- connect() warns and returns instead of throwing when ~/.gmail-mcp/ credentials are missing, preventing app crash - index.ts wraps gmail.connect() in try/catch as a safety net - Poll loop uses exponential backoff on consecutive errors (caps at 30m) instead of hammering the Gmail API every 60s on auth failures - Switch from setInterval to setTimeout chain for proper backoff timing Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>