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

• Check if already installed: which things (if it returns a path, skip installation)
• Install (Homebrew): brew install ossianhempel/tap/things3-cli
• Install (Go, recommended for Apple Silicon): GOBIN=/opt/homebrew/bin go install github.com/ossianhempel/things3-cli/cmd/things@latest
• Optional: set THINGSDB (or pass --db) to point at your ThingsData-* folder.

Things auth token

Update operations require an auth token. You should set THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN in your shell profile (e.g., ~/.zshrc) to persist it.

Read-only (DB)

• things inbox --limit 50
• things today / things logtoday / things createdtoday
• things upcoming / things deadlines
• things search "query"
• things projects / things areas / things tags
• Inspect contents:
  • things show "Area Name" / things show "Project Name"
  • things tasks --area "Area Name"
  • things tasks --project "Project Name"

Write (URL scheme)

• Prefer safe preview: things --dry-run add "Title"
• Add: things add "Title" --notes "..." --when today --deadline 2026-01-02
• Scheduling: --when=someday, --later (This Evening), --when=evening
• 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"
• Repeating: things add "Daily standup" --repeat day --repeat-mode schedule
• From STDIN (multi-line => title + notes):
  • cat <<'EOF' | things add -
  • Title line
  • Notes line 1
  • Notes line 2
  • EOF

Projects and areas

• Add area: things add-area "Health"
• Add project: things add-project "New Site" --area "Work" --notes "Plan out the redesign"
• Update project: things update-project --id <UUID> --auth-token <TOKEN> "New Title" --notes "Updated notes"

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

• Supported via AppleScript: things delete --id <UUID>
• Also supports: delete-project --id <UUID> and delete-area --id <UUID>
• Note: This prompts for confirmation interactively. Use --confirm for non-interactive scripts.
• Alternatively: mark as completed/canceled via things update --id <UUID> --completed / --canceled (needs auth token).

Notes

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