things-mac
Add, update, list, search, or inspect Things 3 todos, inbox, today, projects, areas, and tags on macOS.
Security Assessment
About things-mac
The things-mac skill provides command-line access to Things 3, a popular macOS task management application. It enables you to interact with your Things database directly from the terminal, allowing you to read todos, search tasks, and add or update items without opening the Things app. This solves the problem of context-switching when working in terminal-based workflows, letting you manage tasks alongside your development work.
The skill offers two modes of operation: read-only database queries and write operations via the Things URL scheme. For reading, you can list items from your inbox, today view, upcoming tasks, or search across all todos. You can also browse projects, areas, and tags. For writing, you can add new todos with rich metadata including notes, deadlines, tags, checklists, and project assignments. The update functionality allows you to modify existing todos by changing titles, notes, tags, completion status, and list assignments.
This skill is ideal for developers and power users who prefer keyboard-driven workflows and want to integrate task management into their terminal environment. It's particularly useful for creating todos from scripts, automating task creation based on code events, or quickly capturing tasks without leaving your coding environment. The dry-run preview mode ensures safe experimentation with commands before executing them.
FAQ
What permissions does this skill require on macOS?
The skill requires Full Disk Access for the calling application (Terminal or OpenClaw.app) to read the Things database. Without this permission, database read operations will fail. Write operations use the Things URL scheme and don't require special permissions.
How do I modify or delete existing todos?
To modify todos, you need an auth token (set via THINGS_AUTH_TOKEN environment variable) and the todo's UUID (obtained via search commands). You can update titles, notes, tags, lists, and mark items as completed or canceled. True deletion is not supported by things3-cli; use the Things UI or mark items as completed/canceled instead.
Can I use this skill on Windows or Linux?
No, this skill is macOS-only because it relies on the Things 3 application and its local database, which are exclusive to macOS.
What's the difference between read and write operations?
Read operations query the local Things database directly and don't require authentication. Write operations (add/update) use the Things URL scheme to communicate with the Things app, and update operations require an auth token for security.
How do I safely test commands without modifying my todos?
Use the --dry-run flag with any command. This prints the URL or action that would be executed without actually making changes, allowing you to verify the command before running it for real.
Install things-mac
Quick Setup:
- Copy the skill folder to
.claude/skills/ - Claude will automatically detect and use the skill
Repository
steipete/clawdis