OmniFocus

Control OmniFocus via JXA (JavaScript for Automation).

Requirements

• macOS with OmniFocus 3 or 4 installed
• OmniFocus must be running (or will auto-launch)

Quick Reference

# Run via the wrapper script
./scripts/of <command> [args...]

# Or directly
osascript -l JavaScript ./scripts/omnifocus.js <command> [args...]

Commands

List/Query

Create

Modify

Repeat

# repeat <taskId> <method> <interval> <unit>
of repeat abc123 fixed 1 weeks
of repeat abc123 due-after-completion 2 days
of repeat abc123 defer-after-completion 1 months
of unrepeat abc123

Methods: fixed, due-after-completion, defer-after-completion
Units: days, weeks, months, years

Output Format

All commands return JSON. Success responses include "success": true. Errors include "error": "message".

{
  "success": true,
  "task": {
    "id": "abc123",
    "name": "Task name",
    "note": "Notes here",
    "flagged": false,
    "completed": false,
    "deferDate": "2026-01-30",
    "dueDate": "2026-02-01",
    "project": "Project Name",
    "tags": ["tag1", "tag2"],
    "repeat": {"method": "fixed", "rule": "RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;INTERVAL=1"}
  }
}

Examples

# Add task to inbox
of add "Buy groceries"

# Add task to specific project
of add "Review docs" "Work Projects"

# Set due date and flag
of due abc123 2026-02-01
of flag abc123 true

# Add tags
of tag abc123 "urgent"
of tag abc123 "home"

# Create recurring task
of add "Weekly review" "Habits"
of repeat xyz789 fixed 1 weeks

# Search and complete
of search "groceries"
of complete abc123

# Get today's tasks
of today

Notes

• Task IDs are OmniFocus internal IDs (returned in all task responses)
• Dates use ISO format: YYYY-MM-DD
• Project and folder names are case-sensitive
• Tags are created automatically if they don't exist when using tag command
• All output is JSON for easy parsing

Technical Details

This skill uses JavaScript for Automation (JXA) for most operations, with AppleScript fallbacks for tag and repeat operations (due to known JXA type conversion bugs with these specific OmniFocus APIs).

The hybrid approach provides:

• JSON output for easy parsing
• Robust escaping for special characters in tag names
• Error handling with clear messages

First run: OmniFocus may prompt to allow automation access. Enable this in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation.