Synara

Product Introduction

1. Synara is a developer-first calendar invite and event synchronization service that replaces outdated ICS files with a modern API-driven solution for reliable scheduling across Google, Outlook, Apple, and other calendar providers. It uses ACE (Active Calendar Events), a standardized JSON format, to ensure consistent event data handling and eliminate parsing inconsistencies inherent in legacy ICS systems. The platform handles invites, updates, cancellations, and RSVPs through a single API call while maintaining backward compatibility with ICS for legacy clients.
2. The core value of Synara lies in its ability to guarantee event consistency across all major calendar platforms, preventing duplicates, partial updates, and timezone drift. By abstracting provider-specific quirks, it enables developers to focus on building event-driven applications without reverse-engineering calendar client behaviors. Synara acts as a single source of truth for event states, ensuring attendees always see the correct version of events regardless of their chosen calendar client.

Main Features

1. ACE (Active Calendar Events) Format: Synara replaces error-prone ICS files with a modern JSON schema that standardizes event properties like timezones, recurrence rules, and attendee roles. This eliminates parsing discrepancies between Google, Outlook, and Apple calendars while maintaining backward compatibility through automated ICS fallback generation. Developers can define events once through the API and trust Synara to handle provider-specific formatting requirements.
2. Cross-Provider Update Engine: A single PATCH API call propagates event changes to all attendees’ calendars using provider-specific update protocols, preventing duplicates and partial updates. Synara’s queueing system ensures Google Calendar updates respect "Method:UPDATE" standards, Outlook applies full changes instead of dropping updates, and Apple Calendar maintains recurring event integrity. Real-time webhooks confirm update delivery and sync status across all connected calendars.
3. Drift Prevention & Audit System: Synara continuously monitors calendar entries for unauthorized changes or timezone mismatches, triggering automatic corrections via its API. A full audit trail logs every invite delivery, RSVP response, and update attempt with timestamps and provider-specific response codes. Developers can replay events, resend invites, or rebuild ICS files through the dashboard without reprocessing entire datasets.

Problems Solved

1. Inconsistent ICS Parsing: Legacy ICS files (25+ years old) are interpreted differently by Google, Outlook, and Apple, leading to duplicate events, ignored updates, and mismatched timezones. Synara eliminates this by normalizing event data through ACE before translating it into provider-specific formats, ensuring uniform behavior across all platforms.
2. Developer Productivity Loss: Engineering teams waste months debugging calendar client-specific edge cases like Outlook’s update rejection or Google’s recurring event exceptions. Synara abstracts these complexities behind a unified API, reducing integration time from weeks to hours and eliminating 78% of calendar-related support tickets.
3. Event State Fragmentation: Applications lacking a central event authority struggle with conflicting attendee calendars showing different versions of the same event. Synara maintains a canonical event record, reconciling RSVPs and updates across providers while providing real-time visibility into attendee sync status through webhooks and dashboards.

Unique Advantages

1. Protocol-Agnostic Delivery: Unlike basic ICS generators, Synara employs calendar-specific transport logic, using Google Calendar API for Google users, Exchange Web Services for Outlook, and Apple’s CalDAV protocols where available. This ensures native integration with each provider’s update mechanisms rather than relying solely on email-attached ICS files.
2. Stateful Event Management: Synara stores and tracks the health of every event across all connected calendars, detecting and resolving discrepancies like manual attendee edits or missed updates. Competitors only handle initial invite delivery, while Synara manages the full event lifecycle, including recurring instance modifications and cancellation propagation.
3. Developer-Centric Tooling: The platform provides typed SDKs for PHP and JavaScript, prebuilt webhook handlers for RSVP tracking, and replay capabilities for failed updates. Unlike generic calendar APIs, Synara includes drift detection alerts, attendee-specific ICS rebuilds, and granular retry policies for enterprise-scale event synchronization.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How does Synara handle calendar providers that only support ICS? Synara automatically generates ICS files from the canonical ACE format when interacting with legacy systems, applying provider-specific encoding rules to prevent formatting errors. The platform maintains bidirectional sync, converting ICS-based responses back into ACE for consistency in your application’s event records.
2. Can Synara detect when an attendee manually edits their calendar entry? Yes, Synara’s drift detection system flags unauthorized changes through periodic checks and immediate webhook alerts from supported providers. Developers can configure auto-correction rules or receive notifications to reconcile changes via API within configurable time thresholds.
3. What happens during Google Calendar’s 1-hour event update delay? Synara’s update queue system holds subsequent changes until Google confirms the initial update completion, preventing race conditions. The API returns real-time acknowledgments while background workers enforce update ordering according to each provider’s latency tolerances.
4. How are recurring event exceptions handled? Synara’s ACE format supports complex recurrence patterns with exception dates, which are translated into provider-specific rules (Google’s RRULE vs. Outlook’s RECURRENCE-ID). The API allows modifying individual instances without breaking the main series, with changes propagated as targeted updates.
5. Does Synara support attendee authentication for private events? Yes, the platform integrates with OAuth2 flows to verify attendee identities when updating calendars, with optional attendee validation rules that reject updates from unverified email domains or unauthorized users.