Skip to content

Google Workspace MCP authentication fails in ACP + Amber feedback workflow can't submit feedback #1222

@ambient-code

Description

@ambient-code

Environment

  • Session: session-d82f3781-6cd3-4936-8202-67aa043a6110
  • Workspace: spurtell-test-workspace
  • User: spurtell@redhat.com
  • Date: 2026-04-06

Issue 1: Google Workspace MCP Authentication Broken in ACP Sessions

Severity: High
Impact: Google Workspace integration unusable in ACP workflows

Summary

The Google Workspace MCP integration fails to authenticate in ACP sessions despite credentials being configured, forcing users to work around it with direct API calls.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Start an ACP session with a workflow that uses Google Workspace MCP tools
  2. Attempt to call get_drive_file_content or search_drive_files with a valid file ID
  3. Observe authentication failure with localhost:8000 OAuth callback URL

Expected Behavior

  • Google Workspace MCP tools should use existing credentials configured in the workspace
  • refresh_credentials tool should restore working authentication when credentials expire

Actual Behavior

  • MCP tools fail with OAuth error despite integration being listed as "active"
  • Error provides localhost:8000/oauth2callback URL which is inaccessible in remote ACP environments
  • mcp__session__refresh_credentials returns false positive: "Credentials refreshed successfully. Active integrations: GitHub, Jira, Google"
  • Immediately after refresh, Google Workspace MCP tools still fail with identical OAuth error

Workaround

  • Credentials exist at /workspace/.google_workspace_mcp/credentials/credentials.json
  • Direct Google Sheets API calls using these credentials work perfectly
  • MCP layer is not using the stored credentials

Root Cause Hypothesis

  • Google Workspace MCP server attempts fresh OAuth flow instead of using existing credentials
  • OAuth redirect to localhost:8000 incompatible with remote ACP session environments
  • Credential refresh tool doesn't propagate refreshed tokens to MCP server process

Suggested Fix

  1. Google Workspace MCP should prioritize existing credentials file over initiating new OAuth flow
  2. OAuth callback URLs should use the actual ACP environment endpoint, not localhost
  3. Credential refresh should restart or signal MCP servers to reload credentials

Issue 2: Amber Feedback Workflow Can't Submit Feedback

Severity: High
Impact: Feedback mechanism is broken, users can't report issues through intended workflow

Summary

The Amber feedback workflow (/interview command) cannot actually submit feedback to the platform team due to authentication errors.

What Happened

  1. Used /interview workflow to provide detailed feedback about Issue 1 above
  2. Workflow attempted to POST to /api/projects/{project}/agentic-sessions/{session}/agui/feedback
  3. Received 401 Unauthorized: "User token required"
  4. Workflow has no BOT_TOKEN or user authentication token available
  5. User was told to manually copy-paste feedback and find another channel to submit it

The Problem

The feedback workflow exists to make feedback easy, but it can't complete its core function.

The workflow instructions say:

If Platform chosen:
POST to /api/projects/{project}/agentic-sessions/{session}/agui/feedback
Return: "✓ Sent to Ambient team"

But this endpoint requires authentication that the workflow doesn't have access to in the ACP session context.

Suggested Fix

The feedback endpoint should either:

  1. Accept requests from ACP sessions without requiring user tokens (sessions are already authenticated), OR
  2. Provide ACP workflows with the necessary credentials to submit feedback, OR
  3. Update the Amber workflow to use a different submission mechanism that actually works

User Impact

Users trying to give feedback can't do so through the intended mechanism. This creates a catch-22 where feedback about the platform can't be submitted through the platform's own feedback system.


Context: User was testing the custom Amber workflow and encountered both issues. As they put it: "should I send them a carrier pigeon :(" when asked to manually find another way to submit feedback.

Both issues need attention. The Google Workspace MCP issue is blocking productive work. The feedback system issue means you may not be hearing about other problems users are experiencing.


Filed via manual workaround after Amber workflow failed to submit

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    ambient-code:auto-fixAmber agent: automated low-risk fixes (formatting, linting)

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions