Hey everyone,
I’m wondering if anyone knows of a way to use Gmail chat directly from the Linux terminal. I love working in the command line and it would be awesome to have a chat client that integrates with Gmail without leaving the terminal.
Has anyone come across something like this? Or do you think it’s possible to create one? I’m not sure about the technical aspects, but it seems like it could be a cool project.
If nothing exists, what would be involved in developing such a tool? Would it require using Gmail’s API or some other method?
Thanks for any info or ideas you can share!
As someone who practically lives in the terminal, I totally get your desire for a command-line Gmail chat app. I’ve actually experimented with a few options over the years.
One approach I’ve had some success with is using a combination of Finch (a command-line IM client) and Bitlbee (an IRC to other chat networks gateway). It takes a bit of setup, but once configured, you can chat via Gmail directly in your terminal.
Another option is to leverage Gmail’s XMPP protocol support with a CLI XMPP client like Profanity. It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done for basic chatting.
Developing a dedicated Gmail chat CLI tool would likely involve using their API and dealing with OAuth for authentication. It’s doable, but there are some hurdles. If you’re keen on creating one, I’d recommend starting by thoroughly exploring the Gmail API docs.
Hope that gives you some ideas to explore further!
hey there! i’ve actually been looking for something similar. haven’t found a perfect solution yet, but you might wanna check out ‘finch’ with bitlbee. it’s not exactly what ur asking for but it lets you chat thru gmail in the terminal. takes some setup tho. if u end up makin ur own app, lemme know! sounds like a cool project
I’ve been using a workaround that might interest you. It’s not a dedicated Gmail chat app, but it gets the job done. I’ve set up Mutt, a text-based email client, with my Gmail account. Then I use a script to parse incoming emails from chat conversations and display them in a more chat-like format.
It’s not perfect, but it allows me to stay in the terminal and respond to chats quickly. The downside is it doesn’t support real-time updates, so you need to manually refresh.
Developing a true CLI Gmail chat app would likely require using the Gmail API and implementing OAuth for authentication. It’s certainly possible, but would require significant development effort. If you’re interested in taking on such a project, I’d recommend starting with Google’s official API documentation and perhaps looking into existing CLI chat frameworks as a foundation.