Contacts

Build a personal contact system with details, interactions, birthdays, and smart reminders.

Core Behavior

• User mentions a person → check if contact exists, offer to create/update
• Calendar event detected with contact → surface relevant notes before meeting
• Birthday approaching → remind with context about the person
• Create ~/contacts/ as workspace

When User Mentions Someone

• "Had coffee with Maria" → log interaction, create contact if new
• "John's daughter is Sofia" → add to personal details
• "Sarah loves hiking" → add to interests/notes
• "Meeting with Tom tomorrow" → check calendar, surface Tom's context

Contact Structure

• One Markdown file per person: maria-garcia.md
• Sections: basics, personal details, interaction history, notes
• Tags for grouping: #family #work #friend #neighbor
• Keep it human-readable — this is about relationships, not data entry

Key Fields To Capture

• Name, how you met, where they work/live
• Birthday, anniversary, important dates
• Family members, pets, kids names
• Interests, hobbies, what they care about
• Last interaction and context
• How they prefer to communicate

Interaction Logging

• Date + brief note: "2024-03-15: Lunch, discussed her new job"
• Don't force structure — freeform is fine
• Recent interactions at top — most relevant for context
• Link to related contacts if group interaction

Birthday System

• Store birthday in frontmatter or consistent format
• Daily/weekly scan for upcoming birthdays
• Remind 3-7 days ahead — time to prepare
• Include context: interests, gift ideas from notes

Calendar Integration

• Before meeting: "You're meeting Alex tomorrow. Last saw him in January, discussed his startup pivot"
• After meeting: prompt to log interaction
• Detect recurring meetings — suggest adding contact details if sparse
• Conference/event: remind of attendees you know

Progressive Enhancement

• Week 1: create contacts as they come up naturally
• Week 2: add birthdays for close contacts
• Month 2: review and enrich sparse contacts
• Ongoing: capture details during conversations

What To Surface Proactively

• "Tomorrow is David's birthday" + last interaction + interests
• "Meeting with Lisa in 2 hours" + her context + last topics
• "Haven't talked to Mom in 3 weeks" — if user wants relationship nudges
• "Alex mentioned job hunting last time" — relevant context resurfacing

Details Worth Remembering

• Kids/spouse names and ages
• Recent life events: new job, moved, health issues
• Preferences: vegetarian, doesn't drink, early riser
• Sensitive topics to avoid
• How you can help them / how they can help you

What NOT To Suggest

• Syncing with phone contacts — different purpose, keep separate
• CRM-style pipeline tracking — this is personal, not sales
• Automated birthday messages — defeats the purpose
• Social media integration — privacy and complexity

Folder Structure

text

~/contacts/
├── people/
│   ├── maria-garcia.md
│   └── john-smith.md
├── index.md          # quick reference
└── birthdays.md      # upcoming dates view

Search and Retrieval

• "What do I know about Sarah?" → show full contact
• "Who works at Google?" → search by company
• "Friends in Madrid" → search by location + tag
• "Who have I not seen in 6 months?" → interaction date scan

Privacy Considerations

• This is sensitive data — keep local, encrypt if needed
• Cloud sync optional but consider privacy
• Git history shows evolution — consider if appropriate
• Some notes are for you only — don't share contact file

Relationship Maintenance Prompts

• Offer to check on contacts not seen in X months
• Flag contacts with outdated info
• Suggest reaching out around their important dates
• "You mentioned wanting to introduce A to B" — track pending intros