How do I add a booking system?

Two paths, pick based on complexity

Approach	Effort	Good for
Embed Calendly (or similar)	Low	Simple 1:1 or team scheduling, no custom logic needed
Custom-built booking	Higher	Multi-resource scheduling, custom pricing, tied into your own data

Embedding an existing tool

See /questions/how-do-i-embed-calendly for the quick version — this covers most small-business booking needs (consultations, calls, single-service appointments) with no backend work required.

Building it custom in Lovable

"Add a booking system where customers pick a service, see available time slots for the next 14 days, and book an appointment. Store bookings in a database table and prevent double-booking."

1. Ask Lovable to create a bookings table (service, date/time, customer details, status) in Lovable Cloud, with row-level security so customers can't see others' bookings.
2. Define availability — fixed weekly hours, or a separate availability table if it varies.
3. Ask for server-side logic that checks existing bookings before confirming a new one, to prevent double-booking (don't rely on the front end alone to enforce this).
4. Add confirmation emails via Resend or a similar email integration once a booking is confirmed.
5. If payment is required at booking time, connect Stripe (see /questions/how-do-i-connect-stripe).

What usually goes wrong

• Double-booking because the availability check only happens in the browser, which two simultaneous visitors can both pass before either booking is saved.
• Time zone bugs — store times in UTC and convert for display, and be explicit with Lovable about which time zone customers see.
• No cancellation/reschedule flow, which then becomes a support burden.
• Calendar sync (Google Calendar, Outlook) is a separate integration, not automatic — ask for it explicitly if you need it.

Custom scheduling logic with real double-booking protection is one of the trickier things to get right through chat alone; PromptSites.com can build and test it properly.