Siri and Shortcuts
BusyCal works with Siri and the Shortcuts app on your Mac. You can create events and tasks, search your calendars, check your availability, change what BusyCal is showing, and switch Calendar Sets automatically when a Focus turns on.
The actions that read or change calendar data run in BusyCal's App Intents extension, so they work whether or not BusyCal is open. The actions that change what you are looking at, such as opening a date or a view, bring BusyCal forward.
On the Mac, a Calendar Set is a Smart Filter saved with its Remember calendar set (visible calendars) option turned on. Smart Filters saved without this option are not offered as Calendar Sets to Siri, Shortcuts, the Focus filter, AppleScript, or the Claude Desktop extension. See Smart Filters.
Requirements
Requires BusyCal version 2026.3.2 or later.
Siri phrases and Shortcuts actions need macOS 15 or later. Asking Siri for calendar changes in your own words, without building a shortcut first, needs macOS 27 or later. See Asking Siri directly.
Talking to Siri
BusyCal supplies its own spoken phrases for five common actions, so you can use them without building a shortcut first. Say "Hey Siri" followed by one of these, and Siri asks for whatever detail it still needs.
Quick Add takes whatever you say and runs it through Quick Entry, so a phrase like "lunch with Sam tomorrow at 1" becomes a complete event:
- "Quick add with BusyCal"
- "Quick add to BusyCal"
- "Add this to BusyCal"
- "Remember this in BusyCal"
New Event creates an event from a title, a start, and an end:
- "Create an event in BusyCal"
- "New event in BusyCal"
- "Add an event to BusyCal"
- "Schedule an event in BusyCal"
New Task creates a task on a task calendar:
- "Create a task in BusyCal"
- "New task in BusyCal"
- "Add a task to BusyCal"
- "Make a new task in BusyCal"
What's Coming Up shows your upcoming events and tasks:
- "What's coming up in BusyCal"
- "Show my schedule in BusyCal"
- "Show upcoming items in BusyCal"
- "Show my day in BusyCal"
When Am I Free finds your next open slot:
- "When am I free in BusyCal"
- "Find free time in BusyCal"
- "Show my free time in BusyCal"
- "Find an open time in BusyCal"
Any shortcut you build yourself can also be run by voice. Give it a short name and say "Hey Siri" followed by that name.
Shortcuts Actions
Open the Shortcuts app, create a new shortcut, and search for "BusyCal" to see the actions below. Actions that take an event or a task accept one passed in from an earlier action, so you can chain a search into a change.
Find and read your calendar data:
| Action | What it does | Key parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Find Events | Finds events using a date range, text, or Calendar Set. | Search Text, Start Date, End Date, Calendar, Calendar Set, Limit |
| Find Tasks | Finds tasks using a due range, text, or Calendar Set. | Search Text, Start Date, End Date, Calendar, Calendar Set, Completed, Limit |
| Get Upcoming Items | Returns your upcoming events and tasks, with a summary you can see in the Shortcuts result. | Upcoming Range, Number of Days, Calendar Set, Include Tasks |
| Get Availability | Returns free or busy time in a date range. | Start Date, End Date, Calendars, Availability Result, Minimum Duration in Minutes, Respect Working Hours |
| When Am I Free | Finds the next available time. | Start Date, End Date, Minimum Duration in Minutes, Calendars, Respect Working Hours |
Create events and tasks:
| Action | What it does | Key parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Quick Add | Parses free text with BusyCal Quick Entry. | Text, Item Type, Calendar |
| Create Event | Creates an event with structured dates and details. | Title, Start Date, End Date, All Day, Start Time Zone, End Time Zone, Calendar, Location, Alarm Offsets, Travel Time in Minutes, Notes, URL, Tags, Show As |
| Create Task | Creates a task with structured scheduling and details. | Title, Due Date, All Day, Due Time Zone, Calendar, Location, Alarm Offsets, Notes, URL, Tags, Priority, Starred |
Change existing items:
| Action | What it does | Key parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Update Event | Updates selected details on an event. | Event, Repeat Scope, Title, Location, Notes, URL, Location URL, Travel Time in Minutes, Tags, Alarm Offsets |
| Update Task | Updates selected details on a task. | Task, Title, Notes, URL, Location URL, Tags, Alarm Offsets, Priority, Starred |
