gcal-oauth-bridge

Interact with the Calendar Bridge — a self-hosted Node.js service that provides a persistent REST API for Google Calendar events. Handles OAuth token auto-re...

Calendar Bridge Skill

Use this skill to interact with the Calendar Bridge service — a local REST API that wraps Google Calendar OAuth with persistent token storage and auto-refresh.

GitHub: https://github.com/DanielKillenberger/gcal-oauth-bridge

What is Calendar Bridge?

A tiny Node.js/Express service running at http://localhost:3000 that:

• Handles Google Calendar OAuth once via browser
• Stores and auto-refreshes tokens (solves the "token expired every 7 days" problem)
• Exposes a dead-simple REST API for events, calendars, and auth

API Endpoints

Endpoint	Description
GET /health	Service status + auth state
GET /auth/url	Get OAuth consent URL
GET /events?days=7	Upcoming events from primary calendar
GET /events?days=7&calendar=all	Events from ALL calendars
GET /events?days=7&calendar=<id>	Events from a specific calendar
GET /calendars	List all available calendars
POST /auth/refresh	Force token refresh (normally automatic)

Events response includes: id, summary, start, end, location, description, htmlLink, status, calendarId, calendarSummary

Checking Events

# Quick event check (7 days, primary calendar)
curl http://localhost:3000/events

# All calendars, next 14 days
curl http://localhost:3000/events?days=14&calendar=all

# With API key (if CALENDAR_BRIDGE_API_KEY is configured)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" http://localhost:3000/events?calendar=all

To call from OpenClaw/skill context (no API key needed when running on same host):

GET http://localhost:3000/events?calendar=all&days=7

First-Time Setup

1. Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/DanielKillenberger/gcal-oauth-bridge.git
cd gcal-oauth-bridge
npm install
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET

2. Get Google OAuth credentials

• Go to https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials
• Create OAuth 2.0 Client ID (Desktop app)
• Enable Google Calendar API
• Add redirect URI: http://localhost:3000/auth/callback
• Copy Client ID + Secret to .env

3. Start the service

node app.js
# or: npm start

4. Authorize (one-time browser flow)

If on a remote VPS, first tunnel port 3000:

# From your local machine:
ssh -L 3000:localhost:3000 your-server

Then:

curl http://localhost:3000/auth/url
# Open the returned URL in your browser
# Complete Google consent → tokens saved automatically

Verify:

curl http://localhost:3000/health
# {"status":"ok","authenticated":true,"needsRefresh":false}

5. Keep it running (systemd)

systemctl --user enable calendar-bridge.service
systemctl --user start calendar-bridge.service

Re-authentication

If tokens are ever revoked (rare — auto-refresh prevents expiry):

1. ssh -L 3000:localhost:3000 your-server
2. curl http://localhost:3000/auth/url → open URL → complete consent
3. Done — new tokens overwrite old ones

Troubleshooting

• {"error":"Not authenticated"} → Run the OAuth setup flow above
• 401 Unauthorized → CALENDAR_BRIDGE_API_KEY is set; add Authorization: Bearer <key> header
• Can't reach localhost:3000 → Service not running; check systemctl --user status calendar-bridge
• "invalid_grant" / "token expired" → Tokens were revoked externally; re-authenticate

Personal Gmail Users

Works with personal Gmail. Google shows an "unverified app" warning — click Advanced → Go to [app] to proceed. Tokens are stored locally on your server, not shared with anyone.

Files

• GitHub repo: https://github.com/DanielKillenberger/gcal-oauth-bridge
• App: app.js — main Express server
• Config: .env (from .env.example)
• Tokens: tokens.json (auto-generated, gitignored, never committed)