Show HN: Liiists, a Markdown-first, iOS and CLI list app

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One list app that works from the terminal, on iOS, and through any AI agent — all reading the same markdown files.

Terminal: brew install djt53/liiists/liiists, then liiists add books "Project Hail Mary"

iOS: native app on the App Store with iCloud sync, Share Extension, Siri, Widgets

AI agents: MCP server for Claude, Cursor, Codex CLI, etc., plus a drop-in agent skill

Every surface reads and writes the same plain-text .md files. No proprietary format, no lock-in, no server you don't control.

Frequently asked:

Can I keep my lists in my Obsidian vault? Yes — point lists_dir at any folder, including a vault. The iOS app supports this too via the document picker.

Can I version-control my lists with git? Yes — they're just .md files in a directory. git init away.

Do I need an account? No. Sign-in is only required to publish a list publicly via the iOS app's Discover surface; everything else works offline and locally.

CLI

Manage lists from your terminal. Written in Go, zero dependencies.

brew install djt53/liiists/liiists

liiists init # set up your lists directory liiists new "Books to Read" # create a list liiists add books "Project Hail Mary" # add an item liiists ls # show all lists liiists ls books # show items in a list liiists check books "Project Hail Mary" # toggle a checkbox liiists rm books "Project Hail Mary" # remove an item echo "milk, bread, eggs" | liiists split groceries # split stdin on commas/bullets and add liiists where # show active lists directory

The CLI auto-detects the iCloud Drive container used by the iOS app, so your lists sync automatically.

Or point it at any directory — your Obsidian vault, a git-tracked dotfiles repo, anywhere:

~/.config/liiists/config

lists_dir=/Users/you/Obsidian/Vault/lists

(liiists init writes this for you; the snippet above is just what the file looks like.)

MCP Server

Most list apps don't let your AI agent touch them. liiists ships an MCP server so Claude, Cursor, Codex CLI, and anything else that speaks MCP can read and write your lists directly — same files the iOS app and CLI use.

Eight tools cover the full surface: list_lists, read_list, create_list, add_items, remove_item, check_item, delete_list, parse_text.

{ "mcpServers": { "liiists": { "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/liiists/mcp/index.js"] } } }

Example prompts that just work:

"Add everything from this article to my reading list" — paste a URL, the agent extracts titles and appends them

"What's on my groceries list?" — agent reads the file directly

"Move the watched movies from my queue to my watched list" — read, diff, write

Agent Skill

SKILL.md is a drop-in skill file for Claude Code (and any coding agent that reads agent guides). Copy it into your skills directory and your agent will know how to drive the CLI — no MCP setup required. Useful if you're already in a terminal session and just want to say "add this to my groceries list" to your coding agent.

The Format

Lists are plain markdown files. That's it.

--- title: Books to Read type: checklist created: 2026-03-26 ---

• [x] Project Hail Mary
• [ ] Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
• [ ] The Kaiju Preservation Society

type is list (plain bullets), checklist (checkboxes), or log (timestamped reverse-chronological entries)

Frontmatter is optional -- a bare bullet list is a valid list

Title resolves from: frontmatter > H1 heading > filename

Log entries use a timestamped bullet format — naive local datetime joined to text with an em-dash:

• 2026-05-23T22:55 — Sirat #film
• 2026-05-22T19:30 — Severance S2E10

liiists add "" auto-stamps with the current minute; --at "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM" backdates. MCP's add_items accepts an at field with the same format.

iOS App

A native SwiftUI app, live on the App Store, that reads and writes the same markdown files via iCloud Drive (or any folder you point it at). Includes:

Share Extension — share a URL or text from any app into a chosen list

Siri Shortcuts — "Hey Siri, add milk to my groceries list"

Widgets — single list, all lists, or quick-add from the home screen

On-device AI "Suggest more" — Apple Foundation Models suggests new items based on what's already on the list. Runs locally; no server call.

Discover — optionally publish a list publicly. Other users can browse, upvote, and save published lists. Anonymous-first; no account needed unless you want to publish.

Log lists — timestamped reverse-chronological entries for media journals, food diaries, etc. Searchable by text or date. (Also editable from the CLI and MCP — see the Format section.)

Source: djt53/liiists-app.

License

MIT

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