How to integrate org-mode and google calendar

I use doom emacs, and from there, we create a /private directory in our /doom directory and .gitignore it. We will then create a /doom/private/org-gcal-credentials.el file which will store the configuration for our google calendar (and contain our google app credentials, which is why it is in the private directory).

The file should appear as follows:

;;; org-gcal-credentials.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
;;;
;;; This file contains private credentials for org-gcal and is not under version control.
;;; It's loaded by my main config.el file.

;; Set up org-gcal with Google API credentials
(after! org
  (use-package! org-gcal
    :config
    ;; Direct configuration with credentials
    (setq org-gcal-client-id ""
          org-gcal-client-secret ""
          org-gcal-file-alist '(("" . "~/org/calendar.org")) ;; this is the file I use for events/deadlines
          org-gcal-request-ptbr t
          org-gcal-token-file nil
          org-gcal-fetch-event-filters '((lambda (event)
                                           (let ((start (org-gcal--get-time-and-desc event 'start)))
                                             (time-less-p (current-time) (org-gcal--parse-date start)))))
          org-gcal-notify-p t)

    ;; Force account selection by modifying the auth URL
    (defadvice org-gcal--get-auth-url (after force-account-selection activate)
      "Add prompt=select_account to force Google account selection."
      (setq ad-return-value
            (concat ad-return-value "&prompt=select_account&access_type=offline")))))

(provide 'org-gcal-credentials)

We get these by navigating to https://console.cloud.google.com/ and creating a project that allows the google calendar API. Enable this service, then create a desktop app.

Go to APIs and Services > Credentials and copy your client ID and secret put them in their respective places in the file we created

Add (package! org-gcal) to your packages list

and in your config.el:

;; Call this lisp file from your config.el
(let ((private-config (expand-file-name "private/org-gcal-credentials.el" doom-private-dir)))
  (when (file-exists-p private-config)
    (load private-config)))

This will allow you to sync events that are forward looking.

Restart emacs and call M-x org-gcal-reload-client-id-secret and then M-x org-gcal-sync

You will be prompted to login and allow the app in google, as well as enter a password. This password is for emacs to encrypt the entry for future use, enter a password you'd like for this.

In your file that you defined (I use ~/org/calendar.org) for events/deadlines, create an event and add a date/time for it like so:

 Test event
:PROPERTIES:
:calendar-id: joshuascalendar@gmail.com
:org-gcal-managed: org
:END:
<2025-04-10 Thu 07:42>
:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED: [2025-04-03 Thu 07:42]
:CAPTURED:
:CONTACT: [[id:nil][none]]
:END:

You can then sync that event to your calendar by calling M-x org-gcal-post-at-point, this will connect to your calendar and push the event to it. You should then see the event in your google calendar and on your mobile device.

Simply call M-x org-gcal-sync and you should sync down events to your org file that are in your google calendar.