The AI assistant fills in the event form for you. You describe the event in one sentence, and it sets the dates, the repeat rule, the capacity, the venue and the category. You check the result, then save.
It runs on Claude, the AI made by Anthropic, with your own Anthropic account. It never saves anything by itself.
The AI assistant needs HappenBoard Pro. See what Pro adds.
Before you start
- An Anthropic account with an API key (a secret code that gives your site access to that account). You create the key in the Anthropic Console.
- Credit on that account. Anthropic bills each use at its own rates. With the default model, one event costs a fraction of a cent.
Turn on the assistant
- Go to HappenBoard → Settings → AI assistant.
- Switch on Enable the AI assistant. It is off by default.
- Paste your key into API key.
- Keep the default Model, or pick another one (see below).
- Click Save.
- Reload the page, so the event form shows the assistant.
Provider shows Anthropic, the only choice for now.
Once saved, the key is never shown again: the field only shows its last four characters. Leave the field empty to keep the stored key, or paste a new one to replace it. If the assistant is on but no key is stored, the tab shows a warning and the assistant stays hidden.
Choose a model
| Model | What it is good at |
|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 (default) | The fastest and cheapest. Enough for most descriptions. |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | More careful with messy or long descriptions. |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | The most capable. |
A site that used the assistant before Pro 1.0.0 keeps the model stored then, such as Claude Haiku 4.5. The list shows it with (previous model) after its name, and it keeps working. To move to a current model, pick it and click Save.
Fill in an event from a sentence
The assistant sits at the top of the event form, not in the block editor. You open that form:
- with New event on the Events screen;
- with a click on a day of the admin Calendar;
- with Edit on an existing event.
Once the form is open:
- In Describe the event, type or paste a description in plain language, in any order. For example: “Yoga for beginners every Monday 7 to 8 pm from 5 January to 30 March, 15 seats, Studio B, Wellness category”.
- Click Fill in the form.
- Check every field and correct what is wrong.
- Click Create event, or Save when you edit an event.
Nothing is saved until you click that last button. There is no chat: one description, one answer.
What it fills in
The assistant can fill Event title, Summary, Start, End, All-day event, the Recurrence rule, Capacity, Venue, Organizer, Categories, Format and Meeting URL. It never changes the tags, the featured image or the online meeting Provider.
- It only fills what your description says. The other fields keep what they had, and it never guesses an end time.
- Times are read in your site’s timezone, and “next Tuesday” counts from today.
- It only picks venues, organizers and categories that already exist on your site. A venue or organizer it cannot find leaves the field empty, and a note under the button names it, such as Venue mentioned: Studio B. Create it, then pick it in the form.
Check the dates and the repeat rule first. A wrong date that looks plausible is the easiest mistake to miss.
When it could not fill in the form
The assistant says why in a message at the bottom of the screen.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| The assistant answered without filling in the form, followed by its reply | The reply is often a question. Add what it asks for, then try again. |
| The assistant did not fill in the form. | Give at least the event’s title or date. |
| The AI provider declined to read this description. | Rephrase it, or fill in the form by hand. |
| The AI provider stopped before it had filled in the form. | Shorten the description and try again. |
| Could not reach the AI provider. | The request failed or took more than 60 seconds. Try again. |
| The AI provider returned nothing usable. | Try again. |
When Anthropic refuses the request itself, you see Anthropic’s own message. The usual causes are an invalid key, no credit left, or a model your account cannot use.
What is sent to Anthropic
Nothing is sent until the assistant is on, a key is stored and someone clicks Fill in the form. Typing sends nothing. Each click sends, from your server straight to Anthropic:
- the description, up to 4,000 characters;
- your site’s timezone and today’s date;
- the names of up to 60 published venues, 60 published organizers and 60 event categories, so it can match them.
No attendee data, no email address and nothing about registrations or bookings is sent. Nothing goes through HappenBoard’s servers. Anthropic’s terms and privacy policy apply, and the settings tab links to that policy. Mention the assistant in your own privacy policy (see GDPR and personal data).
With more than 60 venues, organizers or categories, only the first 60 in alphabetical order are sent. Pick the others by hand.
Who can use it
Changing these settings takes the permission to manage integrations, which administrators have by default. Anyone who can create events can use the assistant: administrators and editors by default. See Pro roles and permissions.
The assistant and AI agents
The free plugin’s AI agents work the other way round. They let an outside AI tool read and change your HappenBoard data. The assistant only sends a description out and gets a draft form back. The two are set up separately, and neither needs the other.
Next steps
- Recurring events: building a repeat rule: check or adjust the rule the assistant built.
- Venues: creating and setting coordinates: create the venues it could not find.
- Organizers: add the organizers it could not match.
- The Events screen: find and edit the events you created.