Things 3 CLI

Use things to read your local Things database (inbox/today/search/projects/areas/tags) and to add/update todos via the Things URL scheme.

Setup - Install (recommended, Apple Silicon): GOBIN=/opt/homebrew/bin go install github.com/ossianhempel/things3-cli/cmd/things@latest - If DB reads fail: grant Full Disk Access to the calling app (Terminal for manual runs; Clawdbot.app for gateway runs). - Optional: set THINGSDB (or pass --db) to point at your ThingsData-* folder. - Optional: set THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN to avoid passing --auth-token for update ops.

Read-only (DB) - things inbox --limit 50 - things today - things upcoming - things search "query" - things projects / things areas / things tags

Write (URL scheme) - Prefer safe preview: things --dry-run add "Title" - Add: things add "Title" --notes "..." --when today --deadline 2026-01-02 - Bring Things to front: things --foreground add "Title"

Examples: add a todo - Basic: things add "Buy milk" - With notes: things add "Buy milk" --notes "2% + bananas" - Into a project/area: things add "Book flights" --list "Travel" - Into a project heading: things add "Pack charger" --list "Travel" --heading "Before" - With tags: things add "Call dentist" --tags "health,phone" - Checklist: things add "Trip prep" --checklist-item "Passport" --checklist-item "Tickets" - From STDIN (multi-line => title + notes): - cat <<'EOF' | things add - - Title line - Notes line 1 - Notes line 2 - EOF

Examples: modify a todo (needs auth token) - First: get the ID (UUID column): things search "milk" --limit 5 - Auth: set THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN or pass --auth-token <TOKEN> - Title: things update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> "New title" - Notes replace: things update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> --notes "New notes" - Notes append/prepend: things update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> --append-notes "..." / --prepend-notes "..." - Move lists: things update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> --list "Travel" --heading "Before" - Tags replace/add: things update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> --tags "a,b" / things update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> --add-tags "a,b" - Complete/cancel (soft-delete-ish): things update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> --completed / --canceled - Safe preview: things --dry-run update --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> --completed

Delete a todo? - Not supported by things3-cli right now (no “delete/move-to-trash” write command; things trash is read-only listing). - Options: use Things UI to delete/trash, or mark as --completed / --canceled via things update.

Notes - macOS-only. - --dry-run prints the URL and does not open Things.