Integrating Google Calendar API in Node.JS: A Guide to Event Creation and Meeting Scheduling

This tutorial explains how to integrate the Google Calendar API into a Node.js application to handle OAuth authentication, retrieve access tokens, and create events. The prerequisites include Node.js version 18+, a Google Cloud Project with the Calendar API enabled, and credentials from the Google Cloud Console. The first step is to allow users to authenticate with their Google accounts and grant access to manage their calendars using the OAuth2 protocol. The authentication URL is generated using the google-auth-library, and the scopes and access type are specified. After users authenticate, they are redirected to the application with a code that is exchanged for tokens. The tokens are then used to create events using the Google Calendar API. The event creation method includes options like a Google Meet link, attendees, and custom reminders. The frontend application handles the redirection after Google authentication by redirecting to the auth URL, capturing the authorization code, and sending it to the backend for token generation. This integration is the first step towards building powerful scheduling features in Node.js applications. The complete implementation and a walkthrough of event management will be covered in the next part.