A Gmail MCP connects an assistant to a raw mailbox: messages, labels, send. Useful — but the assistant still has to reconstruct who owns a conversation, what stage it's in, and what matters. Sortd hands it that layer directly.
| Gmail MCP | Sortd | |
|---|---|---|
| Unit of work | Email message / thread | Owned, stateful task linked to its thread |
| Team view | One user's mailbox | Cross-mailbox team boards, assignments, shared labels |
| AI signal | None (the model reads raw bodies) | Smart status, urgency, sentiment, risk as structured labels |
| Customer context | — | Sales boards / deal flow beside the thread |
| Privacy boundary | Raw bodies cross to the model | Classification crosses as labels; bodies stay in Sortd |
| Agent safety | Can send directly | Drafts-for-review, scopes, idempotency, audit, reversible actions |
These aren't mutually exclusive. Connect a Gmail MCP for raw message access and Sortd for the work layer — the agent sees an organised operation on top of the mailbox. Sortd is the system of record for state; Gmail stays the system of record for mail.