Open Conference URL

Copyright 2020-2024 Caleb Evans
Released under the MIT license

Open Conference URL is an Alfred workflow which enables you to quickly open links for Zoom and other conferencing services, based on your upcoming calendar events.

The workflow will be solely supporting Alfred 5 going forward, but the last release supporting Alfred 4 will remain available here for your convenience.

Installation

To download the workflow, simply click one of the download links below.

Download Open Conference URL (Alfred 5)

Download Open Conference URL (Alfred 4)

Command Line Tools

If you are installing the workflow for the first time, you may be prompted to install Apple's Command Line Tools. These developer tools are required for the workflow to function, and fortunately, they have a much smaller size footprint than full-blown Xcode.

Calendar Permissions

To read from your local calendar, the workflow requires Calendar permissions for both Alfred 5 and Terminal. Visit Systems Settings > Privacy & Security > Calendars to grant them these permissions. Make sure that you select Full Access (instead of just Add Only).

Usage

To use, simply type the conf command into Alfred, and you will see a list of upcoming calendar events. It does this by including all events within +/- 20 minutes of your system's current time, so even if you're running late to a meeting, the logical event will show.

The workflow also accounts for timezones and Daylight Saving Time (DST). All times are displayed in your system's local timezone.

Configuration

This workflow contains configuration for various aspects of the workflow's behavior. For details on how to find these configuration settings, you can refer to the Alfred help article on Workflow Configuration.

Conference Domains

A comma-separated list of domain names representing which URLs to check within each calendar event. This domains list determines which links are considered "conference" URLs.

The domains are listed in order of precedence, so if zoom.us precedes google.com in the list, then the workflow will prefer Zoom links over Google Meet links if both are present in a calendar event.

If you wish to match a subdomain, you must specify it explicitly (e.g. teams.microsoft.com). However, you can also match all subdomains via the asterisk character (*) as a wildcard (e.g. *.zoom.us).

Calendar Names

A comma-separated list of calendar names on your local system for which to fetch events. If you leave this field blank, then the workflow will implicitly fetch check all calendars for event data.

Time Threshold

An integer representing the number of minutes before/after a meeting. If an event is within this duration of time (relative to the system's current time), it will be displayed in Alfred's results.

For example, a value of 30 will mean the workflow will only show events whose start time was within the last 30 minutes or whose start time is within the next 20 minutes.

Use Direct Zoom Links

Launches meetings directly in the Zoom application, bypassing your web browser entirely.

Use Direct Teams Links

Opens Microsoft Teams links directly in the Microsoft Teams application, bypassing your web browser entirely.

Use icalBuddy

Uses icalBuddy to source calendar event data (instead of AppleScript). Enabling this option (assuming you have icalBuddy installed) can drastically improve the workflow's performance if you have a very large number of events across your calendars.

You must have icalBuddy installed via Homebrew for this to work. To install, open a Terminal and run:

brew install ical-buddy

After you have installed icalBuddy, make sure you check the box in the workflow configuration to fully enable the integriation.

Time System

Whether 12-hour or 24-hour time is used for the displayed event start times.

Credits

Kudos to @jacksonrayhamilton for his architecture ideas and feedback on this project.