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The Google Calendar Patch event action updates an existing event in a Google Calendar by changing selected fields while leaving unspecified fields unchanged. Use this write action to reschedule meetings, refine event details, or clean up calendar entries without recreating events from scratch. The action is typically used together with read actions such as GOOGLECALENDAR_FIND_EVENT to locate the right event first, then apply targeted updates.

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Limitations

  • Time-based fields such as start time and end time must ultimately resolve to valid timestamp formats accepted by the underlying calendar provider; otherwise the provider can return time-format errors.
  • As this is a write action that modifies external calendar data, some chat or agent experiences may require explicit user confirmation before it runs, depending on how your admin configures action permissions.

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Prerequisites

  • Glean action must be enabled for your instance and the Google Calendar action pack must be available.
  • Ensure a connected Google Calendar account exists for the user. The connected account must have permission in Google Calendar to create events.
  • Google Calendar must be connected as a data source for Glean actions.
  • The caller must be able to identify the target event to patch, for example, by first calling a search or list action and then passing its identifier into this action.

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Supported parameters

ParameterTypeDescription
AttendeesarrayList of email addresses for attendees. Replaces existing attendees. Provide an empty list to remove all.
Calendar IDstringIdentifier of the calendar that owns the event. Required.
Conference data versionintegerAPI client’s conference data support version. Set to 1 to manage conference details (e.g., Google Meet links); 0 (default) ignores conference data. Examples: 0 1.
Event descriptionstringDetailed description or agenda text for the event.
End timestringEvent end date and time, usually in ISO 8601 format.
Event IDstringIdentifier of the specific event to update. Required.
LocationstringLocation of the event (room name, address, or conferencing info).
Max attendeesintegerMaximum number of attendees to include or process for this event update.
Rsvp responsestringRSVP status for the attendee or organizer (for example, accepted, tentative, declined).
Send updatesstringPolicy for sending updates to attendees (for example, all, externalOnly, none).
Start timestringEvent start date and time, usually in ISO 8601 format.
TitlestringShort title or summary of the event.
Supports attachmentsbooleanWhether the event supports file attachments.
TimezonestringTime zone used to interpret the start and end times (for example, America/Los_Angeles).

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Usage example

You need to reschedule your weekly team standup meeting from Monday to Tuesday because of a conflict. Instruction to an agent: “Find my Weekly Team Standup meeting next Monday and reschedule it to Tuesday at the same time. Also update the location to Conference Room B.” Resulting behavior:
  • Calls Find event to locate the meeting with:
    • Search terms set to “Weekly Team Standup”.
    • Start date and End date covering next Monday.
    • Calendar ID set to primary.
  • Retrieves the event including its Event ID and current start time (for example, Monday 10:00 AM).
  • Calls Patch event with:
    • Calendar ID set to primary.
    • Event ID set to the retrieved event identifier.
    • Start time set to Tuesday at 10:00 AM (for example, 2025-01-14T10:00:00).
    • End time set to Tuesday at 10:30 AM (for example, 2025-01-14T10:30:00).
    • Timezone set to the user’s timezone (for example, America/Los_Angeles).
    • Location set to “Conference Room B”.
  • Updates only the specified fields (start time, end time, location) while leaving other fields like attendees, description, and title unchanged.
  • Sends calendar update notifications to attendees based on the Send updates parameter (defaults to provider settings).
Workflow tip: Combine this action with Find event to build intelligent meeting management agents. Only include the fields you want to change in the patch request. Use the Send updates parameter to control whether attendees are notified of changes.

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Troubleshooting

  • Possible cause: Time-related parameters such as start time or end time were derived from natural-language phrases and did not match the provider’s expected timestamp format.
  • Fix: Ensure that time parameters are converted to valid timestamps before calling the action, and avoid passing raw natural language date strings.
  • Possible cause: The payload did not include any updatable fields, for example, only identifiers were passed or the values matched the existing event.
  • Fix: Confirm that at least one of the editable fields such as title, event description, start time, end time, location, timezone, or attendees is set to a new value before retrying.
  • Possible cause: Internal restriction level prevents the action from being listed in that context.
  • Fix: Check with your Glean admin to confirm whether this action is enabled for your tenant and whether your environment is configured to surface beta or write actions.

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FAQs

No. This action only modifies existing calendar events; use the create-event action when you need to add a brand new meeting.