Doodle
Run group availability polls and convert the selected option into a calendar event
The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Doodle, run group availability polls and convert the selected option into a calendar event. The hard boundary is participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery, plus calendar integrations and reliability.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery
- multiple calendar providers
- team routing and round-robin
- payments
- timezone edge-case maturity
Why people still pay
People still pay for Doodle because people pay because one double booking or missed invite can cost more than years of subscription fees. The recurring cost buys OAuth refresh, webhooks, timezone databases, race conditions, reminders, deliverability, privacy, and uptime, not just the visible interface.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- Google OAuth credentials, a registered HTTPS callback and calendar access granted by the owner. Confirm the provider scopes and publishing requirements before adding guests.
- Implementation components: Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace. One Google Calendar OAuth adapter, a timezone-aware date library, and an outbox worker for email/ICS delivery.
- Scope boundary: participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery; multiple calendar providers
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Optional external skill: gws-calendar — Use Google Calendar calendars, events, recurrence, free/busy queries and integration discovery through the gws CLI. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: supabase-postgres-best-practices — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Optional external skill: web-design-guidelines — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission.
Project rule — data model: polls, proposed UTC slots, participant tokens, yes/if-needed/no responses and finalized event receipts
Project rule — preserve this invariant: A poll can be finalized once; availability votes are preferences and do not themselves reserve attendees' calendars.
Project rule — acceptance evidence: Two finalization requests create one event; a participant timezone switch changes displayed times without changing recorded slot IDs.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Propose a small set of times, share a voting matrix and let participants revise their own responses. The organizer chooses one slot, rechecks their calendar and sends a final ICS invitation. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery; multiple calendar providers
Phase 2
Durable model. Model polls, proposed UTC slots, participant tokens, yes/if-needed/no responses and finalized event receipts Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: A poll can be finalized once; availability votes are preferences and do not themselves reserve attendees' calendars.
Phase 3
Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Store UTC instants plus the intended IANA timezone. Reserve locally in a transaction, recheck provider availability, create with a stable external ID, then reconcile timeouts before retrying.
Phase 4
Permissions and integration failure. Encrypt refresh tokens with a separately managed key; expose busy intervals rather than event titles publicly. Hash guest management tokens and bound their lifetime. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results.
Phase 5
Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README.
Phase 6
Acceptance scenarios. Two finalization requests create one event; a participant timezone switch changes displayed times without changing recorded slot IDs. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder.
WORKING SLICE Propose a small set of times, share a voting matrix and let participants revise their own responses. The organizer chooses one slot, rechecks their calendar and sends a final ICS invitation. Build this scoped Doodle-inspired workflow with a documented data model and visible failure states. Architecture - Next.js App Router and TypeScript for server-rendered pages and validated mutations. - PostgreSQL with Drizzle migrations; Better Auth sessions for a small private workspace. - One Google Calendar OAuth adapter, a timezone-aware date library, and an outbox worker for email/ICS delivery. Prerequisites and limits Google OAuth credentials, a registered HTTPS callback and calendar access granted by the owner. Confirm the provider scopes and publishing requirements before adding guests. Outside this release: participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery; multiple calendar providers Data model and correctness polls, proposed UTC slots, participant tokens, yes/if-needed/no responses and finalized event receipts Invariant: A poll can be finalized once; availability votes are preferences and do not themselves reserve attendees' calendars. Store UTC instants plus the intended IANA timezone. Reserve locally in a transaction, recheck provider availability, create with a stable external ID, then reconcile timeouts before retrying. Security and privacy Encrypt refresh tokens with a separately managed key; expose busy intervals rather than event titles publicly. Hash guest management tokens and bound their lifetime. Recovery and export Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Implementation order 1. Phase 1 — Scope and fixtures. Implement this bounded workflow: Propose a small set of times, share a voting matrix and let participants revise their own responses. The organizer chooses one slot, rechecks their calendar and sends a final ICS invitation. Record prerequisites, select representative user-owned fixtures and document the unsupported features: participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery; multiple calendar providers 2. Phase 2 — Durable model. Model polls, proposed UTC slots, participant tokens, yes/if-needed/no responses and finalized event receipts Add migrations or a versioned document format, explicit validation, stable IDs and a visible import-error report. Preserve this rule: A poll can be finalized once; availability votes are preferences and do not themselves reserve attendees' calendars. 3. Phase 3 — Complete the first useful path. Implement the workflow's input, review and output interface, with clear controls and explicit empty/error states. Store UTC instants plus the intended IANA timezone. Reserve locally in a transaction, recheck provider availability, create with a stable external ID, then reconcile timeouts before retrying. 