Guide

Use your own Google credentials

Why this exists:Google requires a paid annual security review (CASA) before any app may read Gmail or Drive — even read-only, even when everything stays on your machine. kia is a small beta and hasn’t gone through it yet. Until then you can connect Gmail with your own free Google OAuth client: your credentials, your data, no waiting on us. Takes about 10 minutes. (Prefer one-click? A limited number of Google-approved founding seats exist — email eldar@localkiagent.com.)
  1. Open console.cloud.google.com/projectcreate and create a project — any name, e.g. my-kia. No billing account needed.
  2. In APIs & Services → Library, search Gmail API and click Enable. (If you also want Google Docs/Drive later, enable the Google Drive API too.)
  3. Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen. Choose External, fill in the app name (anything) and your email, and save through the steps — you can skip scopes and branding. Leave the app in Testing status.
  4. Still on the consent screen, under Test users, click Add users and add your own Gmail address. Only listed accounts can use the client — that’s the point.
  5. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → Create credentials → OAuth client ID. Application type: Desktop app. Create it.
  6. Copy the Client ID (ends in .apps.googleusercontent.com) and the Client secret.
  7. In the KIAgent app, open the Gmail connect dialog (after sign-in, or Add source → Gmail), choose the own-credentials option, paste both values and click Connect with my client. Your browser opens Google’s consent — approve, done. Indexing starts on your machine.
Heads-up — weekly re-auth: Google expires refresh tokens of Testing-status apps after 7 days, so kia will ask you to reconnect weekly. Two ways around it: Google Workspace accounts can set the consent screen’s User type to Internal (no expiry, no review), or grab a founding seat (eldar@localkiagent.com). Your client secret never leaves your machine — it’s stored locally with the account it connects.