gws auth login in a loop?

[nictuku]

yvesjunqueira@Yvess-MacBook-Pro:~/src/github.com/googleworkspace/cli$ gws auth login
Open this URL in your browser to authenticate:

  https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?scope=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/pubsub%20https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform&access_type=offline&redirect_uri=http://localhost:54067&response_type=code&client_id=1REMOVED.apps.googleusercontent.com&prompt=select_account+consent

{
  "account": "(unknown)",
  "credentials_file": "/Users/yvesjunqueira/.config/gws/credentials.enc",
  "encryption": "AES-256-GCM (key secured by OS Keyring or local `.encryption_key`)",
  "message": "Authentication successful. Encrypted credentials saved.",
  "scopes": [
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/pubsub",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform"
  ],
  "status": "success"
}
yvesjunqueira@Yvess-MacBook-Pro:~/src/github.com/googleworkspace/cli$   gws gmail +triage --max 5 --query 'from:email@example.com:anywhere'
{
  "error": {
    "code": 401,
    "message": "Gmail auth failed: Legacy credentials found at /Users/yvesjunqueira/.config/gws/credentials.enc. gws now supports multiple accounts. Please run 'gws auth login' to upgrade your credentials.",
    "reason": "authError"
  }
}

also:

vesjunqueira@Yvess-MacBook-Pro:~/src/github.com/googleworkspace/cli$ gws auth status
{
  "auth_method": "oauth2",
  "client_config": "/Users/yvesjunqueira/.config/gws/client_secret.json",
  "client_config_exists": true,
  "client_id": "19480478....com",
  "config_client_id": "19480478....com",
  "credential_source": "client_secret.json",
  "enabled_api_count": 22,
  "enabled_apis": [
    "analyticshub.googleapis.com",
    "bigquery.googleapis.com",
    "bigqueryconnection.googleapis.com",
    "bigquerydatapolicy.googleapis.com",
    "bigquerydatatransfer.googleapis.com",
    "bigquerymigration.googleapis.com",
    "bigqueryreservation.googleapis.com",
    "bigquerystorage.googleapis.com",
    "cloudapis.googleapis.com",
    "cloudtrace.googleapis.com",
    "dataform.googleapis.com",
    "dataplex.googleapis.com",
    "datastore.googleapis.com",
    "googleads.googleapis.com",
    "logging.googleapis.com",
    "monitoring.googleapis.com",
    "servicemanagement.googleapis.com",
    "serviceusage.googleapis.com",
    "sql-component.googleapis.com",
    "storage-api.googleapis.com",
    "storage-component.googleapis.com",
    "storage.googleapis.com"
  ],
  "encrypted_credentials": "/Users/yvesjunqueira/.config/gws/credentials.enc",
  "encrypted_credentials_exists": true,
  "encryption_valid": true,
  "has_refresh_token": true,
  "plain_credentials": "/Users/yvesjunqueira/.config/gws/credentials.json",
  "plain_credentials_exists": false,
  "project_id": "pipeboard-gads",
  "scope_count": 9,
  "scopes": [
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/calendar",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/documents",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.modify",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/pubsub",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/spreadsheets",
    "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks"
  ],
  "storage": "encrypted",
  "token_cache_exists": false,
  "token_valid": true
}

gws auth login has no effect for future gmail calls.

[nictuku]

this seems suspicious:

yvesjunqueira@Yvess-MacBook-Pro:~/src/github.com/googleworkspace/cli$ gws auth list
{
  "accounts": [],
  "count": 0,
  "default": ""
}

[nictuku]

Fixed by doing another gws auth login but this time specifying the account via the CLI (note how on the first one it said account "unknown")

gws auth login --account yves@pipeboard.co

Everything worked after this.

May want to make sure the "unknown" account thing doesn't happen during gws auth setup 👍

[a-termis]

Tried the fix of specifying the account via CLI

gws auth list                                  
{
  "accounts": [
    {
      "added": "2026-03-05T18:07:12.612617+00:00",
      "email": "alejandro@prima.ai",
      "is_default": true
    }
  ],
  "count": 1,
  "default": "alejandro@prima.ai"
}

, but even though I've setup the JSON file and exported the GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE I'm still getting the 401 access denied no credentials provided

{
  "error": {
    "code": 401,
    "message": "Access denied. No credentials provided. Run `gws auth login` or set GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE to an OAuth credentials JSON file.",
    "reason": "authError"
  }
}

[a-termis]

Tried the fix of specifying the account via CLI

gws auth list                                  
{
  "accounts": [
    {
      "added": "2026-03-05T18:07:12.612617+00:00",
      "email": "alejandro@prima.ai",
      "is_default": true
    }
  ],
  "count": 1,
  "default": "alejandro@prima.ai"
}

, but even though I've setup the JSON file and exported the GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE I'm still getting the 401 access denied no credentials provided

{
  "error": {
    "code": 401,
    "message": "Access denied. No credentials provided. Run `gws auth login` or set GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE to an OAuth credentials JSON file.",
    "reason": "authError"
  }
}

If anyone else is stuck here, try unset GOOGLE_WORKSPACE_CLI_CREDENTIALS_FILE

[ShakataGaNai]

I had the same issue (MacOS 26.3, zsh) as OP, and the same "fix" of using gws auth login --account email@company.tld

[zahin-mohammad]

gws auth login --account

Fixed by doing another gws auth login but this time specifying the account via the CLI (note how on the first one it said account "unknown")

gws auth login --account yves@pipeboard.co

Everything worked after this.

May want to make sure the "unknown" account thing doesn't happen during gws auth setup 👍

This worked for me on macos.

[alfonsograziano]

Just had the same issue on macos - including the email fixed it for me as well!

[hugows]

Same here (thanks @nictuku) but before this I also had to resort to an "older" GCP project instead of a fresh one.