| Move Event | Moves an event to a new start date, keeping its duration. | Event, Start Date, Start Time Zone, Repeat Scope |
| Defer Task | Changes a task due date. | Task, Due Date, All Day, Due Time Zone |
| Complete Task | Marks a task complete. | Task, Completion Date |
| Uncomplete Task | Marks a completed task incomplete. | Task |
| Duplicate Calendar Item | Duplicates an event or task. | Calendar Item, Repeat Scope, Calendar |
| Delete Events | Deletes the events you pass in. | Events, Repeat Scope |
| Delete Tasks | Deletes the tasks you pass in. | Tasks |
Open BusyCal at a particular place:
| Action | What it does | Key parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Change Grid View | Opens List, Day, Week, or Month view. Choosing Tasks shows the Task List panel alongside the current calendar view. | Grid View |
| Change to Date | Opens a date in BusyCal. | Date |
| Activate Calendar Set | Shows a saved Calendar Set. | Calendar Set |
| Open Calendar Item | Opens an event or task in BusyCal. | Calendar Item |
Update Event, Move Event, Duplicate Calendar Item, and Delete Events take a Repeat Scope of This Event, This and Future Events, or All Events, and all four default to This Event.
Switching Calendar Sets with a Focus
A Focus filter switches BusyCal to a chosen Calendar Set for as long as that Focus is on.
- Open System Settings > Focus.
- Select a Focus, such as Work or Personal.
- Under Focus Filters, click Add Filter and choose BusyCal.
- Choose the Calendar Set you want while that Focus is on, then click Add.
The switch happens in place. BusyCal is not brought to the front, and no window opens. When the Focus ends, BusyCal returns to the Calendar Set you had selected before it started. Choosing a set from the toolbar while a Focus is on changes only the current view, so your own selection comes back when the Focus turns off.
Asking Siri Directly
On macOS 15 and macOS 26, use the spoken phrases above or a shortcut you have named yourself.
On macOS 27, Siri can work with your BusyCal events and tasks in your own words, with no shortcut to build first. Ask for things like:
- "Add lunch with Sam tomorrow at 1"
- "Move my 3pm meeting to Thursday"
- "Reschedule the standup to 10 and make it all day"
- "Add a task to renew the passport due next Friday"
- "Mark the groceries task done"
- "Create a task calendar called Home Projects"
- "What's on my calendar this week"
- "When am I free on Thursday"
Siri can create, change, and delete events, and it can create, change, complete, and delete tasks. It can also create a new task calendar. Attendees are read back to you when Siri describes an event, but Siri cannot add or change them.
How Siri handles repeats, time zones, and new task calendars:
- While an event stays timed, rescheduling keeps its floating state and its stored time zones, so a cross time zone event keeps the zones you gave it. Changing between timed and all day uses BusyCal's normal date and time defaults.
- A change to a repeating event applies to the one occurrence you named unless you say otherwise, so rescheduling, updating, or deleting it leaves the rest of the series alone. Ask for this and future occurrences, or the whole series, when you mean more than one. These choices apply while the occurrence still belongs to the series: an occurrence you already changed on its own is moved or rescheduled in place, even when you ask for the whole series.
- A new task calendar is created on the account that owns your default task calendar. Accounts that cannot create calendars, including local accounts, are refused.
Works with AppleScript and the Claude Desktop Extension
Siri and Shortcuts share BusyCal's automation engine with two other surfaces on the Mac. AppleScript covers the same read and write commands from a script, including create task calendar, move item, reschedule event, and list calendar sets, and the Claude Desktop extension exposes them to Claude as tools.
Spotlight and the Item on Screen
BusyCal events and tasks that appear in Spotlight open straight to the item, and Siri can act on the same result without you describing it again.
Siri also knows which item you are looking at. When the Info Panel is showing an event or task, or when exactly one item is selected in the main window, a request such as "add a reminder to this" applies to that item. This needs macOS 15.2 or later.
Spotlight results for events come from Enable Spotlight Search for Events in Settings > Advanced.