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)

• Discover Calendar dictionary terms in Script Editor.

• Prototype minimal AppleScript commands.

• Port to JXA with defensive error handling.

• Implemented batch reads (avoided heavy .whose() ).

• Added EventKit bridge for advanced queries.

• 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