calctl

macOS Calendar CLI using EventKit

calctl is a command-line interface for Apple Calendar on macOS. It uses the native EventKit framework via PyObjC — the same API the Calendar app uses — so it reads and writes all your calendars directly, with no sync or bridge required.

Features

• List calendars — see all calendars with their source and type
• List events — browse events in any date range, filter by one or more calendars, exclude calendars
• Search events — full-text search across titles, notes, and locations
• Create events — all-day or timed events with full metadata
• Edit events — update any field; control whether edits apply to this occurrence or all future occurrences
• Delete events — single occurrence or this-and-future for recurring events
• Recurring event safety — auto-protects against accidentally wiping entire series when operating on the base event
• Occurrence targeting — --date flag to target a specific occurrence of a recurring event
• Dry-run mode — preview what delete and edit would do without making changes
• Full EventKit support — recurrence rules (RRULE), alarms, attendees, availability, geo coordinates, timezones
• JSON and human-readable text output — choose your format explicitly or let calctl detect it
• Auto-detects output format — JSON when piped, text when run in a terminal

Requirements

• macOS (EventKit is macOS-only)
• Python ≥ 3.10

Installation

# Using pipx (recommended for CLI tools)
pipx install calctl

# Using uv
uv tool install calctl

Permissions

calctl needs access to your calendars. On first run, macOS will show a permission dialog. If you previously denied access, go to:

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Calendars → calctl → enable access

Quick Start

# List all calendars
calctl calendars

# List events for the next 7 days
calctl list

# List events in a specific date range
calctl list --from 2026-03-19 --to 2026-03-26

# List events from a specific calendar
calctl list --calendar Work

# List events from multiple calendars
calctl list --calendar Work --calendar Family

# List events excluding certain calendars
calctl list --exclude-calendar Birthdays --exclude-calendar "US Holidays"

# Search events by keyword
calctl search "meeting"

# Search within a date range and calendar
calctl search "standup" --from 2026-03-01 --to 2026-03-31 --calendar Work

# Show full details for an event
calctl show EVENT_ID

# Show a specific occurrence of a recurring event
calctl show EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25

# Create a timed event
calctl create --title "Team Standup" --start 2026-03-20T09:00:00 --end 2026-03-20T09:30:00 --calendar Work

# Create an all-day event
calctl create --title "Company Holiday" --start 2026-03-20 --all-day

# Create a recurring event with an alarm
calctl create \
  --title "Weekly Review" \
  --start 2026-03-20T14:00:00 \
  --rrule "FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=FR" \
  --alarm -15m

# Create an event with location and geo coordinates
calctl create \
  --title "Lunch" \
  --start 2026-03-20T12:00:00 \
  --end 2026-03-20T13:00:00 \
  --location "Blue Bottle Coffee" \
  --geo "37.7749,-122.4194"

# Edit an event's title and location
calctl edit EVENT_ID --title "Updated Title" --location "Room 42"

# Edit a recurring event — this and all future occurrences
calctl edit EVENT_ID --title "Renamed Series" --span future

# Edit a specific occurrence by date
calctl edit EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25 --title "Updated" --span this

# Preview what a delete would do
calctl delete EVENT_ID --dry-run

# Delete an event
calctl delete EVENT_ID

# Delete a specific occurrence of a recurring event
calctl delete EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25 --span this

# Delete this and all future occurrences
calctl delete EVENT_ID --span future

CLI Reference

Global Options

These options apply to all commands and must come before the command name:

calctl [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Option	Short	Type	Default	Description
--format	-f	json|text	auto	Output format. Defaults to text on TTY, json when piped.
--verbose	-v	flag	false	Enable debug logging to stderr.
--help		flag		Show help and exit.

---

calctl calendars

List all calendars.

calctl calendars
calctl calendars --format json

---

calctl list

List events in a date range.

calctl list [OPTIONS]

Option	Type	Default	Description
--from	YYYY-MM-DD	today	Start date (inclusive).
--to	YYYY-MM-DD	today + 7 days	End date (inclusive).
--calendar	string	(all calendars)	Filter by calendar name. Repeatable for multiple calendars.
--exclude-calendar	string	(none)	Exclude calendar by name. Repeatable.

Examples:

calctl list
calctl list --from 2026-03-01 --to 2026-03-31
calctl list --calendar Personal
calctl list --calendar Work --calendar Family
calctl list --exclude-calendar Birthdays --exclude-calendar "US Holidays"

---

calctl search

Search events by keyword. Matches against title, notes, and location.

calctl search QUERY [OPTIONS]

Argument/Option	Type	Default	Description
QUERY	string	required	Search keyword(s).
--from	YYYY-MM-DD	(no limit)	Restrict search start date.
--to	YYYY-MM-DD	(no limit)	Restrict search end date.
--calendar	string	(all calendars)	Filter by calendar name. Repeatable for multiple calendars.
--exclude-calendar	string	(none)	Exclude calendar by name. Repeatable.

Examples:

calctl search "team meeting"
calctl search "invoice" --from 2026-01-01 --to 2026-03-31
calctl search "standup" --calendar Work
calctl search "meeting" --calendar Work --calendar Personal

---

calctl show

Show full details for a single event, including recurrence, alarms, and attendees.

calctl show EVENT_ID [OPTIONS]

Argument/Option	Type	Default	Description
EVENT_ID	string	required	Event identifier (from list or search output).
--date	YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS		Show the specific occurrence on this date instead of the base event. Use a datetime to disambiguate multiple same-day occurrences.

