remindctl
Fast command-line access to Apple Reminders on macOS.
remindctl is for scripts, agents, and terminal workflows that need to read and update the same reminders you see in Reminders.app. It uses Apple's public EventKit APIs, so reminders keep syncing through the normal system/iCloud path.
Docs: https://remindctl.sh
Install
Homebrew
brew install steipete/tap/remindctl
From Source
pnpm install
pnpm build
binary at ./bin/remindctl
Requirements
- macOS 14+ (Sonoma or later)
- Swift 6.2+ when building from source
- Full Reminders access for the terminal app that runs
remindctl
Quick Start
remindctl add "Buy milk"
remindctl add "Call mom" --list Personal --due tomorrow
remindctl add "Meeting" --due "2026-01-03 09:00" --alarm "2026-01-03 08:55"
remindctl add "Buy headphones" --url "https://example.com/product"
remindctl today
remindctl overdue
remindctl open
remindctl list Work Errands
remindctl list --list-id 7A12
remindctl search "milk"
remindctl info 1
remindctl doctor --for-agent
remindctl export --list Work --export-format csv
remindctl link 1
remindctl edit 1 --title "New title" --due 2026-01-04
remindctl edit 1 --url "https://example.com/product" # or --clear-url to remove it
remindctl complete 1 2 3
remindctl delete 4A83 --force
URLs remain stored in EventKit and are also mirrored to a remindctl URL (managed): ... notes line so they are visible in Reminders.app. --clear-url removes the EventKit value and only that managed notes line.
Indexes such as 1 come from the default reminder listing. Most commands also accept an ID prefix such as 4A83.
Commands
| Command | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| remindctl / remindctl today | Show today's reminders |
| remindctl show | Show reminders by filter or date |
| remindctl search | Search incomplete reminder titles, notes, and URLs |
| remindctl info | Show detailed reminder metadata |
| remindctl list | Show reminder lists |
| remindctl list | Show reminders from one or more lists |
| remindctl export | Export reminders as JSON or CSV |
| remindctl link | Print a best-effort Reminders deep link |
| remindctl open | Open a reminder or list in Reminders.app |
| remindctl doctor | Diagnose permissions and read-only rich-store access |
| remindctl add | Create a reminder |
| remindctl edit | Edit a reminder by index or ID prefix |
| remindctl complete | Mark reminders complete |
| remindctl delete | Delete reminders |
| remindctl status | Show Reminders permission status |
| remindctl authorize | Request Reminders permission when macOS allows it |
Run remindctl for the full option list. Unexpected extra arguments are rejected; quote multi-word titles and list names.
Showing Reminders
Common filters:
remindctl today
remindctl tomorrow
remindctl week
remindctl overdue
remindctl upcoming
remindctl open
remindctl completed
remindctl all
remindctl 2026-01-03
Search titles, notes, and URLs:
remindctl search "milk"
remindctl search "invoice" --list Work
remindctl search "project" --completed --json
Standard search output includes stable reminder IDs instead of numeric indexes.
Inspect one reminder:
remindctl info 1
remindctl info 4A83 --json
Limit a view to one list:
remindctl show overdue --list Work
remindctl show overdue --list-id 7A12
Show multiple lists together:
remindctl list Work Errands
Lists
remindctl list
remindctl list Work
remindctl list Projects --create
remindctl list Work --rename Office
remindctl list OldList --delete --force
Mutating list operations accept one list name. Read-only list views can accept multiple names.
List names resolve by exact match, case-insensitive match, then a normalized match that ignores emoji and punctuation. If a name is ambiguous, use --list-id.
Exact list targeting:
remindctl list --list-id 7A12
remindctl add "Review notes" --list-id 7A12
remindctl edit 4A83 --list-id 7A12
remindctl list --list-id 7A12 --rename Archive
remindctl list --list-id 7A12 --delete --force
Dates And Due Times
Accepted by --due and date filters:
today,tomorrow,yesterdayYYYY-MM-DDYYYY-MM-DD HH:mm- ISO 8601 with timezone, such as
2026-01-03T12:34:56Z - Local ISO 8601 without timezone, such as
2026-01-03T12:34:56
/ or . separators remain accepted. Legacy MM/dd/yyyy and dd-MM-yy/dd-MM-yyyy inputs retain their explicit month/day order.
