Outlook Calendar Reader

Overview

This skill reads calendar events from Outlook via ICS subscription URL.

When to Use

User asks about today's meetings or schedule
User asks about upcoming events
User wants to check availability
User asks "What's on my calendar?"

ICS URL Configuration

ICS URL: <YOUR_ICS_URL_HERE>

⚠️ Setup Required: Replace <YOUR_ICS_URL_HERE> above with your actual ICS URL.

How to get your ICS URL:

Open Outlook Web

Go to Calendar → Settings (gear icon) → View all Outlook settings

Calendar → Shared calendars → Publish a calendar

Select calendar and permissions → Publish → Copy ICS link

Execution Steps

Method 1: Use ics_parser.py (Recommended)

The skill includes ics_parser.py that handles all parsing and RRULE expansion.

Prerequisite: uv must be installed.

# Get today's date
TODAY=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)

# Parse events for today
uv run ~/.claude/skills/outlook-calendar/ics_parser.py \
  --url "ICS_URL_HERE" \
  --start "$TODAY" \
  --end "$TODAY"

# Parse events for a date range
uv run ~/.claude/skills/outlook-calendar/ics_parser.py \
  --url "ICS_URL_HERE" \
  --start 2025-12-01 \
  --end 2025-12-31

# Output as JSON
uv run ~/.claude/skills/outlook-calendar/ics_parser.py \
  --url "ICS_URL_HERE" \
  --start 2025-12-01 \
  --end 2025-12-31 \
  --format json

# Debug mode (shows event counts)
uv run ~/.claude/skills/outlook-calendar/ics_parser.py \
  --url "ICS_URL_HERE" \
  --start 2025-12-01 \
  --end 2025-12-31 \
  --debug

Method 2: Manual Parsing with WebFetch

If the script is not available, use WebFetch and parse manually:

Fetch ICS: Use WebFetch to retrieve the ICS URL
Parse Events: Extract VEVENT blocks
Handle RRULE: Expand recurring events (see RRULE Reference below)
Filter & Format: Filter by date range and output as table

Script Features

The ics_parser.py script handles:

✅ All 3 DTSTART formats (UTC, TZID, all-day)
✅ RRULE expansion (WEEKLY, DAILY with BYDAY, INTERVAL, UNTIL, COUNT)
✅ Automatic timezone conversion (UTC → Taipei UTC+8)
✅ Dependencies auto-installed by uv
✅ Table or JSON output format
✅ Debug mode for troubleshooting

Output Format

The script outputs a markdown table:

| Date | Time | Event | Location | |------|------|-------|----------| | 2025-12-02 (Tue) | 10:30-11:00 | 🔄 Standup Meeting | Microsoft Teams | | 2025-12-02 (Tue) | 14:00-15:00 | 🔄 Weekly Meeting | Conference Room | | 2025-12-03 (Wed) | 09:00-10:00 | Project Review | Zoom |

🔄 indicates a recurring event

RRULE Reference

Identify Recurring Events

A VEVENT with RRULE is a recurring event:

BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Taipei Standard Time:20250424T103000
RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;INTERVAL=1;BYDAY=MO,TU,WE,TH,FR
SUMMARY:Standup Meeting
END:VEVENT

Common RRULE Parameters

| Parameter | Meaning | Example | |-----------|---------|---------| | FREQ | Frequency | DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, YEARLY | | INTERVAL | Every N periods | 2 = every 2 weeks | | BYDAY | Day of week | MO, TU, WE, TH, FR, SA, SU | | UNTIL | End date | 20251231T235959Z | | COUNT | Total occurrences | 10 |

DTSTART Formats

Outlook ICS uses 3 different formats:

| Format | Example | Timezone | |--------|---------|----------| | UTC | DTSTART:20251211T060000Z | UTC (convert +8) | | With TZID | DTSTART;TZID=Taipei Standard Time:20250424T103000 | Local time | | All-day | DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251225 | Date only |

Example Queries

"What meetings do I have today?"
"Show my calendar for this week"
"Am I free tomorrow afternoon?"
"What's on my schedule for 12/5?"

Troubleshooting

Quick Debug

# Run with debug flag
uv run ics_parser.py --url "..." --start 2025-12-01 --end 2025-12-31 --debug

Output shows:

Total VEVENTs in ICS
Number of recurring events
Whether dateutil is available
Events found in range

Common Issues

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | uv: command not found | Install uv: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh \| sh | | No events found | Check date range matches your query | | Script not found | Run install.sh to install skill | | ICS URL placeholder | Edit SKILL.md and configure your ICS URL |

Error Handling

If ICS URL shows placeholder: Guide user to edit this file and configure their ICS URL
If uv not found: Install uv first (see README)
If no events found: Confirm the date range and calendar permissions
If parsing fails: Use --debug flag to see event counts