conference-scheduler

name

conference-scheduler

description

Generate optimized conference schedules using Google OR-Tools CP-SAT solver. Use when the user needs to create conference schedules from CSV data with constraints like speaker conflicts, track distribution, room assignments, educational flow, and speaker availability. Supports both single-day and multi-day conferences. Handles inputs from Google Sheets CSV exports with talks (ID, title, summary, track, level, speakers, availability) and schedule slots (day, times, rooms). Outputs CSV and Markdown schedules.

Conference Scheduler Skill

Generate optimized conference schedules using Google OR-Tools CP-SAT constraint solver. Supports single-day and multi-day conferences.

Quick Start

pip install ortools --break-system-packages
python assets/scheduler.py schedule.csv talks.csv output.csv --time-limit 30

Input Formats

Single-Day Schedule CSV

"from hour";"to hour";"session type";"room name"
"10:35";"11:20";Conference;Room 2
"10:35";"11:20";Conference;Room 8
"11:30";"12:15";Conference;Room 3

Multi-Day Schedule CSV

Add a "day" column as the first column:

"day";"from hour";"to hour";"session type";"room name"
"Wednesday";"09:30";"10:15";Conference;Room 1
"Wednesday";"10:35";"11:20";Conference;Room 2
"Thursday";"09:30";"10:15";Conference;Room 1

Day values can be: day names (Monday, Tuesday), dates (2024-03-15), or labels (Day 1, Day 2).

Talks CSV

"Talk ID";"Talk Title";"Audience Level";"Talk Summary";"Track Name";"Speaker Availability days";"Available from";"Available to";"Speaker names"
1411;Unit Test Your Architecture;BEGINNER;ArchUnit is...;Development Practices;Wednesday,Thursday;;;Roland Weisleder
3872;Full-stack development;INTERMEDIATE;Java developers...;UI & UX;;;;Simon Martinelli

Speaker Availability formats (column 6):

• Day names: Wednesday,Thursday
• Day numbers: 1,2,3
• Empty = available all days

Constraints

Hard Constraints (Must satisfy)

Constraint	Description
Speaker conflict	Same speaker can't be in two rooms at same time
Room conflict	Two talks can't be in same room at same time
Track conflict	Same track can't have talks in different rooms simultaneously
Speaker availability	Speaker must be available on scheduled day

Soft Constraints (Optimization)

Constraint	Description
Educational flow	Beginner → Intermediate → Advanced within track

Output

CSV Output

Single-day:

"Talk ID";"From";"To";"Room";"Title";"Speakers";"Level";"Track"

Multi-day:

"Day";"Talk ID";"From";"To";"Room";"Title";"Speakers";"Level";"Track"

Markdown Output

Generated alongside CSV with .md extension, includes tables grouped by timeslot (and day for multi-day).

Programmatic Usage

from pathlib import Path
from scheduler import (
    read_schedule_csv, read_talks_csv, solve_schedule,
    write_csv_output, write_markdown_output, print_schedule
)

# Read input
timeslots, rooms, day_names = read_schedule_csv(Path("schedule.csv"))
talks = read_talks_csv(Path("talks.csv"), day_names)

# Solve (30 second time limit)
talks, status = solve_schedule(timeslots, rooms, talks, time_limit_seconds=30)

# Output
print_schedule(talks, multi_day=len(day_names) > 1)
write_csv_output(talks, Path("output.csv"), multi_day=len(day_names) > 1)

Time Limits

• Small conferences (< 30 talks): 10-30 seconds
• Medium conferences (30-100 talks): 30-120 seconds
• Large conferences (100+ talks): 2-10 minutes

Troubleshooting

INFEASIBLE status

The constraints cannot all be satisfied. Check for:

• More talks than available slots
• Speaker with more talks than available timeslots
• Too many talks in same track for parallel slots

Missing ortools

pip install ortools --break-system-packages