Reminder Bot

This Python script automates the process of sending email reminders based on a schedule defined in a TSV (Tab-Separated Values) file. It relies on the mutt email client to send emails on specific weekdays, dates, or monthly intervals.

Features

• Tab-Separated Logic: Parses a TSV file, allowing for commas within schedules.
• Flexible Scheduling: Supports specific weekdays, day-of-month intervals, the last day of the month, and fixed annual dates.
• Mutt Integration: Makes use of mutt for email delivery.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x
• Mutt

Configuration

1. Data File Setup

The script requires a tab-separated file located at /full/path/to/list.csv. The file structure must include the Subject and Occurrence headers.

Subject Occurrence
REMINDER: Someone's Birthday    01 Dec
REMINDER: Someone's Anniversary 22 May
REMINDER: Pay bills 01 Feb, 01 Apr, 01 Jun, 01 Aug, 01 Oct, 01 Dec
REMINDER: Do something  02 of every month
REMINDER: Check something   Last day of every month
Ping Test   Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Sunday
Weekly Meeting  Wednesday

2. Supported Occurrence Formats

• Weekdays: e.g. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. (Case-insensitive matching).
• Specific Date: e.g. 01 Dec
• Month End: Last day of every month (Calculated using the calendar module).
• Monthly: e.g. 02 of every month.

3. Script Variables

Edit the following variables within the script to match the environment:

• file_path: The absolute path to the TSV file.
• to_email: The recipient email address where reminders will be sent.

4. Mutt config

Create ~/.muttrc and set the following, at a minimum:

set from = "from@example.com"
set realname = "bob"
set smtp_url = "smtps://from@example.com@mail.example.com:465/"
set smtp_pass = "real_password"
set ssl_force_tls = yes
# Optional - prevents the logging of sent emails in ~/sent
unset record
set copy = no

Usage

Manual Execution

Make the script executable and run it:

chmod +x rem.py
./rem.py

Automation via Crontab

To automate the checks daily, add an entry to crontab. For example, to run every morning at 08:00:

0 8 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/rem.py

Troubleshooting

• Mutt Delivery: Confirm mutt is functioning correctly from the command line by running: echo "test body" | mutt -s "test subject" user@example.com.
• Path Resolution: Use absolute paths for the file_path variable to prevent issues when the script is triggered by a system scheduler like Cron.
• Delimiter Consistency: The script is explicitly configured with delimiter='\t'. Ensure the data file uses actual tab characters and not spaces.

Licence

This project is made available under a GPL3 licence -- see COPYING for the full text.