How to Set Up Calendar Booking in Irelia

~10 minutes setup

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Introduction

Your AI agent qualifies the lead, answers their questions, builds interest — and then what? You ask them to call your office, or you send a link to an external booking tool, or you follow up manually to find a time that works. Every extra step is a chance for the lead to drop off. With calendar booking, you remove that gap entirely. Your AI agent checks real-time availability, offers time slots, and books the appointment — all inside the same conversation, on whatever channel the lead is using. No hand-off, no context switch, no friction. This guide walks you through connecting Google Calendar to your Irelia account and configuring booking on your AI agent — from linking your first calendar to choosing how appointments get distributed across your team. By the end of this guide, you’ll have: ✅ At least one Google Calendar account connected to Irelia
✅ A team member calendar configured with availability, slot duration, and buffer times
✅ A booking calendar selected where new appointments will be created
✅ Optional conflict checking enabled to avoid double-bookings across calendars
✅ A routing mode chosen to control how appointments get distributed across team members
✅ Prompt instructions configured so your agent knows when and how to offer bookings

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💡 How Calendar Booking Works

Once booking is active on an agent, your AI can do the following — automatically, inside any conversation:

• Offer available time slots based on real-time calendar availability
• Book appointments directly into a connected Google Calendar
• Handle rescheduling and cancellations if a lead changes their mind
• Respect buffer times between meetings so your team isn’t back-to-back
• Check for conflicts across multiple calendars to avoid overlaps with personal commitments or other schedules
• Route appointments to the right team member — using fixed assignment, round-robin rotation, weighted percentages, or AI-driven smart routing

This works on all channels — WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. The lead never leaves the conversation.

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What you’ll configure

The setup has two parts:

1. Connect a Google Calendar account — this gives Irelia access to your calendars (done once, in Settings)
2. Configure booking on your agent — this tells the agent which calendars to use, when to offer slots, and how to distribute bookings across team members (done per agent)

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📋 What You’ll Need

Before you start, make sure you have:

• An Irelia.ai account with at least one AI agent created Required
• A Google account with at least one Google Calendar you want to book into Required
• Edit access to that Google Calendar — if you’re using a shared or team calendar, make sure your Google account has permission to create events on it Required

No coding required. If you can click through a few settings and pick from dropdown menus, you can do this.

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⚡ Quick Path (Experienced Users)

If you’ve already connected calendars and configured agents before, here’s the condensed version:

1. Settings → scroll to Calendars → “Add a Calendar” → authorize your Google account
2. Open your agent → Prompt tab → click “Set up booking” in the Booking resource panel
3. In the Calendar Configuration popup → ”+ Add Calendar” → name it, set slot duration, buffer, and weekly availability
4. Scroll down → select the booking calendar (where events are created) and optionally enable “Avoid conflicts with other calendars”
5. Under Advanced settings → set booking horizon, minimum notice, time zone, and default reminder
6. If you have multiple team member calendars, click “Change” next to the routing mode and select Fixed, Rotation, Percentage, or Smart
7. Toggle the team member calendar to Active → close the popup
8. Add booking instructions to your agent’s prompt — at minimum: when to offer slots, what data to collect, and how to present options (or ask the Wizard to do it)

Now jump to the Quick Checklist to verify everything is configured correctly.

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🔧 Step-by-Step Setup

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Step 1 — Connect a Google Calendar account

~2 minutes Before your agent can book anything, Irelia needs access to at least one Google Calendar account. You do this once — the connection stays available for all your agents.

1. Go to Settings (gear icon in the left sidebar)
2. Scroll down to the Calendars section
3. Click the “Add a Calendar” button
4. You’ll be redirected to Google’s authorization page — sign in with the Google account that owns (or has access to) the calendars you want to use
5. Grant the requested permissions and complete the authorization — you’ll be redirected back to Irelia automatically

Once connected, the Google account appears in the Calendars section as a Google connection — showing the account email and the number of Google calendars available under it.

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Managing your connections

Each Google connection card gives you two controls:

• “Resync” — Refreshes the list of Google calendars available under that connection. Use this if you’ve recently created a new calendar in Google and it doesn’t appear yet in the booking configuration.
• “Remove” — Disconnects the Google account entirely. Any team member calendars that were using Google calendars from this connection will lose access.

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Step 2 — Open Calendar Configuration on your agent

~1 minute Now that Irelia has access to your Google calendars, you need to tell a specific agent to use them for booking.

1. Go to the Agents page and open the agent you want to configure
2. Click the Prompt tab at the top

On the right side, you’ll see a Resources panel. Look for the Booking card — it shows “Not in use” and a “Set up booking” link beneath it.

