April 7, 2025 6 min to read

The Evolution of CakeMail: From Google Sheets to People API

🧠 It All Started with a Sheet…

Back in 2019, I was learning Google Apps Script — and I wanted to build something actually useful. Something that would keep running quietly in the background and make someone smile.

So I made CakeMail — a tiny script that read names and birthdays from a Google Sheet and sent them an email on their special day.

No fancy UI. No database. Just a script, a sheet, and a sprinkle of automation magic.

📅 From Sheets to Bots — The CakeMail Timeline

Over the years, the project slowly grew with me.

🐣 v1 (2019): The Basic Cake

• 📄 Google Sheets as the database
• 🧾 Google Docs for email templates
• 📧 Sent plain emails on birthday mornings

It worked. Kinda. The emails looked… like they came from 2010, but it was a start.

🧁 v2 (2020): Some Frosting

• ✨ Added HTML email templates
• 📊 Basic open tracking
• ✅ Status updates in the Sheet

Now the emails actually looked like they belonged in the current decade. Open tracking was janky, but fun to build.

🎉 v3 (2023): Smarter and Social

• 🤝 Integrated with Google Contacts
• 💬 Sent WhatsApp reminders (because… why not?)
• 📂 Added support for multiple templates

This version started feeling more like a real product. I even used it for close friends and family.

🔄 v4 (2025): Time to Grow Up

Then… Google deprecated ContactsApp.

When I reopened the code this year, it was full of strikethroughs — a graveyard of outdated methods. So I did what any dev with coffee and free time on a Sunday would do: rewrite the whole thing using the Google People API.

🚀 What’s New in v4?

• 🔄 Migrated to Google People API
• 💬 Telegram bot integration for real-time updates
• 📬 Clean, mobile-friendly email templates
• 🔐 Secure credential handling using PropertiesService
• 🧾 Birthday wish status gets saved as a note on the contact

And yes, the open tracking still works. Now it tells me when the birthday email is opened — so I can pretend I totally didn’t forget.

🤖 Why Telegram?

I wanted a simple, no-friction way to get notified. Telegram is fast, has a great bot API, and I was already using it for a bunch of personal tools.

Now, every time an email is sent (or opened), I get a friendly ping from my bot — along with any upcoming birthdays for the next day.

🔧 Technical Notes (for Nerds Like Me)

• Written entirely in Google Apps Script
• Uses OAuth2 for Google People API access
• Stores config data securely with PropertiesService
• Templates are written in plain HTML with inline CSS
• Telegram bot is just a simple webhook POST using UrlFetchApp
• Email tracking uses a sneaky 1×1 image + open-logging

🧠 Things I Learned (Or Relearned)

1. APIs get deprecated. Always.
2. Modular code = easier migrations.
3. Don’t overbuild. Start tiny, then grow slowly.
4. Even silly little side projects can teach you a LOT over time.
5. Personal automation is extremely satisfying.

🛣️ What’s Next?

No promises, but I might:

• 🧠 Add AI-powered personalized birthday wishes (GPT + templates)
• 📈 Build a tiny analytics dashboard
• 🛠️ Let users edit templates from a front-end UI
• 📨 Add support for other platforms like Signal or Discord

Repo

Let’s see how far CakeMail wants to go before retiring.

💬 Final Thoughts

CakeMail isn’t a startup. It’s not “enterprise-ready.” It’s not even meant for public release (though you’re welcome to fork it on GitHub).

It’s just a little automation script that grew with me — from a Sheets script to a bot-powered notifier that still makes someone’s birthday a little nicer.

And that feels like a win to me.

Thanks for reading! Got any old projects you’ve revived recently? I’d love to hear about them.