Give your team an AI coworker they can email.

Hermes has a desktop application. You can install it, follow its setup screens and customize the assistant by talking to it. Start with a direct-email pilot; add team-wide replies after that works.

1. Download and open Hermes Desktop. Follow first-run setup to connect a model provider. The standard Mac installer needs Apple Silicon; check platform support for other systems. Model usage may cost money.
2. Create its profile. Open Profiles → New profile, name it email-assistant, choose Clone from → None (blank), then select it. Use Settings → Providers and Settings → Model to connect the provider and choose this profile’s default model.
3. Give it an email address. Create a dedicated mailbox with your provider, then open Messaging → Email. Enter the address, app password and IMAP/SMTP servers. Set the exact allowed senders and trusted authentication-service ID. Check Applies to if shown, then Save changes, enable Email and use Restart now if prompted. Wait for Connected.
4. Ask it to finish the setup with you. Use the prompt below. Say what work you want done; have it connect the necessary tools, save the instructions and verify its background messaging service. Keep the host computer awake.

The native Email form uses IMAP/SMTP credentials, not a Google or Microsoft sign-in button. For an approved Gmail app-password setup: imap.gmail.com, smtp.gmail.com, and EMAIL_AUTHSERV_ID=mx.google.com. Your administrator may restrict this. Microsoft 365 business mail needs a modern-auth integration such as Graph; use the Microsoft route below.

Hermes’s Google Workspace skill can guide you through the Google connection in chat. Sign in through the provided browser flow; enter secrets only in private credential fields. A profile organizes instructions and memory, but does not isolate computer files or CLI credentials.

Reference: Desktop setup · Email settings · Profiles · Email reply behavior

Choose an AI workspace your business approves, create an account and open its tools directory.

• Codex or ChatGPT: open Plugins and connect Gmail or Outlook Email where available. Add the calendar and file/presentation tools your task needs. Account and company settings determine availability.
• Claude: open Customize → Connectors, connect Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, and complete the account/admin authorization. Check the read and write actions enabled for your workspace.

Ask the agent to create one test file and check one calendar event. Then configure a supported email-arrival trigger or a separate integration to start work and return results. A connected inbox alone does not prove the agent can receive emailed assignments while you are away.

Attachment support varies: Claude’s Gmail connector cannot read attachment contents, and its Microsoft 365 email write tools do not support attachments. Supply approved file links or use a tested file-delivery integration for this workflow.

Reference: OpenAI plugins · Email tools · Claude Google Workspace · Claude Microsoft 365

A terminal agent, such as Codex or Claude Code, can use installed command-line tools. Start with its official installation and sign-in instructions, then connect the tools below.

Google Workspace CLI (gws) gives a terminal-capable agent Google tools. CLI for Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Graph can supply Outlook actions. Both need account authorization; neither is an incoming-email worker by itself.

Install and authorize them on the computer or server where the agent actually runs, under the intended user account. Ask the agent to help configure the email intake, background runtime and reply handling. Credentials on your laptop do not automatically work on a cloud server.

Reference: Google Workspace CLI · CLI for Microsoft 365 · Claude Code setup · Codex setup

Have IT build and operate the assistant inside your company’s approved environment.

Copilot Studio: create an agent in a licensed environment, connect the required tools, and add an Outlook new-email trigger. Preserve the original message ID. For the final response, configure Reply to email (V3) with that ID and Reply All = Yes. Test the workflow before publishing it.

The agent also needs file creation, calendar tools and explicit permissions for follow-ups. Triggered actions use the configured connection’s authority; they do not automatically inherit the sender’s access.

Azure, AWS or a virtual server: a developer can host an agent with browser, software and data-analysis tools. Connect email intake to a persistent work queue, run the agent with scoped access, and return the result using the original message/thread identifiers. The server supplies the runtime; your team still builds the email workflow.

Reference: Create a Copilot Studio agent · Event triggers · Outlook actions · Azure Outlook intake · AWS email intake

gws can work with any agent able to run it in the authorized environment. It is not an officially supported Google product.

1. Install Node.js LTS, then the CLI below.
2. In Google Cloud, enable the APIs needed for the job, configure OAuth consent, and create a Desktop app OAuth client. Save its private client JSON as ~/.config/gws/client_secret.json.
3. If the OAuth audience is External and the app is in Testing, add the intended account under Test users. Sign in with that account and minimum needed scopes. Obtain admin approval if required. External apps in Testing commonly receive seven-day Gmail refresh tokens.

npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli
gws --version

gws auth login --scopes https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly
gws auth status
gws gmail +triage --max 5 --query 'in:inbox newer_than:1d'
gws gmail +read --id 'MESSAGE_ID' --format json

For replies, gmail.compose permits drafting and sending. Add it only when approved. Calendar, Drive and Slides require their own APIs/scopes. A presentation request needs file-creation tools too.

# Add compose access only when approved; complete the consent screen.
gws auth login --scopes https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.readonly,https://www.googleapis.com/auth/gmail.compose
# Replace MESSAGE_ID with the original incoming message ID.
gws gmail +reply-all --message-id MESSAGE_ID --body 'The draft deck is ready for review.' --draft

Inspect the actual draft, thread and recipients in Gmail. Omitting --draft sends the message. An email watcher still needs an agent runner, duplicate protection and recovery; this command does not build that service.

Reference: Install and authentication · Reply-all helper · Email notifications

For most beginners, use an approved Outlook plugin or ask IT for a Copilot Studio workflow. For a terminal agent, this delegated Microsoft Graph example uses CLI for Microsoft 365.

1. Install Node.js LTS. Register a single-tenant app in Microsoft Entra and enable public client flows.
2. Add delegated Mail.Read and obtain the required consent. Use the client and tenant IDs in the sign-in below.
3. Inspect one fictional message. Add only the calendar/file/email actions required for the job.

npm install -g @pnp/cli-microsoft365
m365 version

m365 login --authType deviceCode --appId 'APPLICATION_CLIENT_ID' --tenant 'DIRECTORY_TENANT_ID'
m365 status
m365 request --url 'https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/mailFolders/inbox/messages?$select=id,subject,receivedDateTime&$top=5&$orderby=receivedDateTime%20desc'
m365 outlook message get --id 'MESSAGE_ID'

Mail.ReadWrite allows drafts and modifying/deleting mail; it does not include Mail.Send. Sending needs separate consent. A “draft only” prompt does not reduce token permissions.

For a team response, Microsoft Graph can create a reply-all draft against the original message ID, or send a reply-all with the appropriate permission. Inspect recipients and thread before enabling sends. An unattended application needs its own service authentication and mailbox access design; these /me examples are interactive delegated access.

Reference: App registration · Create reply-all draft · Send reply-all