Google Workspace CLI author Justin Poehnelt has been dismissed, and the official version has been launched.

In April 2026, Google announced the official development of the Workspace command-line tool at the Cloud Next conference. Two days later, Google engineer Justin Poehnelt, who built this tool himself, was dismissed. About a month and a half later, the official version launched, with a design almost identical to the tool he was fired over.
(Background: Google’s promotion system shifted to “AI performance,” and employees fragmented the product ecosystem)
(Additional context: Meta CTO admits fault: the new AI division “manages terribly,” and 6,500 engineers are now eligible to transfer to other roles)

Table of Contents

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• Google fires him
• Official version launched like a draft written by hand
• Workspace division fears being overtaken by its own product

Summary Highlights

• Justin Poehnelt worked at Google for nearly 7 years, creating the open-source Workspace CLI (gws), which exploded in popularity on March 5, 2026. He said that post was “the one that got me fired.”
• Two days after Google Cloud Next 2026 (April) announced that the official version was “in development,” Justin Poehnelt was dismissed; about a month and a half later, the official version was launched, with a design nearly identical to gws.
• Justin Poehnelt believes he was fired because the Workspace team “was afraid of being disrupted,” which reflects a broader anxiety about AI agents replacing existing products, not just about his tool.

On March 5, 2026, Addy Osmani posted on social media: “Introducing the Google Workspace CLI: built for humans and agents.” This tool is called gws, capable of unified access to Google Drive, Gmail, Calendar APIs via a single command-line interface, and it doesn’t hardcode commands. Instead, it dynamically generates the entire interface at runtime from Google’s Discovery Service. When Google APIs update, the tool updates automatically. It includes over 40 AI agent skill files, designed from day one for AI agents.

The post quickly spread within developer communities, garnering thousands of stars and real users.

The creator of this tool is Justin Poehnelt, an engineer on Google Workspace Developer Relations, who had been at Google for nearly 7 years. His work mainly involved building open-source tools on top of Google APIs. He later said that Addy Osmani’s post was “the post that got me fired.”

Google fires him

About a month later, at Google Cloud Next 2026, Google officially announced that the Workspace command-line tool was “in development.”

Two days after that announcement, Justin Poehnelt was dismissed.

A term in tech history called “Sherlocking” originates from 2002, when someone created a Mac tool called Watson that made searching everywhere very easy. Apple later integrated Watson’s core features directly into its own Sherlock, rendering third-party tools obsolete. (The story references Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes)

Being “Sherlocked” means your product has been copied or absorbed by the platform owner. Justin Poehnelt’s situation is even worse: he was an employee of the platform company himself and was dismissed simultaneously.

Official version launched like a draft written by hand

About a month and a half after his dismissal, the official Google Workspace CLI was officially launched on GitHub (googleworkspace/cli).

Written in Rust, licensed under Apache 2.0, it dynamically generates command interfaces from Discovery Service at runtime, includes over 100 agent skills, outputs structured JSON, and integrates with MCP server to connect Claude Code and Gemini CLI.

gws has over 40 agent skills; the official version has over 100. Both read from Discovery Service at runtime. gws was designed from day one for AI agents, and the official version’s positioning statement is identical.

Addy Osmani, then Director of Google Cloud AI, who had been at Google for 14 years and led developer experience for Chrome and Google Cloud AI, also left Google later.

Workspace division fears being overtaken by its own product

Justin Poehnelt interprets his firing as stemming from the Workspace team and some managers’ fear of being disrupted—an overall anxiety that AI agents will replace existing products, not just about his tool.

The Workspace division, some managers, and certain projects are afraid of being disrupted.

This logic isn’t new. In large organizations, innovation often dies not from technical issues but from internal territorial anxieties. A well-made open-source tool that’s so good it makes product managers uncomfortable can be explained without conspiracy theories. Moreover, employees releasing open-source tools that incorporate Google product features without full company authorization makes firing a “necessary evil.”

The timeline makes the close proximity of the official launch announcement and Justin Poehnelt’s dismissal seem cold.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Sherlocking, and how does it relate to this case?

Sherlocking originated in 2002 when Apple integrated the core features of a third-party tool called Watson into its own Sherlock, making the original product obsolete. Justin Poehnelt’s case is a more advanced form of Sherlocking: he is an employee of the platform itself, and his tool was absorbed and turned into the official version. He was also dismissed two days after the official announcement.

How similar are the Google official Workspace CLI and Justin Poehnelt’s gws?

The core design is almost identical: both read from Google Discovery Service at runtime to dynamically generate command interfaces, both output structured JSON, and both include numerous AI agent skill files (gws has over 40, the official version over 100). The official version also adds MCP server integration, connecting Claude Code and Gemini CLI. Justin Poehnelt himself has publicly pointed out the similarities in design philosophy.