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What Are Resources?

In PrimeCal, a resource is any physical or virtual thing that can be reserved. A basketball court, a massage room, a meeting room, a desk in a coworking space, a staff member's appointment slot — all of these are resources. The resource concept gives you a way to track and manage bookings for things, not just time slots on a calendar.

Resources work together with resource types and reservations to form a complete booking system. Understanding how these three pieces fit together makes everything else in this section much easier to follow.

The Three-Layer Model​

Resource Type
    └── Resource (the actual bookable thing)
            └── Reservation (a specific booking on that resource)

Resource Type​

A resource type is the category or service. It defines:

  • What kind of thing is being booked (a court, a room, a time slot)
  • How long a booking lasts (minimum booking duration)
  • Whether there is a buffer between bookings
  • Whether payment is required
  • What information customers need to provide (name, phone, email)

Examples of resource types: "Basketball Court", "Consultation Room", "Meeting Room", "Coaching Session".

Resource​

A resource is a specific instance of a resource type. It is the actual bookable thing that gets assigned to a reservation.

Examples:

  • Resource type: "Basketball Court" → Resources: "Main Court", "Side Court A", "Side Court B"
  • Resource type: "Consultation Room" → Resources: "Room 101", "Room 102"
  • Resource type: "Coaching Session" → Resources: "Justin — Morning Slots", "Justin — Evening Slots"

Each resource has:

  • A name (what it is called)
  • An optional description (helpful notes about this specific resource)
  • A capacity (how many simultaneous bookings it can hold)
  • An active/inactive status (inactive resources do not appear in booking pages)
  • A public booking token (a unique link customers use to book this specific resource)
  • Optional operating hours overrides (if this resource has different hours than the service default)

Reservation​

A reservation is a specific booking: a customer or team member has claimed a particular resource for a particular time slot. Reservations are created through the public booking page or directly in the internal reservation interface.

Capacity and Child Lanes​

A resource's capacity determines how many simultaneous reservations it can hold.

  • Capacity 1 (default): only one booking at a time — standard for a private room or a single court.
  • Capacity > 1: multiple bookings can overlap — useful for a pool, a gym class with multiple spots, or a co-working desk bank.

When you set a capacity greater than 1, PrimeCal automatically creates child lanes — one lane per capacity slot. Each lane acts as its own independent bookable resource, and the reservation board shows which lanes are occupied and which are still free.

Who Can Use Resources​

Resources require the resource_management subscription feature. If you do not see a Reservations section in your sidebar, your current plan may not include this feature — check the PrimeCal Subscription System page or contact your organisation admin.

Within your organisation, creating and editing resources requires the Editor or Admin role. Members and Viewers can make reservations but cannot manage the resource configuration.

A Real Example: Justin's Basketball Setup​

Justin (justin_time) coaches a basketball team and manages a local gym. He sets up PrimeCal resources like this:

LevelNameNotes
Resource Type"Basketball Court"60-minute slots, 15-min buffer, free booking
Resource"Late Gym — Main Court"Capacity 1, active, public booking link generated
Resource"Late Gym — Practice Half"Capacity 2, active for drills where two groups can share

Team members — including Noah (noah_time) — use the public booking link for "Late Gym — Main Court" to reserve the court directly without texting Justin every time.

Ready to Set Up Resources?​