---
title: "Extending Chat Apps Across Workspace with Universal Actions"
author: "Martin Hawksey"
date: 2025-07-22T18:57:48+00:00
canonical_url: https://pulse.appsscript.info/p/2025/07/extending-chat-apps-across-workspace-with-universal-actions/
markdown_url: https://pulse.appsscript.info/p/2025/07/extending-chat-apps-across-workspace-with-universal-actions.md
categories:
  - "Add-on"
  - "Chat"
  - "Docs"
  - "Drive"
  - "Gmail"
  - "Intermediate"
  - "Sheets"
  - "Slides"
  - "Solutions"
  - "Video Tutorial"
tags:
  - "googleworkspacedevs"
featured_image: https://pulse.appsscript.info/files/2025/07/chat-apps-add-on.jpg
description: "The new unified model for Google Workspace add-ons is here! Now that Chat apps can be built as full Workspace add-ons, the possibilities for integrated experiences have expanded dramatically. In our latest AppsScriptPulse post we dive into a video tutorial from Pierrick Voulet at Google that shows this new framework in action."
---

# Extending Chat Apps Across Workspace with Universal Actions

![Extending Chat Apps Across Workspace with Universal Actions](https://pulse.appsscript.info/files/2025/07/chat-apps-add-on.jpg)

> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDthZ2xssDc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDthZ2xssDc)
> In this video we build a Chat app as a Google Workspace add-on with Apps Script and extend it to other Workspace applications (Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides).

With the recent [general availability of being able to build Google Chat apps as Google Workspace add-ons**](https://developers.google.com/workspace/add-ons/docs/release-notes#July_09_2025), the developer community now has a unified model for creating integrated experiences across Google Workspace.

To see this new framework in action, Pierrick Voulet from the Google Developer Relations team has released a fantastic video tutorial, **‘Build a Chat app as a Google Workspace add-on with Apps Script’**.

## **The ‘OOO Assistant’: A Practical Demonstration**

The video centres on building an ‘Out-of-Office Assistant’ that can block out the user’s Calendar for the day and set a Gmail out-of-office auto-reply. The real magic is how this Chat-based logic extends into a full Workspace Add-on, available in the sidebars of Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides. This is achieved with minimal code changes, primarily by configuring the `appsscript.json` manifest to include:

- A **`homepageTrigger`** to display a UI card in the add-on sidebar.
- **`universalActions`** that reuse the exact same functions (`blockDayOut()`, `setAutoReply()`) originally built for the Chat quick commands.

The video provides a complete overview of the process, and you can get hands-on with the shared code yourself. For more technical details, check out the official Extend Google Chat documentation.

**Source:** [Build a Chat app as a Google Workspace add-on with Apps Script (YouTube)**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDthZ2xssDc)

**Code:** [Build a Google Workspace add-on extending all UIs (GitHub)**](https://github.com/googleworkspace/apps-script-samples/tree/main/solutions/ooo-assistant)

**Docs:** [Extend Google Chat (Documentation)**](https://developers.google.com/workspace/add-ons/chat)

---

*Published by [Martin Hawksey](https://pulse.appsscript.info/p/author/admin/) on [Pulse](https://pulse.appsscript.info/). Original article: [https://pulse.appsscript.info/p/2025/07/extending-chat-apps-across-workspace-with-universal-actions/](https://pulse.appsscript.info/p/2025/07/extending-chat-apps-across-workspace-with-universal-actions/)*