Calendar events and reminders in a Markdown daily note on a Mac

Checked November 2026 against Coffee's Daily note template and Note menu in the app.

A daily note is most useful when it starts with the day as it really is: the meetings already booked, and the things you promised to do by today. Copying those in by hand each morning is the kind of job that stops happening by the second week.

Coffee can fill them in from the Mac's own Calendar and Reminders when it makes today's note. It writes them as plain Markdown, so the note is still an ordinary file.

Two places in the template

A template in Coffee is a .md file in the Templates folder of your library, with places in double braces that are filled in when a note is made from it. There are two for this:

• {{agenda}} becomes the day's calendar events, all-day ones first.
• {{reminders}} becomes the open reminders due by the end of today, earliest first, with the overdue ones marked.

Coffee's Daily note template has both:

# {{title}}

{{weekday}}, {{date}}

## Agenda

{{agenda}}

## Today

- [ ] {{cursor}}
{{reminders}}

## Notes

Press ⌘T, or choose File > Today's Note, and a note made from it comes out like this:

## Agenda

- All day: Mum's birthday
- 09:00–09:30 Standup
- 14:00–15:00 Design review

## Today

- [ ] 
- [ ] Renew passport (overdue)
- [ ] Send the invoice

Times follow your Mac's settings, so they may show as 9:00 AM. A day with nothing booked says "Nothing on the calendar." Event titles are kept on one line, so one can't start a heading or a list of its own.

Reminders come in as tasks, so you can tick them off in the note. The note doesn't reach back into Reminders, though: ticking a box in the note doesn't complete the reminder.

If your template is older

Coffee writes its starter templates only the first time you choose a library, and never over your own. If your Daily note template was made before these places existed, open it (⇧⌘N, then "Edit templates…") and add {{agenda}} and {{reminders}} where you want them. You can use either one alone.

Asking for access

The Mac asks before any app reads your Calendar or Reminders. Coffee asks only when a template has {{agenda}} or {{reminders}} in it, the first time it fills one in. If you say no, those places are left empty, rather than claiming you have nothing on. You can change your answer in System Settings > Privacy & Security, under Calendars and Reminders.

Coffee reads the events and reminders on the Mac only when a note asks for them, and what goes into the note is text. Nothing is linked back to the calendar.

Today's agenda in any note

You don't need the template. Choose Note > Insert Today's Agenda and Coffee puts the day's events, then the reminders due, where the cursor is. It suits a meeting note, or a daily note you started before you had the template.

Sending a task to Reminders

It works the other way too. Put the cursor on a task line, one starting - [ ], and choose Note > Send Task to Reminders, or press ⌃⌘R. The task becomes a reminder in your default Reminders list.

If the line names a date or time, such as "Call the bank tomorrow at 3pm" or "Book flights 13 Nov", the reminder is due then, with an alert at that time, and Coffee tells you the date it understood. Without one, it's a reminder with no date. The line in your note stays as it was.

Questions

Can a Markdown daily note show my calendar?

In Coffee, yes. Put {{agenda}} in the Daily note template, and today's note starts with the day's events from the Mac's Calendar, written as a Markdown list.

Which reminders go into the daily note?

Open reminders due by the end of today, overdue ones included and marked "(overdue)". Reminders with a later date, and finished ones, are left out.

Does ticking a task in the note complete the reminder?

No. The reminders are copied into the note as tasks. Ticking one changes the note, not Reminders.

Do I need to give Coffee access to my calendar?

Only if you use these places or the agenda command. The Mac asks the first time, and without access Coffee leaves them empty.

Can I make a reminder from a note?

Yes. Put the cursor on a task line and press ⌃⌘R, or choose Note > Send Task to Reminders. A date in the line becomes the reminder's due date.

There's more on the template itself in a daily note template in Markdown. Events and reminders in a daily note are a Mac feature. Coffee also runs on iPhone and iPad, and the Mac needs macOS 15 or later. It's free for 14 days without a card, then €3 a month, €29 a year, or €79 once with two years of updates, and one purchase covers all three.