RemCTL

RemCTL keeps today’s Apple Reminders above the Claude Code prompt and gives Claude the tools to read, create, edit and complete them. The band shows how many tasks are left and how many are overdue, a chip for each list in its Reminders color, and your next few tasks. /reminders opens a pane where you tick them off.

It is the Claude Code plugin of RemCTL, a command-line tool for Apple Reminders aimed at power users and AI agents, by Federico Viticci of MacStories. Besides the basics, RemCTL reaches features Apple doesn’t open to other apps, such as sections, tags, subtasks, smart lists and templates. RemCTL is not affiliated with Apple.

What it does

• The band. A summary line (◉ Today, tasks left, overdue count in red), list chips with their counts, and the next three tasks with their list and due time. !, !! or !!! marks priority and ⚑ a flagged task. When the chips don’t fit beside the summary, they get a row of their own. Open › opens the pane. With nothing left, the band says so; when RemCTL can’t read Reminders, it shows the error.
• /reminders. A pane with the date, the counts, and today’s tasks grouped by list in your Reminders sidebar’s order. ✓ completes a task in Reminders, Undo brings back the last one you completed, and Refresh reads Reminders again. It docks beside the conversation in a window 110 columns wide or more, and opens above the prompt in a narrower one. The band hides while the pane is open.
• Keyboard. ctrl+x, then Tab, moves from the prompt to the pane. Tab and Shift-Tab move between buttons, Enter presses one, Esc goes back. After you complete a task, the selection jumps to the next task’s ✓.
• A status line instead. Set the display to status and the summary moves under the prompt with your next task: Today: 6 left · 1 overdue · next: Record AppStories 23:00.
• RemCTL’s tools. The plugin starts RemCTL’s MCP server, so Claude can read, create, edit, complete and delete reminders and lists, search them, and restore reminders from Recently Deleted.

Settings are in /config, where each title starts with “Today:”, or in /plugin configure remctl@remctl. You choose how tasks show (band, compact for the summary line only, status, or pane only), how many tasks the band lists (0 to 8, default 3), whether overdue tasks count, which lists to include by name, whether the pane has ✓ buttons, how often to refresh (1 to 60 minutes, default 5), and whether the pane opens when a session starts.

Install

Needs Claude Code 2.1.287 or later, plus macOS 14 or later with iCloud Reminders turned on, and RemCTL itself.

Install RemCTL first. On a Mac with Apple silicon, download RemCTL-arm64.dmg from the repo’s Releases and open Install RemCTL; on an Intel Mac, build it from source, as the README’s Install section explains. Setup asks for your Mac password once and for three macOS permissions, all for an app called RemCTL Capability Host: Reminders, Automation for the Reminders app, and Full Disk Access. remctl doctor checks that everything is in place.

Then add the plugin:

claude plugin marketplace add viticci/remctl
claude plugin install remctl@remctl

Start Claude Code, or run /reload-plugins in an open session. The band appears once RemCTL answers; run /reminders for the pane. If you connected Claude Code to RemCTL earlier with remctl mcp install --client claude-code, run remctl mcp remove --client claude-code so Claude doesn’t see every tool twice.

How it works

The mod reads Reminders only through RemCTL’s MCP server, calling its today and lists tools. It does so when the session starts (with four retries in the first minute while MCP servers connect), after /clear, every five minutes by default, and right after Claude uses one of RemCTL’s tools that change reminders. From tool.call it only checks the tool’s name; it doesn’t read the arguments or change the call. The pane’s ✓ and Undo call RemCTL’s set_completion.

The mod makes no network calls and writes no files. Your reminders stay in Apple Reminders and sync through iCloud as usual. RemCTL Capability Host, a small signed app, holds the macOS permissions, so the CLI and the MCP server don’t need their own.

Drawing the band and the pane costs no tokens. Two things do reach the conversation: the one line /reminders adds, such as “Today: 6 left, 1 overdue.”, which Claude can read, and whatever Claude reads when it calls RemCTL’s tools, like any other tool result.

Limitations

• macOS 14 or later only. The signed download is for Apple silicon; Intel Macs build from source.
• In the Claude app, the author documents the band and /reminders in the Code tab once the app bundles Claude Code 2.1.287 or later. Before that, you get the tools only.
• Undo brings back only the last task you completed, and not repeating ones, because completing them advances the series.
• Claude Code doesn’t update this marketplace automatically unless you turn on auto-update for it in /plugin, under Marketplaces. By hand: claude plugin marketplace update remctl, then claude plugin update remctl@remctl.
• Sections, tags, subtasks, smart lists and templates rely on Apple’s private ReminderKit framework, which Apple can change in any macOS release.