Half the time, our group of eight never gets past “we should hang out.” Everyone wants to meet, but nobody wants to chase down schedules, find something to do, and pull the plan together.

So I built a Telegram bot that turns our conversation into a plan tailored to the group and a calendar invite, using one script, one spreadsheet, and Gemini Flash-Lite.

How it works

1. Talk in Telegram. A few friends say when they’re free Friday night. Others suggest karaoke, dinner, or somewhere near the train. Anyone can use the four commands below to turn that conversation into a plan.
2. Command plan. Uses the recent chat and optional details like “Friday, two hours, karaoke.” The bot proposes a time, activity, and meetup spot, and shows whose availability is still unknown.
3. Command confirm. Finalizes the proposal when everyone’s schedule lines up or the group is happy to coordinate the rest. The bot posts an Add to calendar link in Telegram.
4. Command continue. Asks friends to clarify their availability, revises the proposal, and offers the same choices again.
5. Command cancel. Closes the proposal. Anyone can run plan again to start fresh.

Architecture

• Telegram → Apps Script. A webhook delivers group updates to the script, which manages the active proposal and the bot’s replies.
• Apps Script ↔ Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. Gemini extracts scheduling constraints and uses built-in Google Search and Maps grounding to find activities, check hours, and gather links.
• Apps Script → Google Sheets. The script receives Gemini’s structured output, checks schedule overlap, and writes the results into separate Availability, Preferences, and Plans tabs.
• Apps Script → Google Calendar. On confirmation, the script creates an event with the full plan and relevant links in its description.

Budget · $2–3/month for one group.