Alarms
Timed due reminders automatically get an EventKit notification alarm at the due time. Use --alarm to choose a different alarm time.
remindctl add "Meeting" --due "2026-01-03 09:00" --alarm "2026-01-03 08:55"
remindctl edit 4A83 --alarm "2026-01-03 08:55"
remindctl edit 4A83 --clear-alarm
This is public EventKit alarm support. Apple's private Reminders "Urgent" toggle is not exposed by EventKit.
Changing or clearing only the due date leaves every alarm unchanged. Explicit --alarm and --clear-alarm operations replace or clear absolute alarms while preserving relative and location-based alarms.
Repeat
Use --repeat with add or edit for simple recurrence:
remindctl add "Take vitamins" --due tomorrow --repeat daily
remindctl add "Water filter" --due "2026-09-13" --repeat "every 6 months"
remindctl edit 4A83 --repeat weekly
remindctl edit 4A83 --no-repeat
Supported repeat values:
daily,weekly,biweekly,monthly,yearlyevery N days/weeks/months/years
Location Triggers
Use --location on add to create an arriving geofence trigger. Add --leaving to trigger when leaving, and --radius to customize the geofence radius in meters.
remindctl add "Check mailbox" --location "1 Apple Park Way, Cupertino, CA"
remindctl add "Lock up" --location "Home" --leaving
remindctl add "Get groceries" --location "123 Main St" --radius 200
Location triggers use EventKit and CoreLocation geocoding. They may depend on system location services and network availability. Geofence radii must be finite, positive numbers of meters.
Output
Global output flags:
--jsonemits machine-readable JSON.--plainemits stable tab-separated lines.--format tableemits tabular output for scan-heavy commands.--quietemits minimal output, usually counts or nothing.--no-colordisables colored output.--no-inputdisables interactive prompts.
creationDatelastModifiedDateurlalarmDatelocationTriggerrecurrenceRule
remindctl all --json
remindctl today --format table
remindctl list --json
remindctl status --json
Export, Links, And Completion
remindctl export --json
remindctl export --list Work --export-format csv
remindctl link 1
remindctl link --list-id 7A12
remindctl open 1
remindctl open --list Work
remindctl open --list Work --app
remindctl open --app
remindctl completion zsh
link and open use best-effort Reminders deep links based on EventKit IDs. open --list Work
keeps the historical open-reminders filter; add --app to open that list in Reminders.app.
Permissions
Check access:
remindctl status
remindctl doctor --for-agent
Request access:
remindctl authorize
If macOS reports access as denied, enable the terminal app in:
System Settings > Privacy & Security > Reminders
If no prompt appears, run this once from the same terminal app:
osascript -e 'tell application "Reminders" to get name of reminders'
Then allow access and rerun:
remindctl status
When running over SSH, grant access on the Mac that actually runs remindctl.
EventKit Limits
Reminder reads skip orphaned EventKit reminders whose calendar is missing; other reminders remain available.
If a calendar is missing after add, edit, or complete saves a reminder, the command reports Reminder is missing a calendar instead of crashing. The change has already been saved; check Reminders.app before retrying.
remindctl intentionally sticks to public EventKit APIs. These Reminders.app features are not exposed through EventKit today:
- Native Reminders sections
- Native Reminders tags and smart lists
- File/image attachments
- Apple's private "Urgent" toggle
Moving reminders with edit --list or edit --list-id can fail when either list is shared. If EventKit rejects the move with com.apple.reminderkit error -3002, move the reminder in Reminders.app, then retry any other edits. remindctl does not copy and delete reminders to work around this restriction because EventKit cannot preserve all Reminders.app metadata.
Development
The package manager is pinned in package.json, and .node-version selects the docs runtime.
CI uses the Xcode 27 toolchain on xcode-27, builds both release architectures with a macOS 14 deployment target, and runs the universal CLI natively and under Rosetta. Swift CodeQL remains on macOS 26 until its tracer supports macOS 27.
make check runs the Swift tests once with coverage and retains the 90% RemindCore gate.
CodeQL scans Swift with an explicit package build after dependency resolution, plus JavaScript/TypeScript and Actions.
make remindctl ARGS="status" # clean build + run
make check # strict lint + tests + 90% coverage gate
make release-harness # credential-free release-policy mocks
make macos-artifact # ad-hoc universal local candidate; never publish
make release-check TAG=vX.Y.Z # validate release preflight
pnpm build # release build into ./bin/remindctl
Release steps live in docs/RELEASING.md.