3. Click “Set up booking”

The Calendar Configuration popup opens. This is where you’ll configure everything: team member calendars, availability, routing, and more.

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Step 3 — Add and configure a team member calendar

~3 minutes A team member calendar represents one person’s booking setup — their availability, their slot duration, and which Google calendar receives their appointments. If you have a team of three, you’ll create three team member calendars.

1. In the Calendar Configuration popup, click ”+ Add Calendar” in the left sidebar

A new entry appears in the sidebar and the configuration form opens on the right. Here’s every field you’ll fill in:

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Calendar name

A label to identify this team member calendar — typically the person’s name (e.g., “Marco Bianchi” or “Dr. Rossi”). The AI agent uses this name when presenting booking options to the prospect, so choose something professional and recognizable.

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Active / Inactive toggle

Controls whether this team member calendar is currently available for bookings. Toggle it to Active when you’re ready for the agent to start scheduling into it. Leave it Inactive while you’re still configuring.

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Slot duration

The default length of each appointment, in minutes. This is the baseline — your agent’s prompt can override it for specific situations (e.g., shorter intro calls vs. longer consultations). Choose a sensible default that covers most cases.

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Buffer between appointments

The minimum gap between one appointment and the next, in minutes. A 15-minute buffer means that if a meeting ends at 10:30, the next available slot starts at 10:45. This protects your team from back-to-back meetings.

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Weekly availability

The days and hours this team member is available for bookings. Each day shows time blocks — for example, Monday 09:00–13:00 and 14:00–18:00 (with a lunch break in between). Click the + button next to a day to add a time block, or leave a day as Closed to exclude it entirely.

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Booking calendar

The specific Google calendar where new appointments will be created. Click the dropdown to see all Google calendars available across your connected Google accounts. Pick the one that belongs to this team member.

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Avoid conflicts with other calendars

When enabled, Irelia checks additional Google calendars for existing events before offering a time slot. If a slot is already booked on any of the selected conflict calendars, Irelia won’t offer it — even if the team member’s weekly availability says they’re free. Toggle this on and a list of all Google calendars from all your connected Google accounts appears. Check the ones you want Irelia to monitor for conflicts.

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Advanced settings

Click “Show advanced settings” to reveal four additional fields: Once you’ve filled in everything, toggle the team member calendar to Active at the top of the form.

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Step 4 — Choose a routing mode

~1 minute If you’ve configured two or more team member calendars, you need to tell the agent how to distribute appointments between them. This is the routing mode — visible at the bottom of the left sidebar in the Calendar Configuration popup. Click “Change” next to the current routing mode to see your options: Here’s what each mode does:

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Fixed

All appointments go to a single team member calendar. When you select Fixed, a “Destination Calendar” dropdown appears — pick the team member who should receive every booking. Use when: Only one person handles all appointments, or you want to hard-assign bookings regardless of availability across team members.

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Rotation

Round-robin distribution — each new appointment goes to the next active team member calendar in the list, rotating evenly. No additional configuration needed. Use when: You want to spread bookings equally across your team with no preference.

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Percentage

Weighted distribution based on percentages you assign. Each active team member calendar gets a slider — adjust them until they add up to 100%. Use when: You want uneven distribution — for example, a senior consultant gets 60% of bookings while a junior gets 40%.

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Smart

The AI agent decides which team member to assign based on the conversation context and your prompt instructions. No additional UI configuration needed — the logic lives entirely in your agent’s prompt. Use when: Assignment depends on what the lead says — for example, routing to a specialist based on the type of service requested, the lead’s location, or their language preference.

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Step 5 — Configure your agent’s prompt for booking

~5 minutes The calendar infrastructure is ready — but the agent won’t offer time slots or book appointments unless its prompt tells it to. The UI defines what’s possible; the prompt defines what happens and when. If you’re writing the prompt yourself, here’s what to include. The first three items are required — without them, the agent won’t book. The rest are optional and let you fine-tune the experience.

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Required

1. When to offer booking — Tell the agent at what point in the conversation it should propose an appointment. For example: “After you’ve confirmed the prospect’s interest, offer to book a consultation.”
2. Data to collect before booking — What information the agent needs from the prospect before it can schedule. For example: “Before booking, ask for the type of service needed, their email and whether they prefer morning or afternoon.”
3. How to present available slots — Tell the agent how to propose times. For example: “Propose 2–3 time options in a conversational tone.”

