Automating Calendar (JXA with AppleScript Discovery)

Contents

• Relationship to the macOS automation skill
• Core Framing
• Workflow (default)
• Core Examples
• What to load

Relationship to the macOS automation skill

• Use automating-mac-apps for general app permissions, shell commands, UI scripting, and cross-app automation patterns.
• This skill focuses specifically on Calendar events, calendars, and EventKit bridge functionality.
• PyXA Installation: To use PyXA examples in this skill, see the installation instructions in automating-mac-apps skill (PyXA Installation section).

Core Framing

• Calendar dictionary is AppleScript-first; discover there
• JXA provides logic, data handling, and ObjC/EventKit bridge access
• PyXA offers modern Python alternative with cleaner syntax

Implementation Notes: See automating-calendar/references/calendar-basics.md

Workflow (default)

1. [ ] Discover Calendar dictionary terms in Script Editor.
2. [ ] Prototype minimal AppleScript commands.
3. [ ] Port to JXA with defensive error handling.
4. [ ] Implemented batch reads (avoided heavy .whose()).
5. [ ] Added EventKit bridge for advanced queries.
6. [ ] Tested with sample events and verified results.

Error Handling

• Wrap operations in try-catch blocks
• Verify calendar access: Calendar.calendars.length > 0
• Check event creation: if (!event.id()) throw new Error('Event creation failed')
• Log operations for debugging

Validation Checklist

• [ ] Calendar permissions granted (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Calendars)
• [ ] Calendar access confirmed: Calendar.calendars.length > 0
• [ ] Event created with valid start/end dates
• [ ] Event visible in Calendar UI after save
• [ ] EventKit bridge queries return expected results
• [ ] Error handling wraps all operations
• [ ] Output matches expected event properties

Core Examples

Basic Event Creation (JXA - Legacy):

const Calendar = Application("Calendar");
const event = Calendar.calendars[0].events.push(Calendar.Event({
  summary: "Meeting",
  startDate: new Date(),
  endDate: new Date(Date.now() + 3600000)
}));

Basic Event Creation (PyXA - Recommended):

import PyXA
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

calendar = PyXA.Calendar()

# Get first calendar
work_calendar = calendar.calendars()[0]

# Create event
event = work_calendar.events().push({
    "summary": "Meeting",
    "start_date": datetime.now(),
    "end_date": datetime.now() + timedelta(hours=1),
    "location": "Conference Room A"
})

print(f"Created event: {event.summary()}")

PyObjC with EventKit (Advanced):

from EventKit import EKEventStore, EKEvent, EKCalendar
from Foundation import NSDate, NSTimeInterval
import objc

# Initialize event store
store = EKEventStore.alloc().init()

# Request access (async in real implementation)
# store.requestAccessToEntityType_completion_(EKEntityTypeEvent, None)

# Get default calendar
calendars = store.calendarsForEntityType_(EKEntityTypeEvent)
if calendars:
    default_calendar = calendars[0]

    # Create event
    event = EKEvent.eventWithEventStore_(store)
    event.setTitle_("Meeting")
    event.setStartDate_(NSDate.date())
    event.setEndDate_(NSDate.dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow_(3600))  # 1 hour
    event.setCalendar_(default_calendar)

    # Save event
    error = objc.nil
    success = store.saveEvent_span_error_(event, EKSpanThisEvent, error)

    if success:
        print(f"Event created: {event.title()}")
    else:
        print(f"Error creating event: {error}")

EventKit Bridge Query (JXA - Legacy):

ObjC.import('EventKit');
const store = $.EKEventStore.alloc.init;
// See 'eventkit-query.md' for full predicate implementation

EventKit Bridge Query (PyObjC - Modern):

from EventKit import EKEventStore, EKEntityTypeEvent, NSPredicate
from Foundation import NSDate

store = EKEventStore.alloc().init()

# Get events for today
start_date = NSDate.date()  # Today
end_date = NSDate.dateWithTimeIntervalSinceNow_(86400)  # Tomorrow

calendars = store.calendarsForEntityType_(EKEntityTypeEvent)
predicate = store.predicateForEventsWithStartDate_endDate_calendars_(
    start_date, end_date, calendars)

events = store.eventsMatchingPredicate_(predicate)

for event in events:
    print(f"Event: {event.title()}, Start: {event.startDate()}")

When Not to Use

• Cross-platform calendar automation (use Google Calendar API or CalDAV)
• iCloud sync operations (use EventKit directly)
• Non-macOS platforms
• Simple AppleScript-only tasks (skip JXA complexity)
• Calendar sharing or permissions management (use Calendar UI)

What to load

• Calendar JXA basics: automating-calendar/references/calendar-basics.md
• Recipes (events, alarms, recurrence): automating-calendar/references/calendar-recipes.md
• Advanced patterns (time zones, batch reads, EventKit bridge): automating-calendar/references/calendar-advanced.md
• Dictionary translation table: automating-calendar/references/calendar-dictionary.md
• PyXA API Reference (complete class/method docs): automating-calendar/references/calendar-pyxa-api-reference.md
• EventKit query example: automating-calendar/references/eventkit-query.md
• EventKit create with recurrence: automating-calendar/references/eventkit-create.md
• EventKit time zone example: automating-calendar/references/eventkit-timezones.md
• EventKit exceptions/occurrences: automating-calendar/references/eventkit-exceptions.md
• EventKit cancel occurrence example: automating-calendar/references/eventkit-occurrence-cancel.md