Google Calendar integration - approved leave on a shared team calendar

Install the SquadBear Google Calendar app and approved time off appears as all-day events on one shared absence calendar the whole team can see.

Install the SquadBear Google Calendar app to write approved time off onto a shared team calendar. One-way only: SquadBear writes to a calendar it creates and cannot access other calendars in the workspace.

What it does

An admin connects Google once. SquadBear creates a calendar called SquadBear – Absences and keeps it in step with leave data:

Approved leave becomes an all-day event. One event per absence, titled with the person's name.
Edits and cancellations sync. Date changes move the event; cancelled leave removes it; partial cancellations shorten it.
It looks ahead 12 months, matching the iCal absence feed.

Share that calendar with the team to show who is off. It is not shared automatically.

Permissions

The app requests calendar.app.created only: access to calendars the app itself created. It cannot open personal calendars, rooms, or other Google Workspace calendars.

Leave types in event titles

By default an event reads "Anna Kowalska · Out of office" (dates only, no leave type). Sick leave is health data under GDPR Article 9. An admin can show leave types in the event title per installation. It is off by default.

Setting it up

An admin opens Workspace settings → Apps and installs Google Calendar.
They sign in with Google and approve the one calendar permission.
SquadBear creates the shared absence calendar and backfills approved leave.
Share the new calendar with your team from Google Calendar, as you would any other (Settings → the SquadBear calendar → share it with people, or with the domain).

From then on it keeps itself up to date. There is nothing to run and nothing to re-import.

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Frequently asked questions

Can SquadBear see or change our existing Google calendars?

No. The app asks for the calendar.app.created scope, which grants access only to calendars SquadBear itself created. Other calendars in the Google Workspace are outside what the token can reach.

Does the event say why someone is off?

Not by default. Events read "Anna Kowalska · Out of office" without the leave type (sick leave is health data under GDPR Article 9). An admin can opt in to showing leave types per installation if every leave type in the workspace is safe for everyone to see.

Is this a two-way sync?

No. It is one-way, SquadBear to Google. Approved leave becomes events. Nothing you do in Google Calendar is ever read back into SquadBear. Deleting an event in Google does not cancel anyone's leave, and the next sync will simply put it back.

What happens when leave is cancelled or the dates change?

The calendar follows. Every sync converges on what SquadBear currently holds as true, so an edited request moves its event, a cancelled one removes it, and a partially cancelled one shortens it. Replays cannot corrupt the calendar, because the job is only a trigger. SquadBear's own database is the source of truth.

How is this different from the iCal absence feed?

The iCal feed is a read-only subscription each person adds to their own calendar app, and it works with Outlook and Apple Calendar too. The Google Calendar app is installed once by an admin and writes to a single shared calendar for the whole workspace. Use the feed if your team is not on Google Workspace, or if you would rather each person subscribed themselves.

What happens if we uninstall it?

The sync stops and the OAuth token is revoked. The calendar SquadBear created stays in your Google Workspace with the events it had, so nothing disappears from anyone's view. You can delete it yourself if you would rather it went.

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