method for creating messages that your agent "owns".
Read the conversation history in a space	A spaceId	List Messages	Fetches multiple messages, essential for providing context to an AI.
Edit a status message your agent previously posted	A message_name	Update Message	Allows you to change the content of an existing message.
Remove a message your agent sent	A spaceId and messageId	Delete Message	Permanently deletes a message from a space.

Component Details

This section provides detailed information for each Google Chat component.

Create Message

Posts a new message to a specified Google Chat space.

INFO

This component uses the OAuth 2.0 flow detailed in the Getting Started section.

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Notes
spaceId	string	Yes	The unique ID of the space where the message will be posted.
text	string	Yes	The text content of the message.

Outputs

Field	Type	Description
name	string	The unique resource name of the created message (e.g., spaces/SPACE_ID/messages/MESSAGE_ID).
createTime	string	The ISO 8601 timestamp of when the message was created.
text	string	The content of the message that was sent.
Response	object	The full, raw JSON response from the Google Chat API.

Use Case

A CI/CD agent posts a message to the #deployments space: "Build v1.5.2 has been successfully deployed to production."

List Messages

Retrieves a list of messages from a Google Chat space.

INFO

This component uses the OAuth 2.0 flow detailed in the Getting Started section.

Component-Specific Settings

• Order By: Sort messages by createTime ASC (oldest first) or createTime DESC (newest first).

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Notes
spaceId	string	Yes	The unique ID of the space to retrieve messages from.
pageSize	integer	Optional	The maximum number of messages to return per page.

Outputs

Field	Type	Description
messages	array	An array of message objects from the space.
nextPageToken	string	A token to retrieve the next page of results, if available.
Response	object	The full, raw JSON response from the API.

Use Case

An agent retrieves the last 20 messages from a support space to provide conversational history as context for an LLM to generate a helpful response.

Get Message

Retrieves the details of a single, specific message.

INFO

This component uses the OAuth 2.0 flow detailed in the Getting Started section.

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Notes
message_name	string	Yes	The unique resource name of the message, in the format spaces/{space}/messages/{message}.

Outputs

Field	Type	Description
text	string	The text content of the retrieved message.
sender_name	string	The resource name of the message sender.
createTime	string	The timestamp of when the message was created.
Response	object	The raw JSON response from the API.

Use Case

When an agent is triggered by a reply in a thread, it uses this component with the parent message's name to fetch its original content.

Update Message

Edits the text content of a message that was previously sent by the same authenticated app/bot.

INFO

This component uses the OAuth 2.0 flow detailed in the Getting Started section.

Component-Specific Settings

• Body: A JSON editor where you provide the new text for the message.

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Notes
message_name	string	Yes	The resource name of the message to update (spaces/{space}/messages/{message}).
updateMask	string	Optional	The fields to update. To change the text, set this to text.

Outputs

Field	Type	Description
text	string	The updated text content of the message.
Response	object	The raw JSON response, containing the full updated message object.

Use Case

An agent posts a "Build in progress..." message. Once the build completes, it uses this component to update the original message to "Build successful!"

Delete Message

Permanently deletes a message.

INFO

This component uses the OAuth 2.0 flow detailed in the Getting Started section.

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Notes
spaceId	string	Yes	The ID of the space containing the message.
messageId	string	Yes	The ID of the message to delete.

Outputs

Field	Type	Description
Response	object	A successful deletion returns an empty response.
Headers	object	HTTP headers from the API response.

Use Case

An agent posts a temporary alert message. Once the underlying issue is resolved, it automatically deletes the alert message to clean up the chat space.

Send Webhook Message

Sends a message to a Google Chat space using an incoming webhook URL. This is a simpler method that does not require OAuth.

Inputs

Field	Type	Required	Notes
webhookUrl	string	Yes	The incoming webhook URL configured for the chat space.
text	string	Optional	The text content of the message.

Outputs

Field	Type	Description
Response	object	The raw JSON response from the webhook endpoint.
Headers	object	The HTTP headers from the response.

Use Case

For simple, one-way notifications, a webhook is the fastest way to get set up. An agent can send a quick "Task Completed" message to a space without needing user authentication.

Webhook Limitations

Messages sent via webhooks are posted by the "Webhook App" and cannot be updated or deleted via the API. For full message control, use the OAuth-based Create Message component.

Best Practices & Advanced Tips

• Secure Your Credentials: Always use the SmythOS Vault to store your Client ID, Client Secret, and any webhook URLs.
• Use OAuth for Full Control: While webhooks are easy for simple notifications, the OAuth method is necessary if you need your agent to read messages, update its own messages, or perform actions as a specific bot user.
• Master Message Formatting: Google Chat messages support simple HTML-like formatting (bold, italic, links, etc.). Use this to make your agent's messages clearer and more professional.
• Use Threading: When replying to messages or posting a series of related updates, use the thread property in your message payload to keep conversations organized.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

• Authentication Errors (invalid_client, redirect_uri_mismatch):

  • Cause: Incorrect Client ID/Secret or a misconfigured redirect URI in your Google Cloud Console.
  • Solution: Verify your credentials. Ensure the redirect URI is exactly https://app.smythos.com/oauth/google/callback.

• 403 Forbidden / Permission Denied:

  • Cause: The app is missing the required API permissions (scopes) in Google Cloud, or the user has not granted consent.
  • Solution: Go to your App Registration in the Google Cloud Console, check API permissions, and ensure scopes like https://www.googleapis.com/auth/chat.messages have been added and granted admin consent.

• 404 Not Found:

  • Cause: An incorrect spaceId or message_name was provided.
  • Solution: Double-check that the ID is correct and that the authenticated user or bot is a member of that space.

• Webhook Fails to Post

  • Cause: The webhookUrl is incorrect, has been revoked, or the message body is malformed.
  • Solution: Generate a new webhook URL from your Google Chat space settings and update your component. Check the JSON payload for syntax errors.

What's Next?

You are now ready to build powerful collaborative workflows with the SmythOS Google Chat Integration!

Consider these ideas:

• Build an Agent That...

  • Monitors a GitHub repository. When a new pull request is opened, it posts a summary and a link to the PR in the relevant engineering team's chat space.
  • Acts as a daily stand-up bot. It asks each team member for their updates in a direct message, then compiles all the responses and posts a summary in the main team space.
  • Connects to your calendar. When a new meeting is scheduled with an external client, it creates a temporary group chat with all internal attendees to coordinate before the call.

• Explore Other Integrations:

  • Combine Google Chat with the Google Sheets Integration. An agent can read tasks from a sheet and send reminders to the assigned person in a direct message.
  • Use an LLM component to summarize a long document, then post the summary to a Google Chat space for quick consumption by the team.
  • When a new high-priority support ticket is created in your helpdesk system, create a new chat with the on-call team and post the ticket details.