schedule

name	schedule
description	Find open blocks on the hiring manager's calendar and batch schedule phone screens or tech screens. Two modes: "when am I free?" (show availability) and "schedule my calls" (match candidates to blocks and create events). Use when the user says "schedule", "when am I free", "find me time", "batch phone screens", "line up candidates", or any variation.
allowed-tools	["Bash","Read","Skill","mcp__google-workspace__gmail_query_emails","mcp__google-workspace__gmail_get_email","mcp__google-workspace__calendar_get_events","mcp__google-workspace__calendar_create_event","mcp__google-workspace__calendar_list","mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__gmail_create_draft","mcp__gmail-drafts__gmail_send_draft","mcp__gmail-drafts__gmail_list_drafts","mcp__ashby__candidate_search","mcp__ashby__candidate_info","mcp__ashby__application_info","mcp__ashby__application_list","mcp__ashby__interview_schedule_create","mcp__ashby__interview_schedule_list","mcp__ashby__interview_event_list","mcp__ashby__lookup","mcp__waas__candidate_show","mcp__waas__candidate_status_show","mcp__waas__candidate_status_update"]

Note: Read recruit-config/user.md for the hiring manager's name, email, and preferences. Do not hardcode any user-specific values.

Config: Read these files before executing — they contain all IDs, tokens, templates, and rules:

• recruit-config/user.md — hiring manager email, Zoom link, office, Slack IDs, noise senders
• recruit-config/ashby.md — source IDs, archive reasons, email style, draft tool rules
• recruit-config/waas.md — WAAS pipeline stages, job IDs, MCP tools` — Slack/Gmail config, source IDs, archive reasons
• recruit-config/CLAUDE.local.md — Slack bot token (gitignored)
• recruit-config/jobs/product-engineer.md — job ID, stage IDs, candidate bar, outreach template, tone rules

Schedule

Find open time and batch schedule candidate calls. Combines calendar availability with pipeline needs.

Input

• /schedule → show availability + suggest who to schedule
• /schedule when am I free → just show open blocks
• /schedule Monday → show just Monday's availability
• /schedule 4 calls Thursday → fit 4 phone screens into Thursday
• /schedule tech screens → find 1-hour blocks for tech screens

Part 1: Find Open Blocks

Step 1: Pull calendar events

calendar_get_events(
  user_id: "<hiring manager email from user.md>",
  calendar_id: "primary",
  time_min: <start of range>,
  time_max: <end of range>,
  timezone: "America/Los_Angeles"
)

If the result is too large, save to file and parse with python.

Step 2: Find open blocks

Working hours: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM PT, Monday through Friday.

For each business day in the range:

1. List all non-cancelled events with their start/end times
2. Find gaps between events that are >= minimum block size
3. Only count gaps within working hours (9am-5pm)
4. Ignore all-day events (they don't block time slots) — BUT note them (Demo Day, batch events, onsites)

Step 3: Calculate capacity

For each open block:

• Phone screens = floor(duration / 30 min)
• Tech screens = floor(duration / 60 min)

Step 4: Present availability

## Available Blocks (Mar 23-28, 2026)
Working hours: 9am-5pm PT

| Day | Block | Duration | Fits |
|-----|-------|----------|------|
| Mon 3/23 | 1:45-4:00pm | 2h 15m | 4 phone screens or 2 tech screens |
| Tue 3/24 | — | (Demo Day) | — |
| Wed 3/25 | 2:00-5:00pm | 3h | 6 phone screens or 3 tech screens |
| Thu 3/26 | 2:00-5:00pm | 3h | 6 phone screens |
| Fri 3/27 | 10:15-5:00pm | 6h 45m | 13 phone screens |

Best day for a big block: **Friday 3/27** (6h 45m open)

If the user only asked "when am I free" — stop here. Otherwise, continue to Part 2.

