Why I Built a Shared, Read-Only Calendar for Families and Small Teams
When you have multiple people, multiple calendars, and a busy schedule, coordination breaks down quickly.
I built ComingUp.today after running into the same problem repeatedly: important events existed, but visibility didn’t. Someone always missed something, or found out too late that a conflict existed.
This wasn’t a tooling problem — everyone already had a calendar. It was a shared awareness problem.
The problem with “just share your calendar”
Most calendar tools assume:
- Everyone is comfortable sharing full access
- Everyone wants to edit events
- Everyone checks the same app regularly
In real life, that’s rarely true — especially for families or small teams.
What people usually want is:
- A single place to see what’s coming up
- Without granting edit access
- Without replacing the calendar tools they already use
A read-only aggregation approach
The core idea behind ComingUp.today is simple:
- Connect calendars you already use
- Display them together in one shared view
- Keep everything read-only
Multiple people can connect their own calendars, and each workspace controls which calendars are visible, making it possible to see an aggregate view across people without exposing everything.
This avoids permission issues, accidental edits, and “who changed this?” moments.
It also makes the system suitable for shared displays — for example, a tablet or monitor in a common space where anyone can glance at the day or week ahead.
Why read-only matters
Read-only access has a few important advantages:
- Lower trust barrier when connecting accounts
- Clear ownership of events
- Fewer sync conflicts
- Simpler mental model for non-technical users
The goal isn’t to replace calendars — it’s to make schedules visible.
Built for real households (and small teams)
The design is shaped around real usage:
- Busy households with overlapping schedules
- Small teams that need visibility without shared editing
- Mixed personal and shared events
The focus is clarity, not features for their own sake.
Privacy-first by default
The system only displays what users explicitly authorize.
Access can be revoked at any time, and visibility is configurable per workspace.
It’s intentionally not designed to store or manage sensitive data, and it works best when event titles remain high-level and practical.
Current status
The product is live and under active development.
If you’re curious about the approach or want to see how a shared, read-only schedule works
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