Google continues to evolve its Opal engine builder, and several unreleased developments have surfaced in pre-release builds. The upcoming MCP integration will significantly expand Opal’s capabilities by allowing users to directly interact with Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, and their file system within the engine’s workflow. Once active, this will let users create automation blocks for reading, writing, or manipulating files, managing email (listing, drafting, sending), and handling calendar events, all inside their custom apps built with Opal. This directly targets power users, developers, and teams building internal productivity tools who want unified access to their Google Workspace and local resources.
Alongside these integrations, Opal will introduce a Smart Layout option for output blocks. Unlike the Manual Layout and existing Automatic Layout, Smart Layout aims to offer a hybrid approach, automating part of the app’s structure while letting users fine-tune certain elements. This should speed up prototyping without sacrificing flexibility, appealing to both designers who want control and those seeking rapid results.
One of the more notable additions in the works is the Agent option in the generate block. The Agent is described as an iterative solver for objectives, hinting at an autonomous, step-by-step problem solver that can call other models or tools and execute multi-stage reasoning. This is different from current "Plan and Execute" or "Deep Research" options by emphasizing ongoing, context-aware execution, potentially breaking tasks into manageable chunks, looping processes, and completing objectives even with context limits. Such a feature would help Opal users automate multi-step workflows that adapt to outcomes along the way.
Google, the company behind Opal, is clearly positioning the platform as a next-generation engine builder for custom app creation, targeting both technical and business users who need deep integration with Google services and AI-powered logic. With MCPs and Agents, Opal could become a central hub for automating workflows, sharing custom apps, or even embedding complex forms and utilities on external websites. While these capabilities are not yet available to the public, their presence in the codebase shows they are under active development, and if released, they could further align Opal with Google’s broader AI and productivity ecosystem.
