rem

name	rem
description	Manages macOS Reminders from the terminal using the rem CLI. Creates, lists, updates, completes, deletes, searches, and exports reminders and lists. Supports natural language due dates, filtering, import/export, and multiple output formats. Use when the user wants to interact with Apple Reminders via command line, automate reminder workflows, or build scripts around macOS Reminders.

rem — CLI for macOS Reminders

A Go CLI that wraps macOS Reminders. Sub-200ms reads via cgo + EventKit. Single binary, no dependencies at runtime.

Installation

# macOS (recommended)
curl -fsSL https://rem.sidv.dev/install | bash

# Or via Go
go install github.com/BRO3886/rem/cmd/rem@latest

Install this skill into your agent:

# Claude Code or Codex
rem skills install

# OpenClaw
rem skills install --agent openclaw

Quick Start

# See all lists with reminder counts
rem lists --count

# Add a reminder with natural language date
rem add "Buy groceries" --list Personal --due tomorrow --priority high

# List incomplete reminders in a list
rem list --list Work --incomplete

# Search across all reminders
rem search "meeting"

# Complete a reminder by short ID
rem complete abc12345

# View stats
rem stats

Command Reference

Reminder CRUD

Command	Aliases	Description
rem add	create, new	Create a reminder
rem list	ls	List reminders with filters
rem show	get	Show full details of one reminder
rem update	edit	Update reminder properties
rem delete	rm, remove	Delete a reminder
rem complete	done	Mark reminder complete
rem uncomplete	—	Mark reminder incomplete
rem flag	—	Flag a reminder
rem unflag	—	Remove flag

List Management

Command	Aliases	Description
rem lists	—	Show all lists
rem list-mgmt create	lm new	Create a list
rem list-mgmt rename	—	Rename a list
rem list-mgmt delete	lm rm	Delete a list

Search & Analytics

Command	Description
rem search <query>	Search title and notes
rem stats	Show statistics and per-list breakdown
rem overdue	Show overdue reminders
rem upcoming	Show reminders due in next N days (default: 7)

Import/Export

Command	Description
rem export	Export to JSON or CSV
rem import <file>	Import from JSON or CSV file

Skills & Other

Command	Description
rem skills install	Install rem skill for AI agents
rem skills uninstall	Uninstall rem skill from AI agents
rem skills status	Show skill installation status
rem interactive / rem i	Interactive menu-driven mode
rem version	Print version
rem completion	Generate shell completions (bash/zsh/fish)

For full flag details on every command, see references/commands.md.

Key Concepts

Short IDs

Reminders have UUIDs like x-apple-reminder://AB12CD34-.... The CLI displays the first 8 characters as a short ID (AB12CD34). You can pass any unique prefix to commands — rem complete AB1 works if it matches exactly one reminder.

Natural Language Dates

The --due flag accepts natural language:

rem add "Call dentist" --due tomorrow
rem add "Submit report" --due "next friday at 2pm"
rem add "Quick task" --due "in 30 minutes"
rem add "Wrap up" --due eod

Supported patterns: today, tomorrow, next monday, in 3 hours, eod, eow, 5pm, 2026-02-15, and more. See references/dates.md for the full list.

Priority Levels

Level	Flag value	AppleScript value
High	--priority high	1 (range 1-4)
Medium	--priority medium	5
Low	--priority low	9 (range 6-9)
None	--priority none	0

Output Formats

All read commands support -o / --output:

• table (default) — formatted table with borders
• json — machine-readable JSON
• plain — simple text, one item per line

The NO_COLOR environment variable is respected.

URL Storage

macOS Reminders has no native URL field. rem stores URLs in the notes/body field with a URL: prefix and extracts them for display.

Common Workflows

Daily review

rem overdue                          # Check what's past due
rem upcoming --days 1                # See today's reminders
rem list --list Work --incomplete    # Focus on work items

Batch operations with JSON

rem export --list Work --format json > backup.json
rem import backup.json --list "Work Archive"

Scripting with JSON output

# Get overdue count
rem overdue -o json | jq 'length'

# List all incomplete reminder titles
rem list --incomplete -o json | jq -r '.[].name'

Public Go API

For programmatic access, use go-eventkit directly:

import "github.com/BRO3886/go-eventkit/reminders"

client, _ := reminders.New()
r, _ := client.CreateReminder(reminders.CreateReminderInput{
    Title:    "Buy milk",
    ListName: "Shopping",
    Priority: reminders.PriorityHigh,
})
items, _ := client.Reminders(reminders.WithCompleted(false))

See go-eventkit docs for the full API surface.

Limitations

• macOS only — requires EventKit framework and osascript
• No tags, subtasks, or recurrence — not exposed by EventKit/AppleScript
• --flagged filter is slower (~3-4s) — falls back to JXA since EventKit doesn't expose flagged
• List deletion may fail on some macOS versions