Birthday Reminder CLI
Never forget a birthday again 🎂
A command-line tool that scans your macOS Contacts for upcoming birthdays. Get alerts for today, tomorrow, or the next N days with age calculations and JSON output.
Forgetting Important Birthdays
With hundreds of contacts, it's easy to forget upcoming birthdays. Your contacts already have birthday info — why not use it?
- 1Birthdays scattered across different apps
- 2No easy way to see upcoming birthdays at a glance
- 3Calendar reminders require manual setup
- 4Wanted automation-friendly JSON output
Scan Contacts Automatically
Reads from macOS Contacts database. Shows birthdays happening today, tomorrow, or within the next N days. Calculates ages and outputs JSON.
Smart Scanning
Reads all macOS Contact sources automatically
Age Calculation
Shows turning age if birth year is known
Flexible Filtering
Today only, tomorrow only, or next N days
JSON Output
Pipe to other tools or use in automation
Screenshots
Technical Deep Dive
Architecture
Python script using sqlite3 to read macOS Contacts database directly.
Tech Stack
Challenges & Solutions
Accessing macOS Contacts data
Direct sqlite3 access to AddressBook database
Year boundary handling
Smart date comparison for December-January wraparound
Results & Impact
No more forgotten birthdays! Run it in your morning routine.
Highlights
- Zero configuration needed
- Works with existing contacts data
- Automation-ready JSON output
Lessons Learned
- →macOS stores contacts in sqlite
- →CLI tools are underrated for personal automation
- →Simple tools that do one thing well are the best