Travel buffers and reminders

Travel buffers

On-site appointments in the personal calendar need travel time. add_buffer blocks 30 minutes before and 15 minutes after each event in the work calendar:

In the app: + > Add buffer with 30 minutes before and 15 after; Travel time among the common steps fills in 30 minutes on both sides. Skip events with Event set to is all-day goes before it.

In the config:

[daemon]

[accounts.nextcloud]
url = "https://cloud.example.org/remote.php/dav/"
username = "alice"
password = { env = "CAPYCAL_PERSONAL_PASSWORD" }

[accounts.work]
url = "https://caldav.work.example.com/"
username = "alice"
password = { env = "CAPYCAL_WORK_PASSWORD" }

[calendars.personal]
account = "nextcloud"
url = "https://cloud.example.org/remote.php/dav/calendars/alice/personal/"

[calendars.work]
account = "work"
url = "https://caldav.work.example.com/calendars/alice/default/"

[syncs.personal-to-work]
source = "personal"
target = "work"
interval = "10m"

transforms = [
  { action = "skip", when = [{ all_day = true }] },
  { action = "add_buffer", pre_event = "30m", post_event = "15m" },
  { field = "SUMMARY", action = "set_field", value = "Private (incl. travel)" },
]

• All-day events are never buffered. They are dropped here, because a blocked whole day in the work calendar is rarely wanted.
• post_event extends DTEND. Events stored with DURATION instead of DTEND get a longer DURATION. Recurring events stay consistent: excluded and moved occurrences move with the series.
• Put a skip with a time condition before add_buffer, so it looks at the original times.

Only events with a place

Travel time only makes sense for appointments somewhere. With conditions, the buffer goes only to events that have a location which is not a video call link; the others are still copied, without a buffer:

In the app: Travel time for events at a place among the common steps adds the buffer with Location is not empty. Open it, press Add Condition, choose Location, does not contain and type https://.

In the config, instead of the add_buffer above:

transforms = [
  { action = "skip", when = [{ all_day = true }] },
  { action = "add_buffer", pre_event = "30m", post_event = "15m", when = [
      { field = "LOCATION", empty = false },
      { field = "LOCATION", contains = "https://", not = true },
  ] },
  { field = "SUMMARY", action = "set_field", value = "Private (incl. travel)" },
]

An event without a location counts as empty. To leave out events without a place altogether, use action = "skip" with { field = "LOCATION", empty = true } instead.

Reminders on blockers

There are two ways to get alarms on the blockers:

Keep the source’s alarms: add "VALARM" to fields. Every alarm of the original is copied, so the blocker reminds you exactly like the original.

Add your own: add_alarm adds a display alarm a fixed time before the (buffered) start. Repeat it for several alarms.

In the app: to keep the source’s alarms, tick Reminders of the source event under Keep > Custom (Title, notes, location, reminders keeps them too). For your own, + > Add alarm, or Reminder 10 min before among the common steps.

In the config:

[daemon]

[accounts.work]
url = "https://caldav.work.example.com/"
username = "alice"
password = { env = "CAPYCAL_WORK_PASSWORD" }

[accounts.nextcloud]
url = "https://cloud.example.org/remote.php/dav/"
username = "alice"
password = { env = "CAPYCAL_PERSONAL_PASSWORD" }

[calendars.work]
account = "work"
url = "https://caldav.work.example.com/calendars/alice/default/"

[calendars.phone]
account = "nextcloud"
url = "https://cloud.example.org/remote.php/dav/calendars/alice/work-blockers/"

[syncs.work-to-phone]
source = "work"
target = "phone"
interval = "5m"

transforms = [
  { field = "SUMMARY", action = "set_field", value = "Work meeting" },
  { action = "add_alarm", trigger = "10m" },
  { action = "add_alarm", trigger = "1m" },
]

With both "VALARM" in fields and add_alarm, the blocker gets the source’s alarms plus yours. Without either, blockers have no alarms, which is usually what you want for blockers in a calendar other people see.

For Calendar.app targets, the target event’s alarms are replaced by the alarms of the synced data on every update.