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Optional (but recommended)

4. Appointment configuration — Override default duration, set the title format, describe what to include in the description, and decide whether to attach a meeting link. For example: “For intro calls, book 20 minutes. Title format: [Service] — [Name]. Include a Google Meet link for remote consultations.”
5. Fallback when no slots are available — What the agent should say when there’s no availability within the booking horizon. For example: “Apologize and offer to notify them when a slot opens up.”
6. Team member assignment logic — If you’re using Smart routing (or want to override another routing mode for specific cases), describe the assignment rules. For example: “If the prospect mentions a legal issue, always book with Dr. Rossi.”

Now test everything:

1. Close the Calendar Configuration popup if it’s still open
2. Back on the agent’s Prompt tab, the Booking resource card should now show the booking as active instead of “Not in use”
3. Click the “Test” button in the top-right corner of the agent page
4. In the test conversation, walk through a booking scenario — let the agent qualify you and offer time slots
5. Complete a test booking and check your Google Calendar to confirm the event was created

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🎉 Congratulations! Your Agent Can Now Book Appointments!

Your AI agent is live with calendar booking. From now on, when a lead asks to schedule — or when your agent determines it’s the right moment to offer a time slot — the booking happens automatically, right inside the conversation. What happens next:

1. 🧠 Understand the two layers — Read the next section to learn how UI settings and prompt instructions interact, and how to fine-tune defaults, appointment titles, and routing logic
2. 📊 Monitor bookings — Check your Google Calendar and the Chat Panel to track booked appointments
3. 🔁 Add more team members — As your team grows, add more team member calendars and adjust your routing mode

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🧠 Infrastructure vs. Prompt — What to Configure Where

The booking system has two layers that work together: infrastructure (what you configured in the UI) and prompt (instructions you write in your agent’s prompt). Understanding how they interact helps you get the most out of the system. Think of it this way:

• Infrastructure = the office building. Rooms, opening hours, keys.
• Prompt = the receptionist’s brain. Who goes where, why, and what to write on the door.

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Three types of settings

Not all settings work the same way. Some are hard limits the AI can never override. Some are defaults the AI can adjust. And some don’t exist in the UI at all — they’re always decided by the AI based on the conversation.

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1. Hard constraints — infrastructure only

These settings define what’s physically possible. The AI respects them no matter what. Why these can’t be overridden: They protect your team’s real availability. If Marco has a 15-minute buffer between meetings, the AI can’t decide to ignore that — it would create scheduling conflicts.

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2. Defaults — set in infrastructure, overridable by prompt

These settings have a baseline value you set in the UI. The AI uses that baseline unless your prompt specifies something different based on the conversation context. How it works in practice: You set slot duration to 30 minutes in the UI. Then in the prompt, you write: “If the prospect needs a basic consultation, use 30 minutes. If they need a full assessment, use 60 minutes.” The AI reads the conversation, determines the type, and overrides the default accordingly. If the conversation doesn’t match any prompt condition, the infrastructure default (30 minutes) is used as the safety net.

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3. Dynamic fields — prompt only

These fields don’t exist in the UI at all. The AI generates them dynamically from the conversation. Why these can’t have defaults: They’re inherently contextual. A static default title like “Appointment” would be useless to your team. The AI generates these from the actual conversation content. What to do: Describe in your agent’s prompt what the title, description, and meeting link should look like. For example:

• “Title format: [Service Type] — [Prospect Name]”
• “Include a Google Meet link for remote consultations. No link for on-site visits.”
• “In the description, include: prospect’s need, property type, and any special requests mentioned.”

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Routing — the same default-override pattern

Routing follows the same logic. The UI sets the default assignment (Fixed, Rotation, Percentage, or Smart). Your prompt adds intelligence on top. Any routing mode can be overridden by the prompt. For example, even if you set Rotation, your prompt can say: “If the prospect mentions a legal issue, always book with Dr. Rossi.” The rotation handles the default flow; the prompt handles the exceptions. For Smart mode specifically, the prompt is where all the logic lives — there’s no UI default to fall back on. You decide:

• Strict assignment: “Always book with Marco Bianchi.” → The AI never deviates.
• Flexible assignment: “Default to Marco Bianchi. If the prospect asks for a specific team member, or if the conversation reveals they need a specialist in X, book with the appropriate available team member instead.”

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The mental model

Rule of thumb: Set up infrastructure completely — schedules, constraints, sensible defaults. Then write the prompt to add intelligence — when to override defaults, what dynamic content to generate, how flexible assignment should be. Infrastructure = what can happen. Prompt = what should happen and why.

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✅ Quick Checklist

Use this to verify your setup is complete: ✅ All checked? Your agent is ready to book appointments!

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🛠️ Troubleshooting & FAQs