gws-meeting-scheduler

Meeting Scheduler

Find mutual availability and create Google Calendar events using the gws CLI.

Prerequisites

• gws CLI installed and authenticated

Workflow

1. Resolve attendee email

If the user provides a name but no email, search past calendar events:

gws calendar events list --params '{"calendarId":"primary","q":"<name>","maxResults":10}'

Look at the attendees array in results to find the matching email. If multiple matches, ask the user to confirm.

2. Detect timezones

Detect each person's timezone by querying their own calendar directly. When you query a person's calendar via their email as calendarId, the API returns start.dateTime with that person's local UTC offset — this is the most reliable signal.

gws calendar events list --params '{"calendarId":"<user-email>","maxResults":10}'
gws calendar events list --params '{"calendarId":"<attendee-email>","maxResults":10}'

For each person:

• Look at start.dateTime on non-all-day events (skip events with only start.date)
• Extract the UTC offset (e.g., -08:00, +09:00) — this reflects their calendar's timezone
• Tally the most frequent offset to determine their timezone
• Cross-reference with the start.timeZone field on events matching that offset to get the IANA name (e.g., -08:00 → America/Los_Angeles)

Important: Do NOT rely on start.timeZone alone — it often reflects the organizer's or attendee's timezone rather than the calendar owner's. The dateTime offset from the person's own calendar is the source of truth.

If no timezone can be determined for either person, ask the user.

3. Determine date range

Ask the user for a preferred date range, or default to the next 5 business days.

4. Check free/busy

Query both calendars together. The query range must cover work hours in both timezones:

gws calendar freebusy query --json '{
  "timeMin": "<start-RFC3339>",
  "timeMax": "<end-RFC3339>",
  "items": [{"id": "<user-email>"}, {"id": "<attendee-email>"}]
}'

5. Compute overlapping free slots

• Convert all busy times from UTC to each person's timezone
• Define work hours per person: 9:00-18:00 in their respective timezone
• Find the overlap of both people's work-hour windows, then subtract combined busy blocks
• Filter to slots >= requested meeting duration
• Double-check every slot against BOTH calendars before presenting — do not skip the user's own busy times
• Present slots as a table showing times in both timezones:

Day       | User (JST)    | Attendee (PST) | Duration
Thu Feb 26 | 15:00 - 16:00 | 22:00 - 23:00  | 1h

If work-hour overlap is very limited (e.g., < 1 hour), note this and suggest the user consider extending hours.

6. Confirm and create the event

Once the user picks a slot, duration, and title:

gws calendar +insert \
  --summary "<title>" \
  --start "<start-RFC3339>" --end "<end-RFC3339>" \
  --attendee "<user-email>" --attendee "<attendee-email>"

For Google Meet links or other advanced options, use the raw API instead:

gws calendar events insert --params '{"calendarId":"primary","conferenceDataVersion":1,"sendUpdates":"all"}' \
  --json '{
    "summary": "<title>",
    "start": {"dateTime": "<start-RFC3339>"},
    "end": {"dateTime": "<end-RFC3339>"},
    "attendees": [{"email": "<user-email>"}, {"email": "<attendee-email>"}],
    "conferenceData": {"createRequest": {"requestId": "<unique-id>", "conferenceSolutionKey": {"type": "hangoutsMeet"}}}
  }'

Key notes:

• --attendee — repeat for each attendee, always include the user themselves
• conferenceDataVersion=1 param required when adding Meet links
• sendUpdates=all — notify attendees via email

7. Confirm to user

Show: title, date/time (in both timezones if cross-timezone), attendees, and Meet link.

Important Notes

• Always include the user as an attendee, not just as the calendar owner
• gws uses --params for query/path parameters and --json for request bodies
• Use --format json (or omit, as JSON is default) for reliable parsing
• RFC3339 times must include timezone offset (e.g., +09:00 for JST)
• The freebusy API returns busy times in UTC — convert carefully
• When computing free slots, verify against both calendars before presenting
• Use gws calendar +insert helper for simple events; use gws calendar events insert raw API for advanced features (Meet links, recurrence, etc.)