Keep Monday coffee chats running without manual planning. Each week, the flow gathers people from a chosen Mattermost channel, forms small groups, posts the groups, and sends calendar invites. It is useful for remote teams and new hires who need fast social ties.

A Monday schedule at 10 starts the run. A greeting is posted to your Mattermost channel, then the member list is pulled from that same channel. A function splits people into groups of three and builds usernames and emails for each group. Group names are posted back to the channel, and Google Calendar creates events with attendees and a video link so each group has a time and invite ready.

Set the Mattermost channel ID and connect your Google Calendar. Adjust the day, time, and event length to fit your team. Expect planning time to drop from hours to minutes and better attendance because invites land in inboxes. This is great for random coffee chats, a buddy system, and cross team meetups.

• Weekly schedule trigger set to Monday at 10 to start the flow
• Greeting message posted to the selected Mattermost channel
• Pulls all users who are members of that channel
• Smart grouping function that creates groups of three people
• Group announcement message that lists usernames in the channel
• Google Calendar events created with attendees taken from group emails
• Conference link added and guests can modify events if needed

• Reduce manual coordination from 2 hours to 10 minutes each week
• Automate 90 percent of coffee chat setup from group pairing to invites
• Increase meeting attendance by sending calendar invites with a video link
• Connect Mattermost and Google Calendar without copy and paste
• Handle dozens of participants with automatic grouping

1. Import the template into n8n: Create a new workflow in n8n > Click the three dots menu > Select 'Import from File' > Choose the downloaded JSON file.
2. You'll need accounts with Google Calendar and Mattermost. See the Tools Required section above for links to create accounts with these services.
3. Open the workflow and double click the Mattermost nodes. In the credential field, click Create new credential, then follow the on screen steps to connect your Mattermost account. Name the credential clearly, such as Mattermost Cred.
4. Double click the Google Calendar node. In the credential field, click Create new credential and follow the on screen steps to connect your Google account with Google Calendar OAuth. Choose a clear name, such as Google Calendar Cred.
5. In the Greetings node, enter the Mattermost channel ID where you want the posts. Make sure the bot or token has access to that channel.
6. Open the Employees in coffee chat channel node and confirm the inChannel value matches the same channel ID. Click Execute Node to verify it returns a list of users.
7. Open the Divide into groups node and adjust the group size constant if you want pairs or larger groups. Save your change.
8. Open the Send calendar invites node. Select your target calendar, set the start and end times for the next chat window, and ensure conference data is enabled so a video link is added.
9. Open the Weekly trigger on monday node and confirm the schedule hour and timezone suit your team. Change the day or time if needed.
10. Run a test. Check the Mattermost channel for the greeting and group post. Confirm calendar events are created with the right attendees. If no users appear, confirm channel permissions. If invites fail, ensure each user has a valid email and that the function maps emails correctly.