things-cli

A macOS-only CLI for Things 3, designed for agents and scripts. It controls Things through the public macOS automation dictionary using osascript -l JavaScript (JXA). Output is JSON by default and wrapped as { "ok": true, "data": ... }; pass --human for readable summaries.

Requirements and permissions

• macOS with Things 3 installed.
• Automation permission for the terminal, agent host, or executable invoking things-cli.

On first use, macOS may ask whether the invoking application may control Things. If permission was denied, enable it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation.

The CLI does not read or write Things' SQLite database and does not require a Things authentication token.

Install

go install github.com/thaodangspace/things-cli/cmd/things-cli@latest

From this repository:

make build
./things-cli --help

Commands

Read commands use Things' native list membership and ordering:

things-cli inbox|today|upcoming|anytime|someday|logbook|trash [--limit N]
things-cli query [--status open|completed|canceled] [--type to-do|project] [--tag TAG] [--area AREA] [--project PROJECT] [--limit N]
things-cli get <id>
things-cli list-projects [--area AREA] [--limit N]
things-cli list-areas
things-cli list-tags

Automation writes are synchronous and return the affected Things ID:

things-cli add --title "Task" [--notes ...] [--when today] [--deadline yyyy-mm-dd] [--tags a,b] [--wait]
things-cli add-project --title "Project" [--to-dos $'one\ntwo'] [--area Work] [--wait]
things-cli update <id> --title "New" --completed
things-cli complete <id>
things-cli cancel <id>
things-cli show <id-or-list>
things-cli search "query"

--wait remains accepted for compatibility but does not poll storage; a successful automation response already means the operation completed. The following database-dependent options are intentionally unsupported: checklist items, headings, and the evening schedule value. The JSON read shape keeps heading: null and checklist: [] because those fields are not exposed by Things' public scripting dictionary.

search opens Things' search UI and does not return search results. show reveals an item or native list.

Output and errors

• Exit code 0: success.
• Exit code 1: runtime, application, permission, or timeout error.
• Exit code 2: usage/configuration error.

Use --verbose for sanitized automation operation diagnostics. User payloads are not logged. A write timeout may have an indeterminate outcome and is never retried automatically.

Development

make test
make test-race
make vet
make build

The default suite uses fake automation runners and JSON fixtures. It never mutates a live Things library. Run the read-only macOS smoke test explicitly when Things is installed and permissioned:

THINGS_LIVE_TEST=1 go test ./things -run TestLiveReadOnlyAutomation -count=1

The production boundary is things.Service plus the injectable things.ScriptRunner; JXA source is kept in things/automation.js.