Part 2: Match Candidates to Blocks

Step 5: Find candidates needing scheduling

Pull from pipeline — candidates that need phone screens or tech screens:

• Candidates who proposed times but the hiring manager hasn't picked
• Candidates who confirmed a time but no calendar invite sent
• Candidates who need a reschedule
• New intros (J&J, WAAS) with no reply yet
• Candidates at Tech Screen needing exercise scheduling

Step 6: Match candidates to the best block

Find the single best day that:

1. Has a block large enough to fit all candidates
2. Is soonest (don't push to next week if this week works)
3. Doesn't conflict with Demo Day, batch events, or onsites

If a candidate proposed specific times, check if those times overlap with the suggested block. Flag conflicts.

Step 7: Present the proposal — DO NOT EXECUTE

## Schedule Suggestion

Best day: **Thursday March 26** | Block: **2:00-5:00pm PT**
Fits: 6 phone screens (30 min each)

| Slot | Candidate | Background | What to send |
|------|-----------|------------|-------------|
| 2:00-2:30 | Candidate Y | Hedge Fund + Tech Corp (J&J intro) | Reply to intro, propose Thu 2pm Zoom |
| 2:30-3:00 | Candidate J | Intern candidate | Confirm Thu 2:30pm |
| 3:00-3:30 | Candidate G | Block, Tech Lead | Already proposed Thu 3pm in outreach |
| 3:30-4:00 | Candidate Z | PhD, former CTO | Already proposed Thu 3:30pm in outreach |

**Conflicts / notes:**
- Candidate G and Jamie already received outreach with these times proposed
- Candidate J proposed times — Thu 2:30pm fits his availability

**Ready to go?** Say "yes" to create all calendar events and Gmail drafts, or edit the lineup.

Step 8: Wait for confirmation

DO NOT create calendar events or Gmail drafts until the hiring manager explicitly approves.

The hiring manager may:

• "yes" → create all events + drafts
• Edit the lineup ("swap X and Y", "remove Z", "move to Friday")
• Ask for a different day
• Ask for more candidates to add

Step 9: Execute (only after approval)

For each approved candidate:

9a. Ensure candidate exists in Ashby

Before scheduling, check if the candidate has an Ashby application:

1. Search Ashby by name (candidate_search) and by email
2. If not found: create the candidate (candidate_create with name, email, LinkedIn, source) → create application (application_create with jobId, candidateId, interviewStageId for Phone Screen, sourceId) → note this was auto-created
3. If found but no application on this job: create the application
4. If found with application: proceed

9b. Create Google Calendar event

No "screen"/"interview" in candidate-facing text:

• Title: "{First name} and <hiring manager first name from user.md>"
• Zoom: "Thanks for making time to chat!\n\nJoin Zoom: <Zoom link from user.md>\n\n<hiring manager first name from user.md>"
• In-person: Include office address from user.md + parking instructions
• Add candidate email + hiring manager email (from user.md) as attendees
• Create with sendUpdates: "none" first so the hiring manager can review, then send on confirmation

9c. Create Ashby interview schedule

interview_schedule_create(
  applicationId: "app-uuid",
  interviewEvents: [{
    startTime: "2026-03-25T15:00:00.000Z",
    endTime: "2026-03-25T15:30:00.000Z",
    interviewId: "<interview ID from recruit-config/jobs/ for this role>",
    interviewers: [
      {email: "<hiring manager email from user.md>", feedbackRequired: true}
    ]
  }]
)

Use lookup(type: "user") to find co-worker emails if needed. Ask the hiring manager who should interview if not obvious.

Note: Ashby API does NOT create Google Calendar events — that's why step 9b is separate and required.

9d. Offer follow-up email

After creating the calendar event and Ashby schedule, ask the hiring manager:

"Calendar invite created (not sent yet). Want me to also draft a confirmation email to {name}? Or just send the calendar invite?"

