calendar

name: calendar description: Manage calendars using khal CLI and vdirsyncer. Use when the user wants to view, create, edit, or delete calendar events, sync calendars with CalDAV servers, manage multiple calendars, or mentions "calendar", "event", "appointment", "meeting", "schedule", "CalDAV", "khal", "vdirsyncer".

Calendar Management

Manage calendars using khal - a standards-based CLI calendar application, and vdirsyncer - a tool for synchronizing calendars with CalDAV servers.

Agent Usage (Power User Patterns)

When using this skill as an agent, run commands via execute_command. Prefer these patterns:

1. Sync before read: Run vdirsyncer sync first to ensure local data is up to date, especially for remote calendars.

2. Use khal list for human-readable output, or khal list --format "{start} {end} {title}" <date range> for parsing. For machine parsing, khal printcalendars -p exports ICS.

3. Natural language quick add works well: khal new "Team meeting tomorrow 3pm-4pm" or khal new "Lunch with John next Tuesday at noon"

4. Structured create when you have exact details:

   khal new -a work 2026-02-15 14:00 1h "Sprint Planning" --location "Room A"
   

5. Find UID before edit/delete: khal search "meeting" or khal search --days 7 "project" returns UIDs. Use the UID with khal edit <uid> or khal delete <uid>.

6. List calendars first: khal printcalendars shows available calendars. Use -a <calendar> to target a specific one.

7. Date ranges: khal list today, khal list week, khal list 2026-02-01 2026-02-28, or khal list tomorrow

Prerequisites Check

Before any calendar operation, verify tools are installed and configured:

# Check if khal is installed
which khal

# Check if vdirsyncer is installed
which vdirsyncer

# Check khal configuration
khal printcalendars

# Check vdirsyncer configuration
vdirsyncer discover

If not installed → Guide through Installation If no calendars → Guide through Calendar Setup

Installation

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install khal
brew install vdirsyncer

Arch Linux

pacman -S khal
pacman -S vdirsyncer

Debian/Ubuntu

apt install khal
apt install vdirsyncer

Nix

nix-env -i khal
nix-env -i vdirsyncer

FreeBSD

pkg install py-khal
pkg install py-vdirsyncer

pip (Any OS)

pip install khal
pip install vdirsyncer

Install Latest Version

pip install git+https://github.com/pimutils/khal
pip install git+https://github.com/pimutils/vdirsyncer

Calendar Setup

Quick Start: Local Calendar Only

Create a basic local calendar configuration:

# Create config directory
mkdir -p ~/.config/khal

# Create basic config
cat > ~/.config/khal/config << 'EOF'
[calendars]

[[personal]]
path = ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/personal
color = dark blue

[locale]
timeformat = %H:%M
dateformat = %Y-%m-%d
longdateformat = %Y-%m-%d
datetimeformat = %Y-%m-%d %H:%M
longdatetimeformat = %Y-%m-%d %H:%M
EOF

# Create calendar directory
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/personal

Advanced: Sync with CalDAV Server

Step 1: Configure vdirsyncer

# Create vdirsyncer config directory
mkdir -p ~/.config/vdirsyncer

# Create configuration (example for generic CalDAV)
cat > ~/.config/vdirsyncer/config << 'EOF'
[general]
status_path = "~/.local/share/vdirsyncer/status/"

# Personal calendar pair
[pair personal_calendar]
a = "personal_local"
b = "personal_remote"
collections = ["from a", "from b"]

# Local storage
[storage personal_local]
type = "filesystem"
path = "~/.local/share/khal/calendars/"
fileext = ".ics"

# Remote CalDAV storage
[storage personal_remote]
type = "caldav"
url = "https://caldav.example.com/"
username = "your_username"
password.fetch = ["command", "pass", "caldav/password"]
EOF

Step 2: Discover calendars

# Discover available calendars on the server
vdirsyncer discover

# First sync
vdirsyncer sync

Step 3: Configure khal to use synced calendars

cat > ~/.config/khal/config << 'EOF'
[calendars]

[[personal]]
path = ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/personal
color = dark blue
priority = 20

[[work]]
path = ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/work
color = dark red
priority = 10

[locale]
timeformat = %H:%M
dateformat = %Y-%m-%d
longdateformat = %Y-%m-%d
datetimeformat = %Y-%m-%d %H:%M
longdatetimeformat = %Y-%m-%d %H:%M

firstweekday = 0  # Monday
weeknumbers = right

[default]
default_calendar = personal
EOF

Provider-Specific Setup

💡 Tip: Most providers use the same app-specific password for both email and calendar. Store credentials in pass with consistent naming (e.g., google/app-password, icloud/app-password) to reuse them across both email and calendar skills. For multiple accounts, use a hierarchical structure (e.g., google/personal/app-password, google/work/app-password)—the / creates folders to keep things organized.

