Teaching an App to Find Medical Lab Results in Gmail

The Challenge

Aleksei Kharitonov’s team developed an app to search for medical lab results in Gmail. The app was approved by Google after a 6-month review process, requiring all operations to be performed strictly on the client side.

Why This Matters

The technical reality of working with the Gmail API is more complex than ideal models suggest. The approval process can be lengthy and requires careful consideration of Google’s requirements, such as performing all operations on the client side. Failure to comply with these requirements can result in rejection, highlighting the importance of understanding the platform’s constraints and guidelines.

Key Insights

• Google’s verification process for Gmail API access can take up to 6 months, as seen in Aleksei Kharitonov’s experience
• Client-side operations are required for Gmail API approval, as noted in the developer’s article
• Temporal is used by companies like Stripe and Coinbase for workflow management, demonstrating the importance of careful API design

Practical Applications

• Company: Aleksei Kharitonov’s team, Behavior: Developed an app to search for medical lab results in Gmail, Pitfall: Not performing operations on the client side can lead to rejection by Google
• Company: Google, Behavior: Requires careful review of API access requests, Pitfall: Failing to comply with requirements can result in lengthy review processes or rejection

References:

• https://dev.to/alexrixten/how-we-taught-our-app-to-find-medical-lab-results-in-gmail-1405