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Org Contacts

Use when asked to manage contacts in Emacs using org-contacts — storing people as Org headlines with properties, searching/completing by name or email, and integrating with message composition — as an Org mode extension (see org-mode), distinct from org-roam's networked-notes model (see org-roam).

org-contacts is an Emacs package that manages a contact list as plain Org mode headlines — each person is a headline with properties (email, phone, address, and any custom fields), stored in one or more ordinary .org files rather than a separate database or proprietary format. See Org Mode for the underlying headline/properties syntax this builds on directly.

Storing a contact

* Alice Example
:PROPERTIES:
:EMAIL: alice@example.com
:PHONE: +1-555-0100
:ADDRESS: 123 Main St
:BIRTHDAY: <1990-05-12>
:END:

Notes about Alice go here as ordinary body text.

A contact is just an Org headline with a PROPERTIES drawer — the same generic drawer mechanism Org uses for other metadata (see Org Mode), so anything Org's ecosystem already does with properties (searching, exporting, agenda integration) works on contacts for free, without a contacts-specific data model.

Core operations

  • Search/completion by name or email — org-contacts provides completion so a contact can be found and inserted (e.g. into an email "To:" field) by typing part of their name or address.
  • Email client integration — commonly wired into Emacs's mail composition (message-mode), so addressing a message can pull directly from the Org-stored contact list rather than a separate address book.
  • Custom properties — since a contact is just an Org headline, arbitrary properties (a nickname, a company, a preferred contact method) can be added without any schema migration — just add another :PROPERTY: line.

Why store contacts this way

Because it's plain Org text, contacts get version control, full-text search, and portability for free — no proprietary format, no separate sync mechanism, and the same editing/searching tools already used for notes and tasks apply directly to the contact list too.

Common pitfalls

  • Inconsistent property names across contacts — :EMAIL: on one headline and :E-MAIL: on another breaks completion/search that expects a consistent property key; pick one convention and stick to it.
  • Mixing contact headlines with unrelated notes in the same file without a clear structural separation — makes it harder to point org-contacts at exactly the right file(s) to search.
  • Forgetting the properties drawer's strict placement — it must immediately follow the headline (before any body text) or Org won't associate it with that headline correctly.

Learn more

View org-contacts/SKILL.md on GitHub