macOS Reminders

Manage Apple Reminders via $SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh. All date handling uses relative math (current date + N * days) to avoid locale issues (FR/EN/DE date formats).

Quick start

List reminder lists

Always list reminder lists first to find the correct list name:

"$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" list-lists

Create a reminder

echo '<json>' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" create-reminder

JSON fields:

Field	Required	Default	Description
name	yes	-	Reminder title
list	no	default list	Reminder list name (from list-lists)
body	no	""	Notes/details
offset_days	no	-	Due date as days from today (0=today, 1=tomorrow)
iso_date	no	-	Absolute due date YYYY-MM-DD (overrides offset_days)
hour	no	9	Due time hour (0-23)
minute	no	0	Due time minute (0-59)
priority	no	0	Priority: 0=none, 1=high, 5=medium, 9=low
flagged	no	false	Mark as flagged

List reminders

echo '<json>' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" list-reminders

JSON fields:

Field	Required	Default	Description
list	no	all lists	Filter by list name
include_completed	no	false	Include completed reminders

Interpreting natural language

Map user requests to JSON fields:

User says	JSON
"remind me tomorrow at 2pm"	offset_days: 1, hour: 14
"remind me in 3 days"	offset_days: 3
"add to my shopping list"	list: "Shopping" (match closest list name)
"high priority" or "important"	priority: 1, flagged: true
"remind me on February 25 at 3:30pm"	iso_date: "2026-02-25", hour: 15, minute: 30
"remind me next Monday"	Calculate offset_days from today to next Monday
"flag this"	flagged: true

For "next Monday", "next Friday" etc: compute the day offset using the current date. Use date command if needed:

# Days until next Monday (1=Monday)
target=1; today=$(date +%u); echo $(( (target - today + 7) % 7 ))

Example prompts

These are real user prompts and the commands you should run:

"Remind me to buy milk"

"$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" list-lists

Then:

echo '{"name":"Buy milk","list":"Reminders"}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" create-reminder

"Add a to-do to call the dentist tomorrow at 10am"

echo '{"name":"Call the dentist","offset_days":1,"hour":10}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" create-reminder

"Remind me to submit the report on February 28 — high priority"

echo '{"name":"Submit the report","iso_date":"2026-02-28","hour":9,"priority":1,"flagged":true}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" create-reminder

"Add eggs, bread, and butter to my shopping list"

echo '{"name":"Eggs","list":"Shopping"}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" create-reminder
echo '{"name":"Bread","list":"Shopping"}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" create-reminder
echo '{"name":"Butter","list":"Shopping"}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" create-reminder

"What's on my reminders?"

echo '{}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" list-reminders

"Show my work to-dos"

echo '{"list":"Work"}' | "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/reminders.sh" list-reminders

Critical rules

1. Always list reminder lists first if the user hasn't specified one — use the closest matching list name
2. Never use hardcoded date strings in AppleScript — always use offset_days or iso_date
3. Confirm the list name with the user if the intended list is ambiguous
4. Pass JSON via stdin — never as a CLI argument (avoids leaking data in process list)
5. All fields are validated by the script (type coercion, range checks, format validation) — invalid input is rejected with an error message
6. All actions are logged to logs/reminders.log with timestamp, command, list, and name
7. Due date is optional — reminders without a due date are valid (undated tasks)
8. Multiple items: when the user lists several items, create one reminder per item