@opentechevents/export-ics

Converts a valid OTE Feed (v0.2) into an iCalendar document (RFC 5545).

import { feedToIcs } from "@opentechevents/export-ics";

const ics = feedToIcs(feed); // string, ready to serve as text/calendar

feedToIcs is a pure function: no network, no filesystem, no clock. Output is deterministic — the same feed always produces byte-identical ICS. It assumes the feed is valid; validate first with @opentechevents/validate.

CLI

ote-export-ics <feed.json> [output.ics]

Reads the feed, validates it, writes the ICS to output.ics (or stdout when omitted). Exit codes: 0 exported · 1 invalid JSON or invalid feed · 2 usage or I/O error.

Mapping (OTE v0.2 → VEVENT)

| OTE | iCal | | --- | --- | | id | UID | | name | SUMMARY | | description | DESCRIPTION | | startDate / endDate + timezone | DTSTART / DTEND (see below) | | url (else location.onlineUrl) | URL | | location.venue | LOCATION | | location.geo | GEO | | tags | CATEGORIES | | status | STATUS (scheduled→CONFIRMED, cancelled→CANCELLED, postponed/rescheduled→TENTATIVE) | | updatedAt | LAST-MODIFIED | | feed updatedAt | DTSTAMP on every VEVENT (keeps the function pure) | | feed title / description | X-WR-CALNAME / X-WR-CALDESC |

Decisions worth knowing:

• Dates. Timed events emit wall-clock values with TZID=<IANA zone> (UTC uses the Z form). No VTIMEZONE is emitted: generating one requires a timezone database, and mainstream clients resolve IANA TZIDs on their own.
• All-day events use VALUE=DATE. OTE endDate is inclusive; iCal DTEND is exclusive, so the export adds one day. Without endDate, DTEND is omitted (RFC default: one day).
• Hybrid events. url and location.onlineUrl both map to URL; the canonical page wins and the attend link is appended to DESCRIPTION as Online: <url> so it is never lost.
• Dropped, not approximated: attendanceMode, languages, license, source have no iCal equivalent and are omitted. Absent fields stay absent (e.g. no STATUS is invented when status is missing).