Options:

• "send invite" → send the calendar invite (update event with sendUpdates: "all")
• "draft email" → create a Gmail draft in the existing thread confirming time + Zoom link
• "both" → send invite + draft email
• "skip" → don't send anything yet

9e. Update WAAS stage (if candidate is in WAAS)

If the candidate has a WAAS short_id, update their WAAS pipeline status to reflect the scheduled screen:

candidate_status_update(short_id, state: "screen", pipeline_stage: "Screen")

This keeps WAAS in sync with Ashby. For tech screens, use state: "interviewing", pipeline_stage: "Interview".

9g. Verify (MANDATORY)

DO NOT report success until you have re-queried ALL of the following to confirm each action took effect:

• Calendar: calendar_get_events for the time window — verify event appears with correct attendees
• Ashby: interview_schedule_list — verify schedule was created
• WAAS: candidate_status_show — verify stage was updated (if applicable)
• Drafts: gmail_list_drafts — verify draft exists (if created) Report what you verified in the confirmation message.

Tech Screen Scheduling

When scheduling tech screens (not phone screens), the process is different:

1. Ask the hiring manager who to CC — the YC engineer running the exercise. Never guess. Present: "Who should run the exercise? (e.g. Jason, Lauren, Interviewer A)"
2. Check the engineer's calendar too — the time slot must work for both the hiring manager and the engineer.
3. Include the interview process doc in the email: <interview process doc URL from recruit-config/jobs/>
4. Use the Post-Screen Advancement template from the playbook.
5. Tech screens are 1 hour, not 30 minutes.

Email formatting rule

No hard line wrapping. Write each paragraph as a single continuous line — let the email client handle wrapping. Never insert \n within a paragraph. Only use newlines between paragraphs.

Gmail & Calendar Rules

• ASCII only in emails. No em dashes, curly quotes, or unicode. Use -- instead of em dashes and straight quotes. The plain-text Gmail MCP tool mangles unicode into garbage.
• Phone screen calendar invites use the title <Candidate First Name> and Ryan -- no "Phone Screen" label. Later stages (tech screen, onsite, partner) include the stage name.
• Use mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__gmail_create_draft (not mcp__gmail-drafts__gmail_create_draft) when creating email drafts. Set contentType: "text/html" and use <p> tags. The gmail-drafts tool only supports text/plain which hard-wraps lines at 78 characters, making emails look broken.
• Never create calendar invites until the candidate confirms the time. Send the outreach or scheduling email first, wait for the candidate to reply confirming, then create the calendar event. Sending an unsolicited calendar invite before confirmation is presumptuous and creates a bad impression.

Calendar Placeholder Pattern

• Holds/placeholders: Use notificationLevel: "NONE" so the candidate does not receive a calendar invite for tentative holds.
• Confirmed meetings: Use notificationLevel: "ALL" so all attendees receive the invite.
• When sending a hold, also send a separate email with [Hold] in the subject line so the candidate knows the time is tentatively reserved.

Rules

1. Always use America/Los_Angeles timezone. The hiring manager's timezone is in user.md.
2. Verify the day of week. Always compute what day a date falls on. Don't guess.
3. Skip weekends and known blocked days. Demo Day, batch events, full-day onsites → note as blocked.
4. Show blocks >= 30 min only. Don't show 15-minute gaps.
5. Round to clean times. Event ends at 10:17 → block starts at 10:15 or 10:30.
6. Back-to-back is fine for phone screens. 30 min each, no buffer needed.
7. NEVER create events or drafts without explicit approval.
8. Check candidate email threads for proposed times before suggesting — don't propose a time they already rejected.
9. Check for email address changes in threads before creating events.
10. Flag candidates who haven't replied. If the hiring manager proposed a time and the candidate hasn't responded, note "waiting for reply."
11. Always ask the hiring manager who to CC for tech screens. Never guess the engineer.
12. Stagger times when scheduling multiple candidates — don't double-book.