WIP.drive-docs-sheets.md

Status

Status: closed Owner: zap Opened: 2026-03-12 Decision: 2026-03-12

Purpose

Evaluate whether the n8n Google Workspace action bus should expand beyond Gmail + Calendar into Drive / Docs / Sheets, or whether those surfaces should stay direct-tool-only for now.

Decision

All three surfaces: NO - defer for now

Rationale

The Gmail + Calendar integration succeeded because they map cleanly to the approval/queue pattern:

Discrete actions: One-shot operations (send draft, create event)
Clear audit value: Each action is a standalone event worth recording
Low iteration cost: No back-and-forth editing required
Operator clarity: "Send this email" / "Create this event" are clear human decisions

Drive / Docs / Sheets don't fit this pattern as naturally:

Drive

Read/search operations are discovery tools, not approval-worthy events
File management (move, trash) is edge case and rare in automation flows
Direct gog drive ... usage is simpler for most cases
Verdict: Overkill to queue through n8n for standard file ops

Docs

Document editing is inherently iterative - you need to see, tweak, see again
Approval gating for "create this doc" is fine, but then what?
The real value is in the editing loop, not the initial create action
Document work belongs in focused tool flows, not a one-shot queue
Verdict: Wrong pattern for the action bus

Sheets

Strongest candidate (structured writes map well to approval)
But without a clear use case, this is premature optimization
Append/update flows are useful if you have a structured data pipeline
We don't have that yet, so building it now is YAGNI
Verdict: Highest-priority "if needed later" item, but not today

When to revisit

Revisit each surface only when a concrete use case appears:

Drive: If you need approval-gated file moves/trash for an automation workflow
Docs: If you have a "draft document → review → approve → publish" pattern that fits queueing
Sheets: If you need structured data logging/metrics with an audit trail

Recommendation preserved

Keep the action bus focused on the patterns that work:

Notification routing (already implemented)
Gmail actions (already implemented)
Calendar actions (already implemented)
Future surface additions should pass the same "discrete, approval-worthy, low-iteration" test

Evidence referenced

WIP.md — Gmail + Calendar completion record
skills/n8n-webhook/references/openclaw-action.md — current action contract
skills/n8n-webhook/assets/openclaw-action.workflow.json — live workflow

Success criteria met

✅ One-page recommendation covering Drive / Docs / Sheets
✅ Clear go / no-go per surface
✅ No implementation scope added
✅ Preserved the compact operator contract for future use

Next actions

Update memory/2026-03-12.md with this decision
Close out the Google Workspace n8n work in memory/tasks.json
Consider syncing feat/n8n-action-bus-v2 to the LAN Gitea repo for backup/review

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