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Managing Contacts

This page covers how to add people, what each field means, and how to keep profiles useful over time.

Adding a person​

Tap the + button on the People page. The form is split into sections:

Section 1 — Identity

  • Name — required. Use whatever name you actually call this person.
  • Birthday — month, day, and optionally year. If you don't know the year, toggle Year Unknown and only the month and day are stored. Terra will still surface their upcoming birthday without calculating age.
  • Profile photo — upload a photo or paste a URL. Avatars show throughout the app wherever this person appears.

Section 2 — Connection

  • Relationship category — Family, Friends, Work, or Other. This is required and used to filter and organize your directory.
  • Relationship type — an optional custom label within that category. You can create your own types (e.g., "College Friend," "Book Club," "Therapist"). Types are reusable across multiple people.
  • Romantic partner — toggle this on if this person is your current partner. This connects them to your Relationship section.

Section 3 — Contact details

  • Email, phone, and address. All optional.

Section 4 — Anniversaries & notes (visible when editing an existing person)

  • Anniversary — any recurring significant date you want to track (a wedding anniversary, the date you met, etc.)
  • Gift ideas — a private, markdown-supported space to jot down things they'd like. Useful before birthdays and holidays.
  • Personal notes — a full markdown editor for anything else: quirks you want to remember, things they've mentioned, context about how you know them. Supports Edit and Preview modes, zen mode for distraction-free writing, and font size control.

Editing a person​

Open any person's profile and tap Edit. All fields are editable at any time. Changes save when you confirm.

Deleting a person​

Use the delete option on a person's profile. Deleting a person removes their profile but does not remove tags on events, vacations, or other entries that referenced them.

Relationship categories vs. relationship types​

Categories are the four fixed buckets (Family, Friends, Work, Other). They determine how people are grouped in filtered views and what icons appear next to their names.

Relationship types are labels you create — more specific descriptions within a category. They're useful for:

  • Keeping track of how people fit into your life ("College Friend" vs. "Childhood Friend" both in Friends)
  • Sorting your directory in a way that makes sense to you
  • Powering AI-generated summaries that reference who's in your life

You manage relationship types from within the People section. Add, edit, or delete them as your needs change.

Tips​

  • The gift ideas field is one of the most useful things you can keep here. Whenever someone mentions something they want, or you notice something they'd love, add it immediately. Comes in very handy around gift-giving occasions.
  • Personal notes age well. Even a few sentences about how you know someone or what matters to them can be surprisingly valuable to read back later.
  • Don't worry about being complete on day one. Start with name and birthday. Add more as it becomes relevant.