How to build appointment booking in Bubble

How to build appointment booking in Bubble

The simplest way to build appointment booking in Bubble is: create a Booking data type with fields for date, time, and who booked; create a Time Slot data type or generate time options; show only available slots in a repeating group; and when the user clicks a slot, run a Workflow → Create a new Booking while checking that the slot isn't already taken. This avoids double‑booking and works reliably for real apps.

Detailed explanation

Bubble doesn’t have a built‑in booking system, so you create it using the Database + Workflows + Privacy Rules.

• Data types

Create two types:

• Booking: fields: date (date), start_time (date), end_time (date), user (User), provider (User).
• Provider Availability (optional but recommended): fields: day (text), start_time (number), end_time (number).

This lets you filter which hours can be booked.

• Showing available slots

Use a Repeating Group where each cell represents one time slot. The list can come from an API (e.g., Google Calendar) or you generate it inside Bubble by creating a “list of times” using a custom state or an Option Set.

Set the RG data source to only show slots where a Booking doesn't already exist:

// RG Search Constraint
Booking's start_time != This cell's start_time

• Creating the booking

When the user clicks a slot: run a Workflow → Create a new Booking. Add a condition on the workflow to avoid double‑booking:

Only when: Search for Bookings
    (start_time = This cell's start_time
     and provider = Current cell provider)'s count is 0

This guarantees two people can't book the same slot even if they click at the same time.

• Canceling or editing

You simply run Make changes to a thing or Delete thing on the Booking record.

• Privacy rules

In Data → Privacy, restrict Bookings so users can only see their own. Providers can see all bookings that reference them.

This setup is the same pattern used for doctor apps, coaching apps, salon scheduling, or any simple appointment system.