steipete/reminders

Reminders

Use this for Apple Reminders tasks. Prefer rem over Things/AppleScript when the user wants an AI-friendly personal todo backend on macOS.

Tool

• CLI: rem
• Repo: https://github.com/BRO3886/rem
• Install:

GOBIN=/opt/homebrew/bin go install github.com/BRO3886/rem/cmd/rem@latest

rem uses EventKit for normal reads/writes. It may need Reminders permission for the calling app in System Settings > Privacy & Security.

Start

Check access:

rem lists -o json
rem today -o json

Use JSON for anything scripted or verified:

rem list --incomplete -o json
rem search "flight" -o json
rem show <id> -o json

Add Tasks

Default: add directly, then verify by search/show.

rem add "Book LHR-SFO nonstop business flight" --due "tomorrow 9am" --priority high --notes "Nonstop only." -o json
rem search "LHR-SFO" -o json

Useful flags:

• --list "Name": target list
• --due "tomorrow 9am": due date/time; natural language is supported
• --priority high|medium|low|none
• --notes "text"
• --url https://...
• --silent: due date without notification
• --remind-me 15m: alarm before due time
• --repeat daily|weekly|monthly|yearly

Update / Complete / Delete

Find the UUID first, then mutate by id or unique short id:

rem search "flight" -o json
rem update <id> --name "New title" --due "friday 2pm" --notes "..." -o json
rem complete <id> -o json
rem delete <id> --force

Always read back after writes; do not trust exit status alone.

Lists

rem lists --count -o json
rem list-mgmt create "Travel"
rem list-mgmt rename "Old" "New"
rem list-mgmt delete "Name" --force

Conventions

• Use executable task titles. Rewrite vague notes into the next concrete action.
• Preserve user wording when they clearly want verbatim capture.
• Split multiple unrelated actions into separate reminders.
• Use the default list unless the user names a list or the category is obvious.
• Do not add calendar events here; use calendar tooling instead.
• For current date math, run date; do not guess.

Gotchas

• macOS only.
• First run may fail with reminders access denied until the calling app has Reminders permission.
• The default local list may be localized, e.g. Erinnerungen.
• rem search is plain query search, not shell regex.
• --due creates an alarm at the due time unless --silent is passed.
• Flagged reminders use private ReminderKit under the hood and may be more OS fragile than ordinary CRUD.