Examples:

calctl show EVENT_ID
calctl show EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25

---

calctl create

Create a new event.

calctl create --title TITLE --start DATETIME [OPTIONS]

Option	Type	Default	Description
--title	string	required	Event title.
--start	YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS	required	Start date or datetime.
--end	YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS	start + 1h (or same day if --all-day)	End date or datetime.
--calendar	string	default calendar	Calendar to add the event to.
--location	string		Location string.
--geo	lat,lng		Geographic coordinates (e.g. 37.7749,-122.4194).
--notes	string		Event notes / description.
--url	string		URL associated with the event.
--all-day / --no-all-day	flag	false	Create as an all-day event.
--availability	busy|free|tentative|unavailable		Availability status.
--timezone	string		Timezone identifier (e.g. America/New_York).
--rrule	RRULE string		Recurrence rule (e.g. FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=MO,WE,FR).
--alarm	duration		Alarm offset before event (e.g. -15m, -1h). Repeatable for multiple alarms. Use --alarm "" to explicitly clear alarms.

Examples:

# Simple 30-minute event
calctl create --title "Coffee" --start 2026-03-20T10:00:00 --end 2026-03-20T10:30:00

# All-day event
calctl create --title "PTO" --start 2026-03-20 --all-day --calendar Personal

# Recurring weekly event with two alarms
calctl create \
  --title "Weekly Sync" \
  --start 2026-03-20T10:00:00 \
  --rrule "FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=FR" \
  --alarm -10m \
  --alarm -1h

# Event with location details
calctl create \
  --title "Conference" \
  --start 2026-03-20T09:00:00 \
  --end 2026-03-20T17:00:00 \
  --location "Moscone Center, San Francisco" \
  --geo "37.7842,-122.4016" \
  --timezone "America/Los_Angeles"

---

calctl edit

Edit an existing event. Only the fields you specify are changed.

calctl edit EVENT_ID [OPTIONS]

Argument/Option	Type	Default	Description
EVENT_ID	string	required	Event to edit.
--title	string		New title.
--start	datetime		New start datetime.
--end	datetime		New end datetime.
--calendar	string		Move to this calendar.
--location	string		New location string.
--geo	lat,lng		New geo coordinates.
--notes	string		New notes.
--url	string		New URL.
--all-day / --no-all-day	flag		Set or clear all-day flag.
--availability	busy|free|tentative|unavailable		New availability.
--timezone	string		New timezone.
--rrule	RRULE string		New recurrence rule.
--alarm	duration		New alarm(s). Repeatable. Use --alarm "" to clear all alarms.
--span	this|future	auto	For recurring events: edit only this occurrence (this) or this and all future occurrences (future). See Recurring Events.
--date	YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS		Target the occurrence on this date instead of the base event. Use a datetime to disambiguate multiple same-day occurrences.
--dry-run	flag	false	Show what would be changed without saving.

Examples:

# Rename an event
calctl edit EVENT_ID --title "New Name"

# Reschedule
calctl edit EVENT_ID --start 2026-03-21T10:00:00 --end 2026-03-21T11:00:00

# Edit all future occurrences of a recurring event
calctl edit EVENT_ID --title "Renamed Series" --span future

# Edit a specific occurrence by date
calctl edit EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25 --title "One-off change" --span this

# Move event to a different calendar
calctl edit EVENT_ID --calendar Personal

# Preview what would change
calctl edit EVENT_ID --title "New Name" --dry-run

---

calctl delete

Delete an event.

calctl delete EVENT_ID [OPTIONS]

Argument/Option	Type	Default	Description
EVENT_ID	string	required	Event to delete.
--span	this|future	auto	For recurring events: delete only this occurrence (this) or this and all future occurrences (future). See Recurring Events.
--date	YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS		Target the occurrence on this date instead of the base event. Use a datetime to disambiguate multiple same-day occurrences.
--dry-run	flag	false	Show what would be deleted without removing.

Examples:

# Delete a single event
calctl delete EVENT_ID

# Delete this and all future occurrences
calctl delete EVENT_ID --span future

# Delete a specific occurrence by date
calctl delete EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25 --span this

# Preview what would be deleted
calctl delete EVENT_ID --dry-run

---

Recurring Events

calctl includes safety features to prevent accidentally modifying or deleting an entire recurring series.

Span behavior

The --span flag on edit and delete controls whether the operation applies to a single occurrence or all future occurrences. When --span is not explicitly passed, calctl auto-detects:

• Non-recurring event → uses this (single event)
• Base recurring event (the series root, not a specific occurrence) → auto-escalates to future to preserve past occurrences, with a warning on stderr

If you explicitly pass --span this or --span future, your choice is always respected.

Targeting a specific occurrence

list and search return the base event ID for recurring events. To target a specific occurrence, use --date:

# See the specific occurrence
calctl show EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25

# Edit just that occurrence
calctl edit EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25 --title "Rescheduled" --span this

# Delete just that occurrence
calctl delete EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25 --span this

For events that recur multiple times in the same day, pass a full datetime to disambiguate:

calctl delete EVENT_ID --date 2026-03-25T14:00:00 --span this

Identifying recurring events

Event output includes is_recurring and occurrence_date fields. In text format, recurring events show Recurring: yes with the recurrence rule. In list format, recurring events show a 🔁 icon with the RRULE.

---

Output Formats

calctl supports two output formats, controlled by --format / -f:

Format	Flag	Description
text	--format text	Human-readable, table-style output for the terminal.
json	--format json	Machine-readable JSON. Arrays for list commands, objects for single-item commands.

Auto-detection: When --format is not specified, calctl detects whether stdout is a terminal (TTY):

• Terminal → text format
• Pipe or redirect → json format

This means you can pipe calctl output to jq without specifying --format json:

# Pipe output — JSON is selected automatically
calctl list | jq '.[] | .title'
calctl search "meeting" | jq '.[0].id'

# Force text format in a script
calctl list --format text > events.txt

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.