CardDAVCalDAV

CardDAVCalDAV refers to systems or deployments that implement both CardDAV and CalDAV, the WebDAV-based standards for accessing contacts and calendars on a remote server. By providing a unified protocol layer, these systems allow clients to manage address books and calendars with a common HTTP-based interface.

CardDAV and CalDAV are defined as separate standards: CardDAV (RFC 6352) specifies how to access and manage vCard-based contact data, while CalDAV (RFC 4791) handles iCalendar-based calendar data. Both rely on WebDAV as a storage and locking protocol, and use standard data formats—vCard (RFC 6350) for contacts and iCalendar (RFC 5545) for events and tasks. Clients interact with resources such as address books and calendars through operations like create, read, update, and delete, and may use synchronization mechanisms to keep data consistent across devices.

A CardDAVCalDAV server typically exposes per-user collections for calendars and address books, supports authentication and access control, and implements common WebDAV features such as PROPFIND and REPORT. CalDAV adds calendar-specific capabilities like event scheduling (via iTIP) and event querying, while CardDAV provides contact management features. Interoperability enables a wide range of clients—email, calendar, and contact applications—to work with server data on different platforms.

Common implementations include open-source servers and integrated platforms that provide both services, such asRadicale, Nextcloud/ownCloud with corresponding apps, and similar solutions. Use cases include personal information management across devices, team calendars with shared contacts, and cross-platform interoperability in organizational environments.

Security considerations include the use of HTTPS, authentication methods (e.g., HTTP Basic/Digest, OAuth2), and access controls. Potential limitations stem from uneven feature support across servers and clients, and performance considerations with large datasets. See also CardDAV, CalDAV, WebDAV, iCalendar, and vCard.