---
layout: page
title: "Google Calendar Event"
description: "Instructions on how to use Google Calendars in Home Assistant."
date: 2015-05-08 17:15
sidebar: true
comments: false
sharing: true
footer: true
logo: google_calendar.png
ha_category: Calendar
ha_iot_class: "Cloud Polling"
ha_release: 0.33
---

The `google` calendar platform allows you to connect to your
[Google Calendars](https://calendar.google.com) and generate binary sensors.
The sensors created can trigger based on any event on the calendar or only for
matching events. When you first setup this component it will generate a new
configuration file `google_calendars.yaml` that will contain information about
all of the calendars you can see.

## {% linkable_title Prerequisites %}

Generate a Client ID and Client Secret on
[Google Developers Console](https://console.developers.google.com/start/api?id=calendar).

1. Follow the wizard using the following information.
1. When it gets to the point of asking _Which API are you using?_ just click cancel.
1. Under APIs & Services > Credentials, click on the tab 'OAuth consent screen'.
1. Set 'Product name shown to users' to anything you want. We suggest Home-Assistant.
1. Save this page. You don't have to fill out anything else there.
1. Click 'Create credentials' -> OAuth client ID.
1. Set the Application type to 'Other' and give this credential set a name then click Create.
1. Save the client ID and secret as you will need to put these in your `configuration.yaml` file.
1. Click on "Library", search for "Google Calendar API" and enable it.

## {% linkable_title Configuration %}

To integrate Google Calendar in Home Assistant,
add the following section to your `configuration.yaml` file:

```yaml
# Example configuration.yaml entry
google:
  client_id: YOUR_CLIENT_ID
  client_secret: YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
```

{% configuration %}
client_id:
  description: Use the value you generated in the Prerequisites stage.
  required: true
  type: string
client_secret:
  description: Use the value you generated in the Prerequisites stage.
  required: true
  type: string
track_new_calendar:
  description: >
    Will automatically generate a binary sensor when a new calendar
    is detected. The system scans for new calendars only on startup.
  required: false
  type: boolean
  default: true
{% endconfiguration %}

The next steps will require you to have Home Assistant running.

After you have it running complete the Google authentication that pops up.
It will give you a URL and a code to enter. This will grant your Home Assistant
service access to all the Google Calendars that the account you
authenticate with can read. This is a Read-Only view of these calendars.

## {% linkable_title Calendar Configuration %}

Editing the `google_calendars.yaml` file.

A basic entry for a single calendar looks like:

```yaml
- cal_id: "*****@group.calendar.google.com"
  entities:
  - device_id: test_everything
    name: Give me everything
    track: true
- cal_id: "*****@group.calendar.google.com"
  entities:
  - device_id: test_important
    name: Important Stuff
    track: true
    search: "#Important"
    offset: "!!"
  - device_id: test_unimportant
    name: UnImportant Stuff
    track: true
    search: "#UnImportant"
```

{% configuration %}
cal_id:
  description: The Google *generated* unique id for this calendar.
  required: true
  type: string
  default: "**DO NOT CHANGE THE DEFAULT VALUE**"
entities:
  description: Yes, you can have multiple sensors for a calendar!
  required: true
  type: list
  keys:
    device_id:
      description: >
        The name that all your automations/scripts
        will use to reference this device.
      required: true
      type: string
    name:
      description: What is the name of your sensor that you'll see in the frontend.
      required: true
      type: string
    track:
      description: "Should we create a sensor `true` or ignore it `false`?"
      required: true
      type: boolean
    search:
      description: If set will only trigger for matched events.
      required: false
      type: string
    offset:
      description: >
        A set of characters that precede a number in the event title
        for designating a pre-trigger state change on the sensor.
      required: false
      type: string
      default: "!!"
    ignore_availability:
      description: "Should we respect `free`/`busy` flags?"
      required: false
      type: boolean
      default: true
{% endconfiguration %}

From this we will end up with the binary sensors `calendar.test_unimportant` and
`calendar.test_important` which will toggle themselves on/off based on events on
the same calendar that match the search value set for each.
You'll also have a sensor `calendar.test_everything` that will
not filter events out and always show the next event available.

But what if you only wanted it to toggle based on all events?
Just leave out the *search* parameter.

<p class='note warning'>
If you use a `#` sign for `search` then wrap the whole search term in quotes.
Otherwise everything following the hash sign would be considered a YAML comment.
</p>

### {% linkable_title Sensor attributes %}

 - **offset_reached**: If set in the event title and parsed out will be `on`/`off` once the offset in the title in minutes is reached. So the title `Very important meeting #Important !!-10` would trigger this attribute to be `on` 10 minutes before the event starts.
 - **all_day**: `true`/`false` if this is an all day event. Will be `false` if there is no event found.
 - **message**: The event title with the `search` and `offset` values extracted. So in the above example for **offset_reached** the **message** would be set to `Very important meeting`
 - **description**: The event description.
 - **location**: The event Location.
 - **start_time**: Start time of event.
 - **end_time**: End time of event.

## {% linkable_title Using calendar in automations %}

A calendar can be used as an external scheduler for special events or reoccurring events instead of hardcoding them in automations.

Trigger as soon as an event starts:

```yaml
    trigger:
      platform: state
      entity_id: calendar.calendar_name
      to: 'on'
```

By using specific text in the event title, you can set conditions to initiate particular automation flows on designated events while other events will be ignored. 

For example, the actions following this condition will only be executed for events named 'vacation':

{% raw %}
```yaml
    condition:
        condition: template
        value_template: "{{states.calendar.calendar_name.attributes.message == 'vacation' }}"
```
{% endraw %}