For detailed provider configurations, see references/providers.md

Common Operations

View Calendar

# View calendar in interactive mode (ikhal)
ikhal

# View today's events
khal list today

# View this week
khal list week

# View specific date
khal list 2026-02-15

# View date range
khal list 2026-02-01 2026-02-28

# Calendar overview for the month
khal calendar

Create Events

# Quick add event (natural language)
khal new "Team meeting tomorrow 3pm-4pm"

# Structured add with details
khal new -a work \
  --location "Conference Room A" \
  --categories "meeting,important" \
  2026-02-15 14:00 1h "Sprint Planning"

# All-day event
khal new 2026-02-20 "Birthday Party" -a personal

# Recurring event (every Monday at 9am)
khal new --repeat weekly --until 2026-12-31 \
  "2026-02-03 09:00" 1h "Weekly Standup"

# Event with description
khal new "2026-02-15 14:00" 2h "Project Review" \
  --description "Discuss Q1 deliverables and roadmap"

Edit Events

# Interactive edit (opens in ikhal)
ikhal

# Search for event
khal search "meeting"

# Edit event by UID (use search to find UID first)
khal edit <event-uid>

Delete Events

# Delete event by UID
khal delete <event-uid>

# Interactive delete (in ikhal)
ikhal
# Navigate to event, press 'd' to delete

Search Events

# Search by keyword
khal search "meeting"

# Search in specific calendar
khal search -a work "review"

# Search in date range
khal search --days 30 "birthday"

Synchronization

# Sync all calendars with remote servers
vdirsyncer sync

# Sync specific calendar pair
vdirsyncer sync personal_calendar

# Force full sync
vdirsyncer sync --force-delete

# Automated sync (add to crontab)
# Sync every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * vdirsyncer sync >/dev/null 2>&1

Interactive Calendar (ikhal)

ikhal is the interactive TUI for browsing and editing calendars.

Launch

ikhal

Keyboard Shortcuts

Advanced Workflows

Import ICS Files

# Import external .ics file
khal import event.ics -a personal

# Import from URL
curl -L https://example.com/calendar.ics | khal import -a personal -

Export Calendar

# Export all events to ICS
khal printcalendars -p > my_calendars.ics

# Export specific date range
khal list --format "{start-date} {title}" 2026-01-01 2026-12-31 > events.txt

Multiple Calendars

# List all configured calendars
khal printcalendars

# Add event to specific calendar
khal new -a work "Meeting" 2026-02-15 14:00 1h

# View events from specific calendar only
khal list -a personal today

Event Reminders

Configure desktop notifications by adding to khal config:

[default]
default_event_duration = 1h
default_dayevent_duration = 1d

[view]
event_view_always_visible = True

# Notification (requires system notification daemon)
[notifications]
notify = 15  # Notify 15 minutes before event

Configuration Tips

Time Zones

Handle multiple time zones in ~/.config/khal/config:

[locale]
local_timezone = America/New_York
default_timezone = America/New_York

Calendar Colors

Customize calendar colors for better visibility:

[calendars]

[[work]]
path = ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/work
color = dark red
priority = 10

[[personal]]
path = ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/personal
color = dark blue
priority = 20

[[birthdays]]
path = ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/birthdays
color = dark green
readonly = true

Date Formats

Customize date/time display:

[locale]
timeformat = %I:%M %p        # 12-hour format
dateformat = %m/%d/%Y        # MM/DD/YYYY
longdateformat = %A, %B %d, %Y
datetimeformat = %m/%d/%Y %I:%M %p

Troubleshooting

vdirsyncer sync fails

# Check status
vdirsyncer sync --verbosity=DEBUG

# Reset sync state (use with caution)
rm -rf ~/.local/share/vdirsyncer/status/
vdirsyncer sync

khal shows no events

# Verify calendar paths exist
khal printcalendars

# Check if calendar files have content
ls -la ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/*/

# Rebuild cache
rm -rf ~/.local/share/khal/khal.db
khal list today

Duplicate events after sync

# This usually means UID conflicts
# Check vdirsyncer config for proper collection mapping
vdirsyncer sync --verbosity=DEBUG

# May need to delete duplicates manually in ikhal

Permission errors

# Fix permissions
chmod 700 ~/.config/khal
chmod 700 ~/.config/vdirsyncer
chmod 600 ~/.config/vdirsyncer/config

Automation Examples

Daily Agenda Email

#!/bin/bash
# Send daily agenda via email

AGENDA=$(khal list today tomorrow)

if [ -n "$AGENDA" ]; then
    echo "$AGENDA" | mail -s "Today's Agenda" user@example.com
fi

Sync on Network Change

# Add to NetworkManager dispatcher or similar
#!/bin/bash
# /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/vdirsyncer-sync

if [ "$2" = "up" ]; then
    su - username -c "vdirsyncer sync" &
fi

Notification Script

#!/bin/bash
# Check for upcoming events and send notifications

EVENTS=$(khal list --format "{start-time} {title}" today | head -5)

if [ -n "$EVENTS" ]; then
    notify-send "Upcoming Events" "$EVENTS"
fi

Integration with Other Tools

tmux Status Bar

Add to .tmux.conf:

set -g status-right '#(khal list today | head -1 | cut -c 1-40)'

Waybar/i3status

"custom/calendar": {
    "exec": "khal list today | head -1",
    "interval": 300,
    "format": "📅 {}"
}

Best Practices

1. Regular Syncing: Set up automatic vdirsyncer syncing via cron or systemd timer
2. Backup: Periodically backup ~/.local/share/khal/calendars/
3. Multiple Calendars: Use separate calendars for work, personal, birthdays, etc.
4. Consistent Format: Use ISO date format (YYYY-MM-DD) for clarity
5. Event Templates: Create shell aliases for common event types
6. Time Zones: Always specify time zones for events with remote participants
7. Conflict Resolution: Review sync conflicts promptly in ikhal

Additional Resources

• khal documentation: https://khal.readthedocs.io/
• vdirsyncer documentation: https://vdirsyncer.pimutils.org/
• CalDAV specification: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4791
• For provider-specific configs: references/providers.md