Calendar APIs for Developers
Integrate calendar events with Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCal APIs — with JavaScript examples.
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Tags: calendar API integration, Google Calendar API, iCal event format
Calendar APIs for Developers Calendar API integration lets applications create, read, and manage events in users' Google Calendar, Outlook, or Apple Calendar, or generate portable ICS files that users can add to any calendar application — enabling meeting schedulers, booking systems, event reminders, and workflow automation that connect with the calendars people actually use. --- What calendar integration options for developers? Three main approaches for calendar integration: | Approach | What It Does | When to Use | |----------|-------------|-------------| | ICS file generation | Creates a downloadable .ics file the user imports | One-time event adds; no API auth required | | Google Calendar API | Read/write events directly to Google Calendar | Web apps where users have Google accounts |…
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I use the Google Calendar API?
The Google Calendar API (REST) lets you read, create, update, and delete events. Authenticate with OAuth 2.0, then send POST requests to https://www.googleapis.com/calendar/v3/calendars/{calendarId}/events with an event JSON body. The API also supports push notifications for event changes.
What is an iCal event format?
iCal (iCalendar) is the RFC 5545-defined standard format for calendar events. An iCal event (.ics file) contains BEGIN:VCALENDAR / BEGIN:VEVENT blocks with properties like DTSTART, DTEND, SUMMARY, DESCRIPTION, and RRULE for recurrence. All major calendar apps (Google, Outlook, Apple) import .ics files.
How do I add events to Outlook calendar programmatically?
Use the Microsoft Graph API (https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/events) with OAuth 2.0 authentication. The request body is JSON with start, end, subject, and body properties. Alternatively, generate an ICS file and link to it — clicking the link in Outlook opens the event creation dialog.
What is the VCALENDAR format?
VCALENDAR is the container format in iCalendar (RFC 5545). A .ics file begins with BEGIN:VCALENDAR and ends with END:VCALENDAR. Inside are one or more VEVENT (event), VTODO (task), or VJOURNAL (journal entry) components. The PRODID and VERSION properties identify the generating application.
How do I generate an ICS file?
Build the ICS content as a string following RFC 5545 format, then create a Blob with type 'text/calendar' and trigger a download. In JavaScript: new Blob([icsContent], {type: 'text/calendar'}) then URL.createObjectURL(). For complex recurrence rules, use a library like ical.js.
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