ical

Minimal macOS calendar and reminders CLI built with Swift + EventKit.

Requirements

• macOS
• Swift toolchain (SwiftPM)
• Calendar access permission (prompted on first run)
• Reminders access permission (prompted on first reminders command; separate from calendar access)

Install

Build a release binary and copy it into a directory on your PATH:

swift build -c release
mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
cp .build/release/ical "$HOME/.local/bin/ical"

Optional system-wide install:

sudo cp .build/release/ical /usr/local/bin/ical

If ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH, add this to ~/.zshrc:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Then reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc

Now you can run:

ical today

Commands

Version

ical version
ical --version

List events

ical today
ical tomorrow
ical week

Output is sorted by start time with all-day events first. Empty fields are omitted. If no events exist, it prints No events.

Add event

ical add \
  --title "Meeting with Joe" \
  --start "today 14:00" \
  --end "today 15:00" \
  --calendar "Work" \
  --location "Google Meet" \
  --notes "Discuss pricing"

ical add \
  --title "Morning Brief" \
  --start "tomorrow 10:00" \
  --end "tomorrow 10:30" \
  --recurrence daily \
  --recurrence-end "2026-03-31"

Options:

• --title <text> (required)
• --start <datetime> (required)
• --end <datetime> (required)
• --calendar <name> (optional, defaults to your default calendar)
• --location <text> (optional)
• --notes <text> (optional)
• --all-day (optional)
• --recurrence <daily|weekly|monthly|yearly> (optional)
• --recurrence-end <date> (optional, requires --recurrence)

Remove event

By ID:

ical remove --id "<event-id>"

ical remove --id "<event-id>" --this-only
ical remove --id "<event-id>" --all-future

Or by title + exact start:

ical remove --title "Meeting with Luke" --start "today 14:00" --calendar "Work"

For recurring events, use --this-only or --all-future to choose how removal is applied.

Edit event

ical edit \
  --id "<event-id>" \
  --title "Updated title" \
  --start "today 15:00" \
  --end "today 15:30" \
  --location "Office" \
  --notes "Updated notes"

Edit supports these optional flags:

• --title, --start, --end, --calendar, --location, --notes
• --all-day or --timed
• --clear-location
• --clear-notes
• --recurrence <daily|weekly|monthly|yearly>
• --recurrence-end <date> (requires --recurrence)
• --clear-recurrence
• --this-only or --all-future (required when editing a recurring event)

Reminders

List reminders

ical reminders                      # incomplete reminders, sorted by due date
ical reminders list --all           # include completed reminders
ical reminders list --list "Groceries"

If no reminders exist, it prints No reminders.

Add reminder

ical reminders add \
  --title "Buy oat milk" \
  --due "tomorrow 09:00" \
  --list "Groceries" \
  --notes "The barista kind" \
  --priority 1

Options:

• --title <text> (required)
• --due <datetime> (optional; a date-only value like 2026-07-20 sets a day-granularity due date, a datetime also creates an alarm so the reminder notifies)
• --list <name> (optional, defaults to your default reminders list)
• --notes <text> (optional)
• --priority <0-9> (optional; 0 = none, 1 = high, 5 = medium, 9 = low)

Complete / reopen / remove

ical reminders done --title "Buy oat milk"
ical reminders reopen --id "<reminder-id>"
ical reminders remove --id "<reminder-id>"

Each takes --id or --title. A --title selector must uniquely match one incomplete reminder; use --id (printed by add) to disambiguate.

Edit reminder

ical reminders edit \
  --id "<reminder-id>" \
  --title "Updated title" \
  --due "2026-07-20 17:00" \
  --priority 5

Edit supports these optional flags:

• --title, --due, --list, --notes, --priority
• --clear-due
• --clear-notes

Changing or clearing the due date also replaces or removes the reminder's alarm.

Datetime formats

• ISO 8601 (for example 2026-02-20T14:00:00-05:00)
• today HH:mm
• tomorrow HH:mm