TripIt Skill

Add travel plans to TripIt by sending structured confirmation emails to [email protected]. No API keys required — just email sending capability.

How It Works

TripIt parses specially formatted emails ("TripIt Approved" format) into travel objects. This skill generates those emails; you send them with whatever email tool you have (MS Graph, Himalaya, gog, etc.).

Flow: 1. User says "add my flight to TripIt" 2. You construct JSON from their details 3. tripit-email.py generates the formatted email body 4. You send it to [email protected] 5. TripIt creates the trip object within seconds

Setup

The sender email must be associated with the user's TripIt account. Either: - The email is the one they signed up with, OR - They've added it at TripIt → Settings → Connected Email Addresses

No other configuration needed.

Usage

Generate a flight confirmation

echo '{"airline":"United Airlines","flight_number":"1234","class":"Economy",
  "departure_city":"San Francisco","departure_airport":"SFO",
  "departure_date":"2025-06-15","departure_time":"08:30",
  "arrival_city":"New York","arrival_airport":"JFK",
  "arrival_date":"2025-06-15","arrival_time":"17:05",
  "passenger":"Jane Smith","confirmation":"UA1234X",
  "booking_site_url":"https://www.united.com"}' 
| python3 scripts/tripit-email.py flight

Generate a hotel confirmation

echo '{"hotel_name":"Hotel & Spa Napa Valley","checkin_date":"2025-06-15",
  "checkout_date":"2025-06-18","city":"Napa","state":"CA","country":"US",
  "street_address":"123 Vineyard Lane","confirmation":"NV8842",
  "number_of_guests":"2","rate":"189.00","currency":"USD"}' 
| python3 scripts/tripit-email.py hotel

Generate an activity

echo '{"activity_name":"Wine Tasting Tour","location":"Sonoma Valley Vineyards",
  "start_date":"2025-06-16","start_time":"10:00",
  "end_date":"2025-06-16","end_time":"14:00",
  "city":"Sonoma","state":"CA","country":"US"}' 
| python3 scripts/tripit-email.py activity

Generate a multi-item email

echo '{"items":[
  {"type":"flight","airline":"United Airlines","flight_number":"1234",
   "departure_city":"San Francisco","departure_airport":"SFO",
   "departure_date":"2025-06-15","departure_time":"08:30",
   "arrival_city":"New York","arrival_airport":"JFK",
   "arrival_date":"2025-06-15","arrival_time":"17:05",
   "passenger":"Jane Smith","confirmation":"UA1234X"},
  {"type":"hotel","hotel_name":"The Manhattan Grand","checkin_date":"2025-06-15",
   "checkout_date":"2025-06-18","city":"New York","state":"NY","country":"US",
   "confirmation":"MG7890"}
]}' 
| python3 scripts/tripit-email.py multi

Include a subject line

Add --subject to any command to get a suggested email subject:

echo '...' | python3 scripts/tripit-email.py --subject flight

Sending the Email

The script outputs the email body. You send it using whatever email tool is available.

MS Graph (Microsoft 365 users)

BODY=$(echo '...' | python3 scripts/tripit-email.py flight)
# Use your MS Graph email sending tool to send:
#   To: [email protected]
#   Subject: United Airlines SFO-JFK 2025-06-15
#   Body: $BODY (plain text)

Himalaya

echo '...' | python3 scripts/tripit-email.py --subject flight > /tmp/tripit-email.txt
himalaya send --to [email protected] 
  --subject "$(head -1 /tmp/tripit-email.txt | sed 's/Subject: //')" 
  --body "$(tail -n +3 /tmp/tripit-email.txt)"

gog (Google OAuth)

BODY=$(echo '...' | python3 scripts/tripit-email.py flight)
gog send --to [email protected] --subject "Flight confirmation" --body "$BODY"

Field Reference

See references/template-format.md for the complete field list for each object type, including required vs optional fields and formatting rules.

Supported Object Types

Type	Command	Key Required Fields
Flight	flight	airline, flight_number, departure/arrival airport+date+time
Hotel	hotel	hotel_name, checkin_date, checkout_date
Activity	activity	activity_name, start_date
Car Rental	car	rental_company, pickup_date, dropoff_date
Rail	rail	carrier, departure/arrival date+time
Multiple	multi	Each item needs type + that type's required fields

Verifying Items Landed

After sending an email, confirm TripIt processed it by fetching the user's iCal feed:

1. The user provides their TripIt iCal URL (found at TripIt → Settings → Calendar Feed), e.g.: https://www.tripit.com/feed/ical/private/<hash>/tripit.ics
2. Fetch the feed and look for the newly added item (match on confirmation number, dates, or summary text)
3. If the item doesn't appear after ~60 seconds, check:
4. Was the sender email linked to the TripIt account?
5. Was the email sent as plain text (not HTML)?
6. Were all required fields present?

# Fetch and search the feed for a confirmation number
curl -s "https://www.tripit.com/feed/ical/private/<hash>/tripit.ics" 
  | grep -A5 "UA1234X"

Tip: Store the user's iCal feed URL so you can verify future sends without asking again. The URL is stable — it doesn't change unless the user regenerates it.

Gotchas

• Date format consistency: Use one format per email (ISO 8601 recommended: 2026-03-15)
• Sender email must be linked: TripIt ignores emails from unrecognized addresses
• Plain text only: Send as plain text, not HTML
• Multi-line fields: End with *** on its own line (e.g., long notes or cancellation policies)
• Processing time: TripIt usually processes within seconds, occasionally up to a few minutes
• Duplicates: TripIt deduplicates by confirmation number — re-sending updates the existing entry
• Field labels matter: TripIt's parser is strict about label names. This script uses the exact labels from TripIt's official vendor templates. Don't hand-craft emails with different labels (e.g., "Confirmation Number" won't work — it must be "Booking confirmation #")