/things-todo

name: things-todo
description: "Things 3 via things CLI: add, list, search, update, delete, verify."

Things Todo

Use this for Things 3 tasks on Peter's Macs. Prefer `things` for Things-backed todos; use `$reminders` only when the user asks for Apple Reminders.

Tool

• CLI: `things`
• Repo: `https://github.com/ossianhempel/things3-cli`
• Install:

GOBIN=/opt/homebrew/bin go install github.com/ossianhempel/things3-cli/cmd/things@latest

Auth for update URL operations:

source ~/.profile >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
things auth

`THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN` should come from `~/.profile` or 1Password. Never print it. `things update --dry-run` must redact it as `auth-token=***`.

Start

Use JSON for scripted reads and verification:

things tasks --format json --limit 20
things today --format json
things search "query" --format json

Things DB reads may need Full Disk Access for the calling app. Writes should go through Things URL Scheme or AppleScript via `things`; do not write the SQLite DB directly.

Add

Default: add, then search/read back.

things add "Book LHR-SFO nonstop business flight" --notes "Nonstop only." --when tomorrow --tags travel
things tasks --search "LHR-SFO" --format json

Useful flags:

• `--notes "text"`
• `--when today|tomorrow|evening|anytime|someday|YYYY-MM-DD`
• `--deadline YYYY-MM-DD`
• `--list "Project or Area"`
• `--tags tag1,tag2`
• `--checklist-item "text"` repeatable
• `--dry-run` to inspect the `things:///` URL without mutating.

Update / Delete

Find the UUID first, then mutate by id:

things tasks --search "flight" --format json
things update --id <uuid> "New title" --notes "Updated notes"
things tasks --search "New title" --format json
things delete --id <uuid> --confirm <uuid>
things tasks --search "New title" --format json
things trash --search "New title" --format json

Always read back after writes. Delete moves items to Things Trash; verify normal search is empty and trash search contains the item when cleanup matters.

Conventions

• Turn vague asks into concrete next-action titles.
• Preserve wording when the user clearly wants capture, not rewriting.
• Split unrelated actions into separate to-dos.
• Use Today only when the user implies it; otherwise use Inbox/Anytime defaults.
• Prefer `--dry-run` before bulk updates/deletes.
• For current date math, run `date`; do not guess.

Gotchas

• macOS only; remote hosts may show Things.app version as `UNKNOWN` if the app is

absent or not visible there.

• `update` needs `THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN`; `add` does not.
• `--tags` is plural for add/update; `tasks --tag` is singular for filtering.
• `today` JSON may show `start: Anytime` plus a real `start_date`; use command

membership/read-back, not one field alone, to verify Today placement.