Automation Templates

If you're new to PrimeCal automation, templates are the fastest way to get something useful running in minutes. A template is a pre-configured rule pattern that you can load into the rule builder and then adjust to fit your exact situation.

Start with templates if you're new to automation

Templates show you what's possible without starting from scratch. Once you've seen a working example, adapting it for your own needs is straightforward.

How to Start from a Template

1. Go to Dashboard → Automation
2. Click New Rule
3. In the rule creation modal, look for the Suggestions panel on the right side — this lists available template patterns
4. Click a template to pre-fill the trigger, conditions, and action
5. Adjust the values to match your needs (rename the rule, change the color, tighten the condition)
6. Click Save

You can also start from scratch by ignoring the suggestions panel and configuring the trigger manually.

Available Template Patterns in v1.3.4

Color-Code Meetings

Automatically turn meeting events blue so they're visually distinct from tasks and personal appointments.

Setting	Value
Trigger	event.created
Condition	title contains Meeting
Action	Set event color → Blue

Good for: Anyone who uses the word "Meeting" consistently in event titles and wants meetings to stand out at a glance. Will uses this to spot his work standups immediately in the month view.

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Highlight Urgent Events

Flag any event marked URGENT in the title with a red background so nothing slips through the cracks.

Setting	Value
Trigger	event.created
Condition	title contains URGENT
Action	Set event color → Red

Good for: Teams or individuals who use URGENT as a shorthand in event names. You can also add a second condition on calendar.name to limit this to just your Work calendar.

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Mark Imported Events

When you import events from an external calendar (Google, Outlook), automatically apply an orange color so you can see at a glance which events came from outside PrimeCal.

Setting	Value
Trigger	calendar.imported
Conditions	(none — applies to all imported events)
Action	Set event color → Orange

Good for: Users who sync external calendars and want to distinguish imported events from ones created directly in PrimeCal.

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Color Long Meetings Differently

Some people find it useful to visually distinguish meetings over an hour from short check-ins. Use the duration condition to automatically mark long blocks.

Setting	Value
Trigger	event.created
Condition	duration greater_than 60
Action	Set event color → Purple

Good for: Anyone who wants to quickly see where the heavy time commitments are in their week. You can adjust the threshold — 90, 120, or any number of minutes.

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Morning Briefing (Coming in a future release)

Setting	Value
Trigger	scheduled.time (cron: 0 8 * * *)
Action	(future: send summary notification)

This pattern is available now as a trigger but the notification action is planned for a future release. You can set it up today and activate the action once it ships.

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Customizing a Template

After loading a template, you can change any part of it:

• Change the trigger: swap event.created for event.updated if you want the rule to also react when an event is edited
• Adjust the condition: change contains "Meeting" to starts_with "1:1" to match your naming convention
• Tighten the scope: add a second condition on calendar.name to limit the rule to a specific calendar instead of all calendars
• Change the color: pick any of the 16 available colors from the action builder

Building on Top of Templates

Templates are starting points, not final answers. Once you understand the pattern, you can layer in additional conditions using AND/OR logic. For example, the "Color-Code Meetings" template matches any event with "Meeting" in the title — you could extend it to only match meetings on your Work calendar that are longer than 30 minutes:

• Condition 1: title contains Meeting
• Condition 2: calendar.name equals Work
• Condition 3: duration greater_than 30
• Logic: AND

The Template Library Grows Over Time

New templates are added with each release as common use cases emerge. Check back after updates or browse the suggestions panel in the rule creator to see what's been added.

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Last updated: 2026-06-30 | PrimeCal v1.3.4