Google Calender, Operation Availability

Questions
1

Hello, I’m working on a project that uses Google Calendar, specifically the Availability operation. When I make a request to the Google Calendar API, why does it use the UTC+0 timezone? For example, if I make a request with Start Time: 2026-01-19T15:00:00 and End Time: 2026-01-19T16:00:00, it searches my calendar from 12:00 to 13:00, when it should be searching from 15:00 to 16:00.

For context: I’m hosting this project on my VPS, which I’ve already set to the America/Sao_Paulo timezone. n8n is also set to America/Sao_Paulo, and the workflow is configured for America/Sao_Paulo as well.

Note: Only this resource is using the UTC+0 time. If I use the Event resource, the request is made correctly using the server’s timezone. Does this make sense?

2

Yes, this makes sense and you’re not misconfiguring anything.

This behavior comes from how the Google Calendar Free/Busy (Availability) endpoint works, not from your VPS or n8n timezone settings.

What’s happening

  • The Availability / FreeBusy API expects timestamps in UTC by default

  • If you send start / end without an explicit timezone offset, Google assumes UTC

  • n8n passes those values as-is for this operation

  • Result: 2026-01-19T15:00:00 is interpreted as 15:00 UTC, which becomes 12:00–13:00 America/Sao_Paulo

That’s why:

  • :white_check_mark: Event resource works (it respects calendar / server timezone)

  • :cross_mark: Availability resource shifts time (UTC-based unless specified)

This is a Google API inconsistency, not an n8n bug.

[email protected]

3

Appreciate it man, that really helps me

1 Like
4

You are welcome