recipe-find-free-time Skill: Find a Meeting Slot Across Calendars
Checks Google Calendar free/busy status for several people to find a meeting slot, then books it.
- Installs
- 31.2K
- on skills.sh
- Stars
- 32K
- on GitHub
- Updated
- Oct 2026
- last repo commit
recipe-find-free-time is a three-step recipe: query free/busy for several calendars, read the overlap to find a free slot, then create the event with attendees. It uses the gws program through the gws-calendar service skill. The steps use fixed example dates and addresses (March 18, 2024 and user1@company.com), so give the agent your own. Step 3 creates an event with attendees, which sends invites.
Good for
- Anyone scheduling a meeting across several people's calendars
- Assistants who book time for a team
- Claude Code or Codex users who already run the gws program
Install recipe-find-free-time
Claude Code
- 1
Copy this prompt.
Install the recipe-find-free-time skill in Claude Code. Run this command: npx skills add https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli --skill recipe-find-free-time --skill gws-calendar --skill gws-shared -a claude-code Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.
- 2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.
Requires Node.js, gws installed and signed in.
Do the "First" and "Then" methods once before the skills command: they install gws and sign you in. The skills command adds 3 skills (recipe-find-free-time, gws-calendar, gws-shared) because recipe-find-free-time reads gws-shared first and points to the others in the set. Without gcloud, use the manual OAuth setup in the README. To limit what the sign-in grants, run gws auth login -s calendar so the consent screen lists only those services.
From the vendor's docs. Source.
What's in the skill
When it loads
Query Google Calendar free/busy status for multiple users to find a meeting slot.
Sections in SKILL.md
- Steps
Key facts
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Installs on skills.sh
- 31,188 (Nov 2, 2026)
- GitHub stars
- 32,038 (Nov 2, 2026) (whole repo)
- Last commit
- Oct 30, 2026
- What installs
- 1 file, SKILL.md; it bundles no scripts
- skills.sh audits
- Gen Agent Trust Hub: pass, Socket: pass, Snyk: pass
- Documented setups
- skills CLI, OpenClaw, Gemini CLI extension
What it includes
Queries free/busy for several users
Takes a start time, an end time and a list of calendar IDs such as email addresses.
Network ·
gws calendar freebusy queryFinds a slot that works for everyone
Step 2 has no command. The agent reads the output for overlapping free time.
Review the overlapCreates the event with attendees
Takes a summary, attendees, a start and an end.
Write ·
gws calendar +insert
From the official docs
Permissions
Medium risk
It reads free/busy for the calendars you name and creates an event that invites attendees. Sign in with only the services you need and read each command before you approve it.
What it can do
- Read your data
- Create and change things
- Delete things
- Read-only mode
Watch out for
It creates an event that invites other people
Step 3 adds attendees, so they get invites. Check the time and the list before you approve it. github.com
The example dates are fixed
The commands use March 18, 2024 as the date. Tell the agent your real dates and time zone. github.com
The project is in active development
The README says to expect breaking changes before v1.0. Re-read the install steps after you update gws. github.com
Technical details
| Turning on read-only | No read-only switch in the skill. The gws-shared skill says to prefer --dry-run for destructive operations and to confirm write commands with you. |
|---|---|
| Talks to | Google Workspace APIs through gws |
| Sign-in and keys | gws sign-in. The README says credentials are encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) with the key kept in your OS keyring. |
| Scopes |
|
Questions
What does recipe-find-free-time do?
Checks Google Calendar free/busy status for several people to find a meeting slot, then books it.
How do I install recipe-find-free-time in Claude Code?
Use the install box above. It adds recipe-find-free-time together with gws-calendar, gws-shared in one step. You also need the gws program installed and signed in to Google first, and the box lists both steps.
Does recipe-find-free-time work in the Claude app or Codex?
The install box has a Codex tab that uses the skills CLI's Codex target, but the repo README does not list Codex as a supported setup. The README documents no Claude app route, and every command runs the gws program in a terminal, so use Claude Code or another terminal agent.
Does recipe-find-free-time need an API key?
No API key. It uses your Google sign-in through gws, and the README says you need a Google Cloud project for the sign-in credentials. gws auth setup can create one if you have the gcloud CLI.
Is recipe-find-free-time safe?
It reads free/busy for the calendars you name and creates an event that invites attendees. Check the time and the attendee list before you approve the booking step.
Can it see other people's calendars?
It asks Google for free/busy status of the calendars you name. What comes back depends on what those people have shared with you.
Do the example commands run as written?
Not as they stand. The dates are in March 2024, the free/busy times end in Z (UTC), and the event times in step 3 carry no offset. The gws-calendar-insert skill documents --start and --end as RFC3339 times with an offset, such as 2026-06-17T09:00:00-07:00, so give the agent your time zone and ask for the offset. Step 2 has no command: the agent has to read the free/busy output itself and pick the slot. The same insert helper also has a --meet flag for a Google Meet link, which the recipe does not use.
Information
updated Nov 2, 2026
- Repository
- googleworkspace/cli
- Folder
skills/recipe-find-free-time
Sources
Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.
Show all 5Hide
- googleworkspace/cli README · github.com
- skills CLI commands · github.com
- recipe-find-free-time SKILL.md · github.com
- gws-shared SKILL.md · github.com
- gws-calendar-insert SKILL.md · github.com