# Connect Reminders

> The reminders Reminders.app already has, iCloud or Exchange, in your Mac's notch. A warning before one is due, another when it is overdue, and news when someone adds to a list you share.

Source: https://coisland.app/docs/connect-reminders/

## What you need

- **You need:** No token, from macOS asks for Reminders access once
- **The form asks:** Connector name
- **You can watch:** Due soon and overdue, New reminders
- **Access:** Read reminders on this Mac, never complete or change them

To connect Reminders you need nothing but the lists Reminders.app already shows. CoIsland reads them on your Mac through macOS: no password, no sign-in, and nothing leaves the Mac.

## Connect Reminders in CoIsland

1. Open **Settings › Connectors**, click **+** and choose **Reminders**.
2. Keep the name `reminders`, or type your own.
3. Click **Test connector**. macOS asks "CoIsland would like to access your Reminders": click **Allow**. A success lists your lists and how many reminders are not done.
4. Click **Add Connector**. There is one Reminders connector: this Mac's reminders.

If you choose **Don't Allow**, turn CoIsland on later in **System Settings › Privacy & Security › Reminders**.

## Choose what to watch

- **Due soon and overdue** lists reminders due in the next hours (a day unless you choose 1 hour to 14 days) and every overdue one. It warns a few minutes before one is due (15 unless you choose otherwise) and again once it is overdue. A reminder with a date but no time warns on its day. The ring counts down to the next one due.
- **New reminders** alerts when a reminder is added to a list you pick, such as one shared with your family or team.

```sql
-- name: Due in 15 minutes
-- kind: reminders.due
-- every: 1m

lead:15m horizon:1d list:all
```

The kinds are `reminders.due` and `reminders.new`. `lead:` takes minutes or hours up to a day (`0m` warns only when overdue), `horizon:` 1h to 14d, `list:` a list id or `list:all`, and `priority:` `high`, `medium` or `low` keeps that priority and above.

## What a Reminders alert shows

The reminder, its list and account, when it is due (`due in 10 min`, `due today`, `overdue 2h`) and its priority. Opened, it reads the reminder again with its notes, shown there only and never written to an alert. **Open Reminders** opens Reminders.app.

## Troubleshooting

- **CoIsland has not asked macOS for your reminders yet.** Press Test connector in the Reminders connector.
- **Reminders access is off. Turn CoIsland on in Privacy & Security › Reminders.** **Open System Settings** goes there.
- **A profile on this Mac blocks access to reminders.** Your organization's device management turned it off; ask your administrator.
- **None of the lists this monitor names exist any more.** Pick the lists again.

Next: the [Reminders connector](https://coisland.app/reminders/) for what it watches.