4. Phase 4 — Permissions and integration failure. Encrypt refresh tokens with a separately managed key; expose busy intervals rather than event titles publicly. Hash guest management tokens and bound their lifetime. Request integration credentials and permissions only for the enabled feature; show a disconnected state instead of mock results. 5. Phase 5 — Portable handoff. Export versioned JSON plus attachments and a readable CSV summary. Restore into a separate database and compare record IDs and attachment checksums before switching. Include setup, operating limits, fixture walkthrough and shutdown/restart instructions in the README. 6. Phase 6 — Acceptance scenarios. Two finalization requests create one event; a participant timezone switch changes displayed times without changing recorded slot IDs. Repeat the workflow after restart and with a denied permission or unavailable dependency; show recoverable failure rather than a success placeholder. Acceptance Two finalization requests create one event; a participant timezone switch changes displayed times without changing recorded slot IDs. Use real source data or clearly labeled fixtures. Explain unsupported input and provider failures; do not fabricate analytics, delivery receipts, accuracy claims or security guarantees. Optional agent guidance Optional external skill: [gws-calendar](https://github.com/googleworkspace/cli/blob/main/skills/gws-calendar/SKILL.md) — Use Google Calendar calendars, events, recurrence, free/busy queries and integration discovery through the gws CLI. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [supabase-postgres-best-practices](https://github.com/supabase/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/SKILL.md) — Review PostgreSQL schemas, queries, indexes, pooling, concurrency and row-level security. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Optional external skill: [web-design-guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md) — Review web interfaces for accessibility, keyboard focus, forms, navigation and interaction quality. Review its instructions and compatibility before use; it does not grant deployment, data-access or publication permission. Project rule — data model: polls, proposed UTC slots, participant tokens, yes/if-needed/no responses and finalized event receipts Project rule — preserve this invariant: A poll can be finalized once; availability votes are preferences and do not themselves reserve attendees' calendars. Project rule — acceptance evidence: Two finalization requests create one event; a participant timezone switch changes displayed times without changing recorded slot IDs.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md
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Alternatives to building your own
all 6 free alternatives to Doodle →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Doodle pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| free | $0/user | $0/user | 1 Booking Page, 1 one-to-one page, max 10 time slots/group poll, max 20 sessions/sign-up sheet and up to 1,000 participants/group pollInvitations must be shared manually; sending invitations from Doodle requires paid Professional. |
| pro | $15/user | $11/user | 1 user; unlimited group polls, one-to-ones, Booking Pages and sign-up sheets; up to 1,000 participants/group pollAnnual plan is billed $132/year. |
| team | $21/user | $16/user | 2–100 seats, unlimited scheduling per user and up to 5 hosts per Booking PageMinimum 2 paid users. |
| enterprise | — | — | More than 100 users, SSO/SAML, dedicated account management, advanced reporting and SLACustom quote. |
free tier1 Booking Page, 1 one-to-one page, 10 time slots/group poll, 20 sessions/sign-up sheet and up to 1,000 participants/group poll
billingmonthly + annual; subscriptions auto-renew
hidden costsTeam has a 2-seat minimum. Annual subscribers can request a full refund within 14 days; monthly refunds are limited to rights required by law. Enterprise features and pricing require a quote.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-14 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Doodle
Can you build your own Doodle with AI?
Partly. The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a real weekend or multi-day project. For Doodle, run group availability polls and convert the selected option into a calendar event. The hard boundary is participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery, plus calendar integrations and reliability.
What does the Doodle build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Propose a small set of times, share a voting matrix and let participants revise their own responses. The organizer chooses one slot, rechecks their calendar and sends a final ICS invitation. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery; multiple calendar providers; team routing and round-robin. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Doodle prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Doodle project take?
The catalogue estimate is multi-day for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Doodle?
participant familiarity, calendar connections, reminders, branding, and hosted delivery; multiple calendar providers; team routing and round-robin; payments; timezone edge-case maturity. People still pay for Doodle because people pay because one double booking or missed invite can cost more than years of subscription fees. The recurring cost buys OAuth refresh, webhooks, timezone databases, race conditions, reminders, deliverability, privacy, and uptime, not just the visible interface.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Pro plan is $15/mo per seat (monthly per user), checked 2026-08-14. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Doodle?
Rallly: Doodle’s useful half, date polls, votes, comments and finalization, without the account ambush. Nextcloud Polls: Excellent Doodle replacement hiding inside a whole Nextcloud server; the poll is easy, the platform is not. Calendly Free: One active event type and unlimited bookings; meeting polls survive, workflows and teams do not. Compare all listed options at https://howtovibecodeit.dev/doodle/alternatives. Check each option's license, hosting needs and feature limits.