HermesAgentThe bottom line
Google Workspace users: Full API access via Gmail. Hermes reads, drafts, and labels emails with zero friction. The richest integration.
Apple Mail users: Hermes uses macOS AppleScript + screen control to read and compose. Slightly more setup, but fully functional — and your email never leaves your Mac.
Both approaches give you the same result: a morning digest that tells you what matters, drafts replies to routine messages, and flags conversations that need your attention.
The problem email creates for small businesses
The average small business owner spends 2.5 hours a day in email. That's 12.5 hours a week — nearly a third of a full-time work week. And most of it isn't strategic. It's triage: "is this urgent?", "do I need to reply?", "did they ever get back to me?"
Hermes Agent turns your inbox from a time sink into a 10-minute morning review. Here's exactly how, for both ecosystems.
Approach 1: With Google Workspace (Gmail)
This is the smoothest path. Hermes Agent connects to Gmail via Google's API and gets full read/write/label access. No browser automation, no screen scraping — clean API calls.
What you need
- A Google Workspace or Gmail account
- Hermes Agent installed on any machine (macOS, Linux, or WSL)
- The Google Workspace integration connected (one-time OAuth flow)
Step-by-step setup (25 minutes)
- Connect Google Workspace. Run
hermes setup google-workspaceand complete the OAuth flow. Hermes gets a token that lets it access Gmail on your behalf. - Create the triage skill. In Hermes, say: "Each weekday at 7:30 AM, scan my Gmail inbox. Categorize every unread email since yesterday 5 PM into Urgent / Important / Other. For anything that looks like a pricing question, scheduling request, or service inquiry, draft a reply. Flag any thread where I haven't responded in 3+ days and the other person emailed last."
- Save it as a cron job. Hermes will suggest the cron schedule. Accept it — daily at 7:30 AM, delivered to your phone via Telegram or WhatsApp.
- Review the first few days. The digest arrives on your phone. It looks like:
"Good morning. 8 urgent emails (3 from clients, 2 from suppliers, 3 internal). 6 drafts ready for your review. The Nguyen contract thread has been silent for 5 days — draft nudge ready. 14 newsletters and receipts archived."
What happens behind the scenes
Hermes uses the Gmail API to list unread messages, get full content for each, then passes them through your AI model for classification and drafting. Draft replies go to your Gmail drafts folder — nothing is sent until you approve it. Labels like "Needs Reply" and "Urgent" are applied automatically so your Gmail is organized even if you check it manually later.
Approach 2: With Apple Mail on macOS
Apple Mail doesn't have a public API, but Hermes Agent's macOS computer-use capabilities let it interact with Mail.app the same way you do — by reading the screen and controlling the interface. This is a local-only approach: your email data never touches a cloud service beyond your AI model provider.
What you need
- A Mac running macOS 14+
- Apple Mail configured with your email accounts
- Hermes Agent installed locally with computer-use enabled
Step-by-step setup (40 minutes)
- Enable computer use. Hermes Agent's cua-driver runs in the background and can interact with any macOS app without stealing your cursor. No special permissions beyond what you grant during setup.
- Create the Apple Mail skill. In Hermes, say: "Each weekday at 7:30 AM, open Apple Mail. For each unread message in my primary inbox, capture the sender, subject, and first 3 lines of the body. Categorize as Urgent / Important / Other. Draft a reply for routine inquiries using a new compose window, then save it to drafts. Create a summary digest and deliver to my phone."
- Schedule it. Daily cron at 7:30 AM.
- Test with 5 emails first. Hermes will show you exactly what it sees on screen. Verify the OCR is reading correctly, then scale up to your full inbox.
What happens behind the scenes
Hermes uses its macOS accessibility layer to read Mail.app's message list, open each unread message, extract the text, and categorize it. It opens compose windows to draft replies, fills in the recipient and body, then saves to drafts. Everything happens in the background — you won't see windows flickering. The entire process stays local to your Mac; only the AI processing (classification + drafting) hits your configured model provider.
Google Workspace vs Apple Mail: which should you choose?
| Factor | Google Workspace | Apple Mail (macOS) |
|---|---|---|
| Setup difficulty | Easy — OAuth flow, 25 min | Moderate — computer-use config, 40 min |
| Speed | Fast — direct API calls | Slower — screen-based interaction |
| Reliability | High — API is stable | Good — depends on Mail.app not changing UI |
| Data privacy | Email content passes through Google + your AI provider | Email stays on Mac; only AI processing leaves the machine |
| Drafts location | Gmail drafts folder (syncs everywhere) | Apple Mail drafts folder (local to Mac) |
| Works offline? | No — needs internet for Gmail API | Yes — Mail.app has local cache |
| Best for | Teams, Google Workspace users, cloud-first SMBs | Solo operators, privacy-conscious users, Mac-native workflows |
Beyond basic triage: what you can add later
Once the morning digest is running reliably, layer on these upgrades:
- Auto-archive newsletters after 48 hours if unread.
- Extract action items from client emails and add them to Apple Reminders or Google Tasks.
- Learn your templates. Feed Hermes 10 examples of how you reply to pricing questions — it matches your tone and structure.
- Follow-up intelligence. Hermes remembers which clients typically reply within 24 hours and which need a week. It adjusts follow-up timing per contact.
- Weekly email report. "This week: 143 emails received, 41 required replies (38 drafted by Hermes, you sent 35), 9 follow-ups sent, 4 dead threads revived."
Frequently asked questions
Will Hermes ever send an email without my approval?
Not by default. Every draft goes to your drafts folder. You review and hit send. You can optionally configure auto-send for specific low-risk scenarios (e.g., "out of office replies"), but this is opt-in and gated behind an explicit prompt.
Can Hermes handle multiple email accounts?
Yes. For Google Workspace, connect each account separately. For Apple Mail, Hermes can switch between accounts the same way you do — it reads whichever mailbox is visible. Tell it which accounts to scan in your skill prompt.
What if Hermes miscategorizes an email?
The digest shows you every categorization. You can reply "this is actually urgent" and Hermes learns — it updates its persistent memory so similar emails get categorized correctly next time. After a few corrections, accuracy is typically 90%+.
Does this work with encrypted email?
Hermes cannot read encrypted email bodies (S/MIME, PGP). These are flagged as "Encrypted — manual review needed" in your digest. This is by design: your encryption stays intact.
What's the cost?
Hermes Agent is free. Your costs are: AI model provider (~$20–50/month for email-level usage), and Google Workspace subscription (if using Gmail approach). The Apple Mail approach has no additional service costs beyond your model provider.
Get your mornings back
One command, 25–40 minutes of setup, and email goes from your biggest time sink to a 10-minute review.
Install Hermes Agent →