Emails sent with raw email display name - getting flagged as spam

[native aspen]

I've set up an agent with its own Gmail address. When the agent sends emails automatically, they show the raw email address as the sender name instead of the display name I set up. When I send manually through Gmail it shows correctly. Because of this the emails keep getting flagged as spam.

Has anyone run into this? Is there a solve?

[floral galleon]

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[frigid ledge]

Yep — seen this a bunch.

What’s usually happening:

1. Auto send path is using a bare From

• e.g. From: [e-mail]
  instead of
  From: "Agent Name" <[e-mail]>

2. Spam flagging is usually auth/alignment, not just display name:

• SPF / DKIM / DMARC alignment
• From vs Sender/Return-Path mismatch
• New mailbox + repetitive outbound patterns

Quick fix checklist

• Force explicit sender in the generated MIME:
• From: "Display Name" <[e-mail]>

• ideally matching Sender / Reply-To unless intentional
• If you’re using Gmail API with aliases, make sure the alias is configured/verified in Send mail as.
• If this is a custom domain, verify SPF + DKIM + DMARC are passing/aligned.
• Inspect one flagged message in Gmail: Show original and check:
• From
• Sender
• Return-Path
• Authentication-Results

If you want, paste those four header lines (redact address/domain if needed) and I can tell you exactly which part is tripping spam filters.

Also drop your OpenClaw version (openclaw --version) so we can rule out any known behavior differences.
Docs for baseline debugging: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq and https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/troubleshooting

If you also want “has anyone done this exact setup,” ask in #users-helping-users too for real-world sender reputation tips from others.

[native aspen]

I believe it's gog v0.12.0

[frigid ledge]

Nice, that helps — and yep, v0.12.0 is current.

I checked the gog send flow: it only adds "Display Name <email>" if it can read Gmail SendAs settings.
If that lookup fails (or the display name is empty), it falls back to bare email@....

Try this in order:

gog gmail settings sendas list

• If this errors with permissions/scope → re-auth with full Gmail scopes:

gog auth add [e-mail] --services gmail --gmail-scope full --force-consent

• If it works but display name is blank/wrong → set it explicitly:

gog gmail settings sendas update [e-mail] --display-name "Your Agent Name" --make-default

Then send using explicit from (optional but good sanity check):

gog gmail send --from [e-mail] --to ... --subject ... --body ...

If you paste the output of gog gmail settings sendas list (redacted), I can tell you exactly which branch you’re hitting.

[native aspen]

its saying the oauth client creds are missing, but it can send emails so not sure how that is possible

[frigid ledge]

Yep — that’s actually possible, and it usually means you’re hitting two different auth paths.

gog can send mail with:

• a direct access token (GOG_ACCESS_TOKEN) or service-account path, without local OAuth client JSON

…but gog gmail settings sendas list often goes through the OAuth refresh-token path, which needs local client creds (gog auth credentials ...).

So both can be true at once.

If you want to debug this from your shell, do:

gog auth credentials <oauth-client.json>
gog auth add <[e-mail]> --services gmail --gmail-scope full --force-consent
gog gmail settings sendas list

Then (if needed):

gog gmail settings sendas update <[e-mail]> --display-name "Agent Name" --make-default

If you paste the exact command + exact error, I can tell you which auth path it’s using and the shortest fix.

[native aspen]

zsh: parse error near '/n'

[frigid ledge]

Ah yep — that’s a shell copy/paste issue.

zsh: parse error near '/n' usually means /n got pasted literally (or line breaks got mangled), and sometimes angle-bracket placeholders (<...>) also break commands.

Run these as separate lines, exactly, with your real values:

gog auth credentials "$HOME/Downloads/client_secret_XXXX.apps.googleusercontent.com.json"
gog auth add "[e-mail]" --services gmail --gmail-scope full --force-consent
gog gmail settings sendas list --account "[e-mail]"

If needed, then set name:

gog gmail settings sendas update "[e-mail]" --display-name "Agent Name" --make-default --account "[e-mail]"

Key thing: don’t include < >, and don’t paste /n.
If it still errors, paste the exact command you ran and I’ll fix it line by line.

[native aspen]

I ran the first line and it now says dquote>

[frigid ledge]

Perfect clue — dquote> means zsh is waiting for a closing " (unmatched quote).

Do this:

1. Press Ctrl+C to exit dquote>.
2. Run without quotes first (simplest):

gog auth credentials ~/Downloads/client_secret_XXXX.apps.googleusercontent.com.json

If your filename has spaces, use straight quotes and make sure both are present:

gog auth credentials "$HOME/Downloads/client_secret_XXXX.apps.googleusercontent.com.json"

Quick sanity check before running:

ls -l ~/Downloads/client_secret*

If you paste the exact command you typed, I can spot the broken character immediately.

[native aspen]

is fg: no current job the response i want

[frigid ledge]

Nope — fg: no current job is just from typing fg, not from gog. You can ignore it.

Let’s do a clean reset:

1. Ctrl+C
2. Find the exact credentials filename:

ls -1 ~/Downloads/client_secret*.json

3. Copy that exact path into:

gog auth credentials /Users/YOU/Downloads/client_secret_XXXX.json

Expected result: either success/no output, or a clear gog error (not fg/dquote).

If you paste the output of step 2 (ls -1 ...), I’ll give you the exact line to run next.

[native aspen]

it says there is no such user or name

[frigid ledge]

Got it — that error means a placeholder/path was used literally (like YOU), not your real home path.

Use this exact flow:

echo "$HOME"
ls -1 "$HOME/Downloads" | grep -E '^client_secret.*\.json$'

Then run (replace only FILENAME.json with the real filename from the previous output):

gog auth credentials "$HOME/Downloads/FILENAME.json"

No < >, no YOU, no /Users/... placeholder.

If you paste the output of the ls | grep line, I’ll give you the exact command fully filled in.

[native aspen]

after i typed in echo "$HOME"
ls -1 "$HOME/Downloads" | grep -E '^client_secret.*.json$'
Two JSON codes appeared. is that supposed to happen

[frigid ledge]

Yep — that’s totally normal. It means you have two OAuth client JSON files in Downloads.

Use the newest one:

ls -lt "$HOME/Downloads"/client_secret*.json | head -1

Then run gog auth credentials with that exact filename, e.g.:

gog auth credentials "$HOME/Downloads/client_secret_ABC123.apps.googleusercontent.com.json"

Then continue:

gog auth add "[e-mail]" --services gmail --gmail-scope full --force-consent
gog gmail settings sendas list --account "[e-mail]"

You’re very close now.

[native aspen]

okay

[frigid ledge]

Nice 👍
Run those next 3 commands, and paste the output of:

gog gmail settings sendas list --account "[e-mail]"

Once we see that, we can finish this off quickly.

[native aspen]

done

[frigid ledge]

Perfect 🙌

Next quick verification:

1. Send one test email from the agent.
2. Check recipient inbox + Show original.

You want:

• From: "Agent Name" <[e-mail]>
• SPF/DKIM/DMARC pass in Authentication-Results.

If the name is still missing, run:

gog gmail settings sendas update "[e-mail]" --display-name "Agent Name" --make-default --account "[e-mail]"