People & Mentions
Track the people in your life by mentioning them with @ in any entry. Reflecto automatically extracts mentions when you save and builds a searchable record of your interactions over time.
Your people list is completely private. No one else can see who you mention or how often.
Creating People
The easiest way to add someone is inline while writing:
Type @ in the editor
A suggestion dropdown appears showing previously mentioned people.
Start typing the name
The dropdown filters to show matches along with mention counts, so you can see how often you have referenced each person.
Select or create
Press Enter to select an existing person, or keep typing to create a new one. New people are added to your library when you save the entry.
Had coffee with @Alice this morning.
She introduced me to @Bob from the #design team.
Later, @Sarah and I discussed #project-alpha.Saving this entry extracts three people: @Alice, @Bob, and @Sarah.
People Naming
Names support letters, numbers, hyphens, and apostrophes. Spaces and other special characters are not allowed.
Guidelines:
- Be consistent — decide on a convention and stick with it (first name, full name with hyphens, or role)
- Use hyphens for multi-word names:
@Alice-Smithnot@Alice Smith - Capitalize properly —
@Alicereads better than@alice - Disambiguate when needed:
@Mike-Workand@Mike-Gymfor people with the same first name
A space after @ breaks the mention. Type the name immediately after the @
symbol with no gap.
People Page
Navigate to People in the sidebar to manage everyone you have mentioned.
+--------------------------------------+
| People |
| |
| Search people... [A-Z] [Edit] |
| |
| @Alice (45 mentions) |
| @Bob (23 mentions) |
| @Sarah (18 mentions) |
| |
| --- Work --- |
| @Team-Lead (12) |
| @Mentor (8) |
| |
| --- Family --- |
| @Mom (24) |
| @Dad (19) |
+--------------------------------------+Sorting
Sort your people list by:
- Alphabetical (A-Z or Z-A)
- Mention count (most mentioned or least mentioned)
Searching
Type in the search box to filter people instantly. Results update as you type with mention counts alongside each name.
Viewing a Person’s Entries
Click any person to see all entries that mention them, listed in reverse chronological order. Each entry shows its type, date, content preview, and associated tags.
You can filter results by entry type and date range to narrow down specific interactions.
People Groups
Organize people into named groups as your list grows.
Select people
On the People page, check the boxes next to the people you want to group.
Click “Create Group”
A button appears at the top when people are selected.
Name the group
Enter a name like “Work”, “Family”, or “Friends”.
Done
People appear under their group header on the People page.
Groups are purely for organization on the People page. They do not affect how mentions work in entries. You can rename groups, move people between them, and delete groups without losing any people.
Example groups:
| Group | People |
|---|---|
| Work | @Boss, @Alice, @Team-Lead, @Mentor |
| Family | @Mom, @Dad, @Sister, @Brother |
| Friends | @Best-Friend, @Gym-Buddy, @Neighbor |
Editing People
Renaming
To rename a person, click them on the People page, then click the edit button. Enter the new name and confirm. The rename updates across all entries that mention them.
If you rename a person to match an existing name, the two are merged automatically. All entries from both people combine under the single name.
Example: You have @Alice (30 mentions) and @Alice-Work (15 mentions). Rename @Alice-Work to @Alice, and you now have @Alice with 45 mentions.
Deleting
To delete a person, open their detail view and click the delete button. A confirmation dialog warns that the person will be removed from all entries.
Deleting a person is permanent and removes them from every entry. Consider renaming instead if you might want the data later.
Relationship Journaling
@mentions are most powerful when used consistently to track how your relationships evolve.
Daily Interactions
Daily Interactions
Log who you spent time with each day:
* Coffee with @Alice, caught up on #life
* 1-on-1 with @Boss about #career-goals
* Lunch with @Team at the new restaurant
* Evening call with @MomOver time, your People page reveals patterns in who you interact with most and when.
Privacy Considerations
Your people data is private by design:
- No sharing — your people list is visible only to you
- No notifications — mentioned people are not informed
- Full control — you can rename, merge, or delete any person at any time
- Your data — entries and mentions belong to you alone
Reflecto is a personal reflection tool. While tracking relationships can surface insights, it is not a substitute for genuine communication with the people in your life. Use mention data to prompt real-world connection.
Best Practices
- Pick a naming convention early — first name only, first-last with hyphens, or role-based names. Consistency prevents duplicates.
- Mention people liberally — do not just name-drop; mention anyone you interacted with, thought about, or are grateful for.
- Review monthly — check the People page for duplicates to merge and inactive people to clean up.
- Use groups — once you have 15 or more people, groups like “Work”, “Family”, and “Friends” make browsing easier.
- Combine with tags —
Meeting with @Alice about #project-alphacreates entries that are searchable by both person and topic. - Check Insights — the Insights page shows who you mention most, mention trends over time, and mood correlations with specific people.
- Mention retroactively — edit older entries to add @mentions you were not using at the time to build richer data.