Google Groups Migration API
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For Agents
Archive RFC 822 email messages into a Google Workspace group's history so legacy mailing-list content can be searched in Google Groups.
Use for: Archive a legacy mailing list message into a Google Group, Migrate historical email from Mailman into Workspace Groups, Import an RFC 822 message into the archive of group engineering@example.com, Bulk upload past Listserv discussions into Google Groups
Not supported: Does not create groups, send mail, or migrate individual user mailboxes — use for one-way import of RFC 822 messages into existing Google Group archives only.
The Google Groups Migration API lets Workspace domain administrators import historical email messages, in RFC 822 format, directly into the archive of a Google Group. It is designed for one-way migrations from legacy mailing-list systems (Listserv, Mailman, on-premises archives) into Workspace so that group members can search and reference old discussions in Groups. The API accepts a single endpoint that uploads one message at a time as multipart media, preserving original headers and timestamps. It does not move attachments stored outside the message, send mail, or create groups.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the Groups Migration API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Groups Migration API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
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Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with Groups Migration API.
Insert a single RFC 822 message into the archive of a specified Google group
Preserve original sender, recipient, subject, and date headers when archiving legacy messages
Bulk-import historical mailing list traffic from Listserv, Mailman, or on-premises archives into Workspace
Drive idempotent migrations by submitting per-message uploads under domain-admin OAuth credentials
Stage migrated content in a target group before opening membership for end-users
Use Cases
Patterns agents use Groups Migration API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Listserv to Google Groups Migration
An IT team migrating from Listserv or Mailman to Google Workspace uses the Groups Migration API to import years of historical mailing-list traffic into the corresponding Google Groups. Each .eml file is posted to the group's archive endpoint as multipart media, with original headers preserved so search by sender, subject, and date still works. The migration runs as a backfill job before members are granted access, giving them a single searchable archive on day one of Workspace adoption.
Read every .eml file in /tmp/listserv-export/engineering, then for each one call POST /groups/v1/groups/engineering@example.com/archive with the file as multipart media and report the count of successful inserts.
Acquisition Mailbox Consolidation
After acquiring a company, the receiving Workspace admin uses the Groups Migration API to fold the acquired company's distribution-list archives into Google Groups owned by the parent organisation. The API accepts one message per call, so the migration tool walks the source archive in date order and inserts each message into the matching destination group. Original RFC 822 headers are retained so legal discovery and audit searches still resolve.
Given a directory of RFC 822 messages from acquired-co exported by date, post each one to the archive endpoint of the matching destination group and produce a CSV of message-id, group, and HTTP status.
AI Agent Bulk Archive Loader
An AI agent acting as a one-time migration worker uses Jentic to call the Groups Migration API once per source message, retrying transient failures and reporting progress to a human operator. Because the API allows only one message per request, the agent paces uploads to stay under per-project quota and surfaces any messages that fail validation. Jentic holds the domain admin OAuth credential so the raw token never enters the agent context.
For groupId support@example.com, iterate over a list of 5,000 RFC 822 message paths, call the archive insert operation for each, retry on 429 with backoff, and emit a final report of inserted, retried, and failed counts.
Key Endpoints
1 endpoints — the google groups migration api lets workspace domain administrators import historical email messages, in rfc 822 format, directly into the archive of a google group.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
POST
/groups/v1/groups/{groupId}/archive
Insert one RFC 822 message into the specified group's archive
POST
/groups/v1/groups/{groupId}/archive
Insert one RFC 822 message into the specified group's archive
Why Jentic?
Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.
Credential isolation
Domain-admin OAuth refresh tokens are stored in the Jentic vault. At execution Jentic mints a short-lived access token scoped to apps.groups.migration so raw admin credentials never reach the migration agent.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search 'archive a message into a google group' and Jentic returns the single archive insert operation with its multipart parameter schema, so the agent uploads correctly without reading discovery docs.
Time to first call
Direct integration: 1 day for OAuth setup, multipart upload, retry logic, and quota handling. Through Jentic: under 1 hour for the same migration loop.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using Groups Migration API through Jentic.
What authentication does the Groups Migration API use?
Google OAuth 2.0 with the apps.groups.migration scope, executed by a Workspace domain administrator (or via domain-wide delegation from a service account). Through Jentic, the OAuth credential is stored encrypted and exchanged for a scoped access token at call time.
Can I migrate attachments with the Groups Migration API?
Attachments are migrated only if they are part of the RFC 822 message body uploaded to /groups/v1/groups/{groupId}/archive. Externally referenced attachments (links to file shares) are not resolved or moved by the API.
What are the rate limits for the Groups Migration API?
Google enforces a per-project quota on the Groups Migration API (default 1,500 queries per 100 seconds). Migrations of large archives should pace requests and back off on 429 responses.
How do I import a single .eml file into a Google Group through Jentic?
Search Jentic with 'archive a message into a google group', load the insert operation on /groups/v1/groups/{groupId}/archive, then execute with groupId set to the destination group address and the .eml content as multipart media. Jentic handles OAuth and returns the archive ID on success.
Does this API create new Google Groups?
No. Groups must already exist in Workspace before you can post to their archive. Use the Admin SDK Directory API or the Cloud Identity Groups API to create the destination group first, then run the migration.
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